John Locke, in his 2nd Treatise on Government said that private property was a necessary ingredient of one’s own right to self preservation. If a person has a right to life, they must necessarily have a right to possess their own private property. Marx and Engels, on the other hand, in the Communist Manifesto, define communism in one phrase: the abolition of private property. Locke says private property is a God-given right. Marx and Engels seek to abolish it, recognizing it as a basis of oppression. This conflict underscores the monumental difference between democracy and socialism/communism. They can’t both be right, can they?
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