El pensamiento laboral y social del jurista republicano y antifranquista Ángel Ossorio y Gallardo

Abstract

This work has as main objective the analysis and critical assessment of the social and labor thought of the eminent jurist and Spanish politician Ángel Ossorio y Gallardo. Our author, as many other Catholics was aware that social reforms could not be displaced by the urgencies of political life. In spite of embracing the Republic, religious substratum remained active in his social and political activities under the influence of the precursors of the Catholic social action developed on the 19th century, previous to the Rerum Novarum which prompted the emergence of a Catholic social doctrine, highlighting the figures of: Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, Charles von Volgelsang, Giuseppe Toniolo, Gaspar Decurtins, Albert De Mun, or La Tour du Pin among others. For this task, it concerns us to jointly address a study of the principles of Catholic social teaching and the socialist doctrine to understand the configuration of his social thought. We will stop to analyze his critics to both Marxist ideology in its defense of the property rights and economic liberalism, both powerless to give an answer to the social question. We will have the opportunity of proving the faith Ángel Ossorio y Gallardo had in work as a complete fulfillment of the person. Thus, we should not be surprised by its defense of the working-class and the value of the person in society. Once for all, our author places the person in the center of the economic, political and social activity. Another important aspect to take into account in this work is the relationships between employer and working-class and the harmony between these two, far away from the antagonism of the classes fight. Finally, we will analyze the system of the salary evolution for the fair distribution of benefits between capital and work.