Property And Freedom

One of man s most enduring dreams is of a Utopian society in which all possessions are held in common ownership. As Professor Pipes argues in this book, such a dream has never been translated into reality in the secular world, despite the best efforts of socialist and communist ideologues. Acquisitiveness is deeply embedded in all societies. After establishing a definition of property and reviewing its development as an institution, Pipes pursues his argument in the light of two models of society the British creation of a property-owning democracy based on an assertion of individual rights and the Russian communist experiment of a society in which the individual abdicated to the state a full control over very nearly everything he might have called his own. His book is a powerful argument in favour of his assertion that, While property in some form is possible without freedom, the contrary is inconceivable.