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How did Proudhon distinguish property from possession?
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In his influential work What Is Property?, the French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon famously declared that "property is theft." However, this slogan was intended to target a specific form of ownership rather than all personal holdings.12
Proudhon distinguished between these concepts based on their function in society:
- Property: Proudhon used this term to describe ownership that allows an individual to exploit the labor of others, such as that held by absentee landlords or capitalists. He viewed this type of property as a mechanism for tyranny and social inequality.132
- Possession: He regarded possession as an essential bulwark of liberty. This refers to the right of an individual worker, or a group of workers, to control and use the land, tools, and resources necessary for their own production.312
By making this distinction, Proudhon advocated for a society of independent peasants and artisans, or worker-run associations, where individuals maintain control over their own means of production without the coercive interference of a centralized state.32