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What is Property?:
An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government

by

Pierre Joseph Proudhon

This translation, from the original French, by Benjamin Tucker.
This translation originally published in 1890 by Humboldt Publishing Company.

This version © 2003, Mondo Politico

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Table of Contents
(click on any of the words below to go to the corresponding part of the book)



Front Matter  
Preface  
First Memoir

WHAT IS PROPERTY? OR, AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND OF GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER I.

METHOD PURSUED IN THIS WORK. -- THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER II.

PROPERTY CONSIDERED AS A NATURAL RIGHT. -- OCCUPATION AND CIVIL LAW AS EFFICIENT BASES OF PROPERTY. DEFINITIONS.

§ 1. Property as a Natural Right
§ 2. Occupation as the Title to Property
§ 3. Civil Law as the Foundation and Sanction of Property
CHAPTER III.

LABOR AS THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE DOMAIN OF PROPERTY.

§ 1. The Land cannot be appropriated
§ 2. Universal Consent no Justification of Property
§ 3. Prescription gives no Title to Property
§ 4. Labor. -- That Labor has no Inherent Power to appropriate Natural Wealth
§ 5. That Labor leads to Equality of Property
§ 6. That in Society all Wages are Equal
§ 7. That Inequality of Powers is the Necessary Condition of Equality of Fortunes
§ 8. That, from the stand-point of Justice, Labor destroys Property
CHAPTER IV.

THAT PROPERTY IS IMPOSSIBLE.

DEMONSTRATION. AXIOM.

Property is the Right of Increase claimed by the Proprietor over any thing which he has stamped as his own

FIRST PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because it demands Something for Nothing

SECOND PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because, wherever it exists, Production costs more than it is worth

THIRD PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because, with a given Capital, Production is proportional to Labor, not to Property

FOURTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because it is Homicide

FIFTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because, if it exists, Society devours itself

APPENDIX TO THE FIFTH PROPOSITION

SIXTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because it is the Mother of Tyranny

SEVENTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because, in consuming its Receipts, it loses them; in hoarding them, it nullifies them; and, in using them as Capital, it turns them against Production

EIGHTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because its Power of Accumulation is infinite, and is exercised only over Finite Quantities

NINTH PROPOSITION

Property is Impossible, because it is powerless against Property

TENTH PROPOSITION.

Property is Impossible, because it is the Negation of Equality

CHAPTER V.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE IDEA OF JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE, AND A DETERMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT AND OF RIGHT.

Part 1
§ 1. Universal Consent no Justification of Property
§ 2. Prescription gives no Title to Property
§ 3. Labor. -- That Labor has no Inherent Power to appropriate Natural Wealth
Part 2
§ 1. That in Society all Wages are Equal
§ 2. That Inequality of Powers is the Necessary Condition of Equality of Fortunes
§ 3. That, from the stand-point of Justice, Labor destroys Property
Second Memoir A Letter to M. Blanqui. Paris, April 1, 1841.


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