"Property is robbery! That is the war-cry of '93! That is the signal of revolutions! Reader, calm yourself: I am no agent of discord, no firebrand of sedition. I anticipate history by a few days; I disclose a truth whose development we may try in vain to arrest; I write the preamble of our future constitution. This proposition which seems to you blasphemous — property is robbery — would, if our prejudices allowed us to consider it, be recognized as the lightning-rod to shield us from the coming thunderbolt; but too many interests stand in the way! ... Alas! philosophy will not change the course of events: destiny will fulfill itself regardless of prophecy. Besides, must not justice be done and our education be finished?"
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Property is theft! is a more famous translation of the original: La propriété, c'est le vol! Compare the summarised dictum of the English Ranter, Abiezer Coppe (1619-1672): "Coppe expressed the same hatred of possession, ownership and property [...]. The wealthy place collars about the world's wealth and have stolen God's bounty for all humankind for themselves."
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Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
1809 – 1865
französischer Ökonom, Soziologe und Anarchist
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