Property and Freedom

Property and Freedom by Richard Pipes, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. 

The Ancient World

The institution of private property predates the institution of government. Landowners created government in order to protect their property rights. In ancient Greece, since the eighth or seventh centuries B.C.E., land was owned by individuals and families. Only citizens were allowed to own land in Attica. Sparta was the exception; land in Sparta was owned communally. In Roman Italy, only Roman citizens could own land. The Roman Cicero asserted that government did not have the right to take private property, because government had been created to protect the citizen’s right to own private property. In ancient Greece and Rome, the land owners were not subject to direct taxes, that is, taxes on property and income, but only indirect taxes, taxes on buy and selling property. In monarchies, such as Persia, Assyria, Russia, Ottoman Turkey, all property belonged to the monarch. 

Limiting the Franchise

The Athenians, English and early American colonists limited the right to vote to those who owned land. The reasoning was that by extending the franchise to those who owned no land, there would be the danger that the non-land owners would vote themselves someone else’s land.

The English Enlightenment

In England, which had a history of Roman rule, most property belonged to the citizens and very little to the monarch. John Locke was a strong supporter of property rights. He saw property rights as an extension of the right to ones own life. By labor one gains the right to the objects one had produced, according to Locke. Locke believed that the monarch did not have the right to steal his subjects’ property. 

The Factory Owner

The author discusses the differences in relationships between: (a) the landowner and his tenant farmers, (b) the factory owner and his factory workers. In the former case, there is more of a historical and personal bond between the landowner and the tenant farmers, while in the latter case the relationship is more impersonal and transitory. In the latter case the owner feels fewer obligations for the welfare of his workers, and this is often resented by the workers. 

Amateur Anthropologists

Socialist philosophers speculated about the past and primitive societies, but knew no history or anthropology. 

Christian Charity

In Christianity, the believers are urged to voluntarily share their wealth with the poor, but their wealth is not forcibly redistributed to the poor, as in the case under Communism. 

Opponents of Private Property

Opponents of private property include: (a) ancient Greek philosopher Plato, (b) English Political Philosopher Thomas Hobbes, (c) French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (d) French revolutionary Jacques-Pierre Brissot, (e) French revolutionary Louis de Saint-Just, (f) French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, (g) economist Friedrich Engels, (h) economist Karl Marx, and (i) twentieth century philosopher John Rawls.