Douglas Giles, PhD
1 min readDec 12, 2024

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No, they've read later propagandists both pro-Marxism and anti-Marxism. Try reading what Marx and Engels actually wrote about property in CM and TGI. Marx and Engels were wrong about many things, but they never called for the abolition of personal property or collective property.--only bourgeois corporate property tied to capitalism.

Here quote the CM directly:

"We Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a man’s own labor, which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity and independence. Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property! Do you mean the property of the petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form of property that preceded the bourgeois form? There is no need to abolish that; the development of industry has to a great extent already destroyed it, and is still destroying it daily. Or do you mean modern bourgeois private property? But does wage-labor create any property for the laborer? Not a bit. It creates capital." (The Communist Manifesto II.13)

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Douglas Giles, PhD
Douglas Giles, PhD

Written by Douglas Giles, PhD

Philosopher by trade & temperament, professor for 21 years, bringing philosophy out of its ivory tower and into everyday life. https://dgilesauthor.com/

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