Socialists want a world without private property. But you can keep your Kenny Loggins records.
by Bhaskar Sunkara
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Dear editor,
I’m interested in socialist ideas, but I’m worried about a few things. Like for one, would I get to keep my Kenny Loggins records?
Can an exception be made for me, or is this going to be a commune-like situation where we have to sit around and talk about our feelings and listen to John Lennon all day?
Thank you,
Kiran T.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Kiran,
John Lennon’s iconic 1971 single “Imagine” asks listeners to envision a world without possessions, one without greed or hunger, in which the Earth’s treasures are shared by all humanity. It’s not surprising that the song became an anthem for generations of dreamers, but it also captures something about the socialist vision — the powerful desire to end misery and oppression, and help every person reach their fullest potential.
But the picture painted by Lennon’s song might be a bit worrying for those of us who don’t want a world without personal possessions — a sort of global commune where we’re forced to wear hemp bracelets and share our Kenny Loggins records.
Thankfully, socialists are not interested in collectivizing your music. It’s not because we don’t love Loggins. We simply don’t want a world without personal property — the things meant for individual consumption. Instead, socialists strive for a society without private property — the things that give the people who own them power over those who don’t.
The power created by private property is expressed most clearly in the labor market, where business owners get to decide who deserves a job and who doesn’t, and are able to impose working conditions that, if given a fair alternative, ordinary people would otherwise reject. And even though workers do most of the actual work at a job, owners have unilateral say over how profits are divided up and don’t compensate employees for all the value they produce. Socialists call this phenomenon exploitation.
Exploitation is not unique to capitalism. It’s around in any class society, and simply means that some people are compelled to labor under the direction of, and for the benefit of, others.
Compared to systems of slavery or serfdom, the hardships many workers face today are less immediately obvious. In most countries they have real legal protections and can afford basic necessities — a result of battles won by labor movements to limit the scope and intensity of exploitation.
But exploitation is only ever mitigated in capitalism, never eliminated. Consider this (admittedly abstract) example: let’s say that you’re getting paid $15 an hour by a business owner in a stable, profitable firm. You’ve been working there five years, and you put in about sixty hours a week.
No matter what your job is like — whether it’s easy or grueling, boring or exciting — one thing is certain: your labor is making more (probably a lot more) than $15 an hour for your boss. That persistent difference between what you produce and what you get back in return is exploitation — a key source of profits and wealth in capitalism.
And, of course, with your paycheck you’re forced to buy all the things necessary for a good life — housing, health care, child care, a college education — which are also commodities, produced by other workers who are not fully remunerated for their efforts either.
Radically changing things would mean taking away the source of capitalists’ power: the private ownership of property.
In a socialist society — even one in which markets are retained in spheres like consumer goods — you and your fellow workers wouldn’t spend your day making others rich. You would keep much more of the value you produced. This could translate into more material comfort, or, alternatively, the possibility of deciding to work less with no loss in compensation so you could go to school or take up a hobby.
This might seem like a pipe dream, but it’s entirely plausible. Workers at all levels of design, production, and delivery know how to make the things society needs — they do it every day. They can run their workplaces collectively, cutting out the middle-men who own private property. Indeed, democratic control over our workplaces and the other institutions that shape our communities is the key to ending exploitation.
That’s the socialist vision: abolishing private ownership of the things we all need and use — factories, banks, offices, natural resources, utilities, communication and transportation infrastructure — and replacing it with social ownership, thereby undercutting the power of elites to hoard wealth and power. And that’s also the ethical appeal of socialism: a world where people don’t try to control others for personal gain, but instead cooperate so that everyone can flourish.
As for personal property, you can keep your Kenny Loggins records.
In fact, in a society free from the destructive economic busts endemic to capitalism, with more employment security, and necessities removed from the sphere of the market, your record collection would be free from the danger zone because you wouldn’t have to pawn it for rent money.
That’s socialism in a nutshell: less John Lennon, more Kenny Loggins.
In solidarity,
Bhaskar
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End Private Property, Not Personal Property
- Thread starter CHL
- Start date
nineteeneightysix
Banned
No human being has legitimate claim to land and everything that comes from the land...
All this people claiming "this land is mine" How did they get it?
Earth doesn't belong to any one human being...
However, we are ANIMALS and we are bound by the laws of nature...If you acquire land by any means necessary and hold on to it, then it is "your" land...But when somebody else with bigger guns and more power comes along to take it, don't be a B*TCH talking about "but but but this is my land it has been in my family for generations" bullshat...
It is not yours if you can't take it and hold it...
All this people claiming "this land is mine" How did they get it?
Earth doesn't belong to any one human being...
However, we are ANIMALS and we are bound by the laws of nature...If you acquire land by any means necessary and hold on to it, then it is "your" land...But when somebody else with bigger guns and more power comes along to take it, don't be a B*TCH talking about "but but but this is my land it has been in my family for generations" bullshat...
It is not yours if you can't take it and hold it...
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
property tax revenue will be replaced with what?
who will be responsible for the upkeep of housing and with what funds?
we have a greater chance of national health care
who will be responsible for the upkeep of housing and with what funds?
we have a greater chance of national health care
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fukk all that.
I want to own any business entity I create, intellectual property I create, research I do, and any fruits of my labor
fukk ALL this.
I want to own any business entity I create, intellectual property I create, research I do, and any fruits of my labor
fukk ALL this.
These dudes are college laden hippies with no responsibilities other than the jealously they carry from envy of others who have their shyt together.property tax revenue will be replaced with what?
who will be responsible for the upkeep of housing and with what funds?
we have a great chance of national health care
fukking disgusting shyt i'm reading in here.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
John Lennon owned apartments at The Dakota.
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
Napoleon, you're late to this thread. Your employers will be severely disappointed with your lack of timeliness. They only give you a window of 5 minutes after a thread has been posted to reply. Get it together
nineteeneightysix
Banned
Socialism is not against that...But did you create Earth to own it? No...
The problem isn't ownership, the biggest problem is how much ownership...You can't have 1% of the population owning the majority of the resources...Every system needs a regulatory body that will put a cap on greed...
Capitalism is Obesity...You already ate, but you just want to keep eating beyond what your body needs...Unhealthy...
Capitalism is like a human body that shunts all the blood flow to the brain, and other organ system go hungry because "they not as important"...This leads to death...
I am studying Human Medical Physiology, and science is STRONGLY convincing me that capitalism is a bullshat system that will not last...You have to distribute resources to all parts of society according to their needs...
This doesn't mean that somebody who works at McDonalds gets paid the same as a physician, but that the person working at McDonald gets paid well enough to be able to afford shelter, safety, healthcare, education and a vacation without having to worry about where the next meal is coming....
There is enough money in the world to accomplish this...Why wouldn't anybody want this kind of society?
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
ill
Superstar
In spirit, people do want this form of society. In reality, we have animalistic instincts that go against this type of utopia. Survival of the fittest, people will get left behind. Thats nature.
MajorVitaman
Superstar
You wouldn't say that about Israel
None of these Karl Marx Khazar caping Stans would DARE talk about Israel. They know better than to bite the Khazar communist hands that feed them.
Let cacs finesse you off your land brehs
Get surprised when you end up in a Gulag brehs
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
Be anti-Semitic, brehs. 
