Two of the most noted and influential modern political thinkers are John Locke and Karl Marx. John Locke was an english philosopher who was famous for his use of empiricism and his social contract theories. Karl Marx was a German political thinker who was famous for his theories regarding class struggle and is well known as the father of communism. These two thinkers had many conflicting ideas and philosophies. One topic that they had divergent views on was whether private property was a natural right or not.
John Locke that that private property was a natural right, and one of the most important ones at that. One of Locke’s most famous quotes is that all men have the right to “life, liberty and property.” Locke discusses his theories of property in his Second Treatise of Government. Locke believes that god gave man the earth to hold in common, but when a man adds his labor to the earth it becomes his private property. When a man plows a field than the field becomes his, as well as the fruits of that land. Whatever man adds his labor to becomes private property for their exclusive use.
In Locke’s eyes the main purpose of the government is too protect individuals private property. In a state of nature there is no way for each individual to ensure that their property remains safe from every one else. Once conflict over private property starts to occur the people come together and use to their reason to draft a social contract that will protect their property. Locke also says that before the introduction of private property men live in an egalitarian state of nature, but with the introduction of private property it caused a hierarchy to form. it is because of private property that men are forced to form a contract amongst themselves and craft a government. (http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4n.htm)
Karl Marx’s views towards private are quite different than those of John Locke. In his major work the Communist Manifesto he states that “the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” (Marx) Marx believed that the bourgeoisie controlled all of the profit creating property and used it to enslave the proletariat, or working class. Marx disagrees with John Locke’s theory of property, Marx argues that workers labor doesn’t grant them any property whereas the capitalist class has all the property but does no labor. In the Communist Manifesto it is argued that labor has been used throughout history to repress and exploit the working class and that the only things that change are the structures of the exploitation.
Both Locke and Marx’s views of private property have been highly influential. John Locke’s theories of property have been most influential to capitalist thinkers whereas Karl Marx’s work have been most influential to communist and socialist thinkers and governments. The best way to study the way that these two different ideology work in application is too look at the two case studies that best exemplify the divergent theories, namely the United States and the Soviet Union.
The founders of the United States were highly influenced by the thinking of Locke when they wrote their constitution. In the Fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights it states that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ” This amendment guarantees that private property will be protected from the government. Also, obviously, it is against the law for any one to steal or hamper with anyone else’s private property. John Locke would probably be happy with this system because it fulfills his government’s basic purpose of protecting private property.
In 1917 a group of revolutionaries called the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Czar so they could put in a Communist government in place. The person whose thinking was most influential to the revolution, and the government that they put into place, was Karl Marx. In the Soviet System all private property and means of production were, theoretically, owned by the people. How this system worked was the Communist party controlled the industry and private property in place of the people. Under this system it just perpetuated the system of the working class and the bourgeoisie, except now the bourgeoisie were the members of the Communist Party who controlled and exploited the workers who they were supposedly in league with and representing. All in all John Locke’s ideas about private property has fared better than Karl Marx’s in practical application.
Works Cited
“Locke: Social Order.” Philosophy Pages. 30 Apr. 2007.
Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. 30 Apr. 2007.
