What Is Property? · Chapter
Tenth Proposition explained
Proudhon argues that property is impossible because it negates equality.
What happens
Proudhon argues that property is impossible because it negates equality. He summarizes nine previous propositions to demonstrate that property violates economic justice, labor balance, and natural rights, ultimately concluding that property is a delusion and a negation.
Themes in this chapter
Inequality of Wealth
Proudhon asserts that property inherently demands more than labor produces, creating inequality and robbing the laborer.
Possession vs. Property
The chapter contrasts natural rights (like liberty and paternity) with the right of increase, which never achieves balance, showing property as unnatural.
Characters to notice
- Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Author and primary voice; presents the tenth proposition and recapitulates earlier arguments against property.
Key passages
“Property is impossible, because it is the Negation of equality.”
Property cannot exist because it fundamentally denies equality.
Opening statement of the tenth proposition.
“Property, demanding a double product and unable to obtain it, robs the laborer, and kills him.”
Property requires more output than possible, so it exploits and destroys the worker.
Illustrates the destructive effect of property on labor.
“Property is not self-existent. An extraneous cause—either force or fraud —is necessary to its life and action. In other words, property is not equal to property: it is a negation—a delusion— nothing.”
Property does not exist on its own; it relies on force or deceit, and ultimately it is a negation and an illusion.
Concluding summary that property is a nullity.