[3] Written in 1991, during the last days of the Cold War, Centesimus annus specifically examines contemporaneous political and economic issues.

It compares socialism to consumerism, identifying atheism as the source of their common denial of the dignity of the human individual.

This repeats a theme from Pope Leo XIII's Rerum novarum:[4] When there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the defenceless and the poor have a claim to special consideration.

It is for this reason that wage-earners, since they mostly belong to the latter class, should be specially cared for and protected by the Government[5] But Pope John Paul II also defends private property, markets, and honorable business as necessary elements of a system of political economy that respects the dignity of the individual and allows him to express his full humanity.

The Document begins by pointing out various events that happened in the year of 1989 but more importantly how it embraced a longer period of the 1800s with dictatorial and oppressive regimes.