Single Idea 23047

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism]

Full Idea

Common ownership in early societies is not the denial of a man's private property in the products of his own labour, but the only way under the circumstances of securing it.

Gist of Idea

Original common ownership is securing private property, not denying it

Source

report of T.H. Green (Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation [1882], §218) by John H. Muirhead - The Service of the State III

Book Reference

Muirhead,John H.: 'The Service of the State: T.H. Green' [John Murray 2021], p.77


A Reaction

This is announced with some confidence, but it is very speculative. I think there is some truth in Locke's thought that putting work into a creation creates natural ownership. But who owns the raw materials? Why is work valued highly?