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Is private property peculiar to capitalism and do socialists want to abolish it?
In the second in a series of Marxist Q&As, the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY examines the nature of private property and how it’s used to extract profit
by Roger D Harris and John Perry
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NO, to both questions. Private property predates capitalism and will survive long after it has been abolished.
But it is important to distinguish personal possessions — your clothes, bicycle, your home (if you “own” it) from capital.
Capital is a particular form of private property — including factories, mines, transport and energy utilities, shops, offices, and, increasingly, financial capital — that enables its owners to make profit from the work of others, and to accumulate yet more capital, and power.
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