Property is theft! - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tothebarricades.tk (talk | contribs) at 02:50, 18 January 2006 (add bit about the diggers). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 02:50, 18 January 2006 by Tothebarricades.tk (talk | contribs) (add bit about the diggers)(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.

Taken at face value, "Property is theft!" appears to be an oxymoron, because theft, by definition, means depriving someone of his property. However, Proudhon had his own specialized definition of property in What is Property. By property, he was referring to government-granted title to idle and unoccupied land. Proudhon opposed the idea of an individual owning land that he was not using, as this would enable him to charge rent to others and thereby be paid without laboring. In addition to opposing individual ownership of idle land, he opposed the idea of social ownership as well: "instead of inferring from this that property should be shared by all, I demand, as a measure of general security, its entire abolition." For Proudhon, individuals may rightfully "occupy and use" land, but not restrict others from using land or charge rent to use land that they are not themselves putting to use.

Similar sentiments were expressed nearly two hundred years earlier by the English Diggers (True Levellers), who are considered proto-anarchists by many: "And that this Civil Propriety is the Curse, is manifest thus, Those that Buy and Sell Land, and are landlords, have got it either by Oppression, or Murther, or Theft; and all landlords lives in the breach of the Seventh and Eighth Commandments, Thou shalt not steal, or kill... Thou shalt not steal; but these landlords have thus stoln the Earth from their fellow Creatures, that have an equal share with them, by the Law of Reason and Creation, as well as they."

Proudhon did not oppose property in the sense of individual ownership of the product of one's labor. He used the term mutualism to describe his vision of a society where individuals and democratic workers associations could trade their produce on the market. In this system, he supposes exchange value to be determined by the amount of labor required to produce a commodity, in line with the labor theory of value.

Many misinterpret Proudhon's "property is theft" to mean he opposed individual ownership of property; however, he only opposed property status as decreed by States. Proudhon attempted to clear up this misunderstanding when he later wrote:

"Property a triumph of Liberty. For it is born of Liberty ... Property is the only power that can act as a counterweight to the State, because it shows no reverence for princes, rebels against society and is, in short, anarchist."

See also