This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Cadr (talk | contribs) at 14:51, 17 June 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 14:51, 17 June 2005 by Cadr (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Property is theft! is a slogan coined by the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right of Government.
While long ignored, the term has been resurrected by the anti-copyright and the copyleft believers.
Ayn Rand and her Objectivist followers often like to cite this slogan as an oxymoron, and as evidence of the contradictory nature of leftist thought, on the grounds that "theft" only has meaning when defined in terms of the taking of property, making it nonsensical to regard property itself as theft. In response, it might be argued that in the context of the slogan, "property" clearly refers to private property. The argument expressed is that all property should be public property, with the consequence that ownership of private property constitutes theft of public property.
See also
- libertarian socialism
- Mikhail Bakunin
- Karl Marx
- property
- private property
- What is Property?
- tragedy of the commons
 | This article about politics is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |