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I need some really substantial Marx citation on that, because in the Communist Manifesto, chapter II, he says: > In this sense, the theory of the Communists ma
by varjag 9y ago
I need some really substantial Marx citation on that, because in the Communist Manifesto, chapter II, he says:
> In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.
Marxist view of property is that as a manifestation of capital, which can be converted between freely. If you allow private property, you allow its inevitable emergent concentration (e.g. via bourgeois family), and hence amassing of capital and means to exploit other people.
- UncleMeat 9y agoPrivate property and personal property are distinct in socialist and communist thought.
- varjag 9y agoI would still insist on a Marx quote where he draws the distinction. Not a late 20th century interpretation with benefit of hindsight.
- dragonwriter 9y agoThe distinction between property generally and bourgeois property, and the statement that Communism aims for the elimination of the latter and not the former is in the paragraph of the Communist Manifesto immediately preceding the one your quote is drawn from. “The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property.” Again, “private property” in Communist theory is narrower than the usual capitalist understanding; particularly, neither consumer goods nor money insofar as it cannot be exchanged for a proprietary interest in the means of production in a society which has progressed to the socialism stage as envisioned by Communism are necessarily included in “private property”. (And, even personally held means of production that cannot be converted to bourgeois property because of controls on engaging wage labor are frequently not sought to be banned in practice—which may be contrary to Marx’s statement on private property, but is consistent with the focus on borgeois property which is explicitly it's underlying motivation.)