description What Is Property? Overview
This 1840s pamphlet by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon explores the concept of property within an anarchist framework. It argues against traditional notions of ownership, asserting that individuals possess what they occupy and use. The work is notable for its foundational contribution to socialist and anarchist thought and remains relevant for those interested in land ethics, resource management, and critiques of capitalist systems. It was primarily distributed amongst French social activists and intellectuals.
insights Ranking position
What Is Property? ranks #24 of 312 in the Pamphlet ranking, behind Reflections on the Revolution in France, ahead of Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer.
help What Is Property? FAQ
Why does Proudhon say "property is theft" in What Is Property?
Proudhon argues that an owner can collect rent or profit from property without personally using or working it, thereby appropriating value produced by others. His attack is aimed at legally protected private property, not at every form of personal possession.
Does What Is Property reject all individual possession?
No. Proudhon distinguishes property from possession, defending a person's control of land or tools that they actually occupy and use while rejecting an unlimited right to extract income from them.
When was What Is Property first published?
The French work appeared in 1840 under the title Qu'est-ce que la propriété? It helped establish Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as an important early theorist of anarchism.
How does Proudhon's position differ from communism?
Proudhon criticizes both capitalist property and state-centered communism. His later mutualist thought favors possession, voluntary exchange, and associations of workers rather than ownership directed by either landlords or a centralized state.
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