What Do Radical Leftists Mean By Private Property? (and why do you want to abolish it?)

What Is Private Property to the Radical Left?

The radical left uses the words "private property" to describe ownership of the economy under capitalism.  Let's break down the words for simplicity, in reverse order for clarity.

Property:  anything that can combine raw material and labor to create value or the raw material itself.

Private:  owned by individuals or small groups of owners who have final say in how the property is used (within the law, most of the time) without any means of recourse for the workers or affected communities (again, as long as activity is within the law or the bribes came early and often).

To be a radical leftist means seeking to abolish private property as defined above.

Wait, What?  Abolish Property?  I Don't Want to Share Everything

The proletarian liberates himself by abolishing competition, private property, and all class differences. --  Frederick Engels, The Principles of Communism

Most people think of personal possessions when they hear the phrase "private property" (in their defense, that seems like what those two words should mean stuck together).  So when you hear us say, “Abolish private property!” we mean let's let the workers run their own affairs democratically with input and collaboration with the community.  Deciding together, and even electing their own leaders and managers if they see fit.

So you can stop worrying about sharing your toilet paper with anyone who asks (although it rarely comes up, takes a second, and it's the right thing to do).

But This Boss Earned His Way

Many people who own businesses, especially ones they built themselves, have worked incredibly hard to succeed.  No doubt.  No question.  When radical leftists argue that business owners exploit workers, business owners sometimes think we dismiss the work they had to do.  We don't.  Many people have met or had bosses that worked alongside employees, sometimes harder or longer.  So how can we still believe in abolishing private property?

Hard work does not mean you can disregard the workers.  People have to make money to eat and house and take care of themselves and their dependents, and people rarely have the wealth or opportunity to start a successful business.  So workers give a set amount of labor, they are always paid back less and usually just enough to make by or worse.  And no matter how difficult financing a start-up or finding talented workers or finally paying off all the debt was, no one has the right to pollute without seeking consent of anybody, and leaving communities to clean up, if they are lucky enough to be able to, the mess of the private property owner.

How, When, and in What Order Are We Abolishing?

The radical left thinks a government cannot be democratic when a small minority can control society with enormous wealth.  Private property leads to the inevitable gap between rich and poor in capitalism, and that means in leads to the lack of democracy in society.  So the radical left all agrees we should abolish private property, but we don't all agree on how to abolish private property, at what point during the revolution, and in what order.

As for how to abolish private property, everything has been done from union's running out the bosses and running the factories themselves, using governments to start land reform, gift economies, command economies, etc.

Some people seek to experience life without private property right now.  Squatters fix up abandoned buildings and live for free, some people start collectively ran enterprises.  For most people, though, such adventures are romantic but do not fix the problem for everyone.  The Bolsheviks pursued worker direct democracy (in units called Soviets) during and just after the Russian Revolution before pursuing state management and ownership.

And, of course, there is the issue of order.  As you can imagine, many radical leftists would love to see private property abolished and democratized all at once and as fast as possible.  Other ideas have been put forward, though, such as seizing only the major bulwarks of the economy, allowing consumer goods, artisan shops, and the like to exist in a market while the government controls the largest parts.  Many actual revolutions of the radical left begin with land reform along with a gradual increase in social services before collectivizing (sometimes forced, sometimes voluntarily) other sectors.

Property Is Not Your Comrade, We Are!

Property is theft! -- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?

"Abolish private property!" and the always popular (above mentioned) "Property is theft!" call against the rich controlling society and their employees as dictators.