Quote:
Originally Posted by crinolynne
I am not so certain about that - the horrors and injustices of the 18th century are glossed over. If free market capitalism were actually market driven and free, but power concentrates and greed and unenlightened self-interest destroys what we think might be natural and good.
State communism dragged a feudal society from 200-300 years ago forward in 50 years. There are theocracies today which still haven't made it to 1900.
I with you on the mixed concept, but wouldn't underestimate how fragile it is.
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The "closing of the commons" involved ejecting the "tenants" from lands they and their ancestors had inhabited for centuries. Hence, the quote "Property is theft." Marx and Engels were reacting to the horrors and abuses of mid-19th century industrial capitalism. They pretty much predicted that workers would be replaced by machines and left to starve in the midst of plenty.
As a a philosopher, I am here to tell you that the philosophical, hence legal and moral, underpinnings of capitalism are based on very dubious assumptions. I am convinced that historically private property arose from bandit tribes divvying up the spoils of conquest.