Key ideas: Published in 1952. Back to: One Is a Crowd: Reflections of an Individualist - by Frank Chodorov
Socialism has come a long way, then, because of competent leadership. The proponents of private property, on the other hand, have fought a losing game simply because of their ineptitude.
The logic of economics is entirely on their side: it is only through private property that society can achieve abundance.
Morality is also on their side: if a man is denied exclusive possession and enjoyment of that which he produces he is denied the right to life, and is in effect reduced to something less than a man.
With these two arguments in its arsenal, private property should never have been put on the defensive. The collectivistic psychopaths should never have gained ascendancy with the mass-man. But, the cause of private property has been championed by men who had no interest in it; their main concern has always been with the institution of privilege which has grown up alongside private property.
They start by defining private property as anything that can be got by law; hence, they put their cunning to the control of the law-making machinery, so that the emerging laws enable them to profit at the expense of producers. They talk about the benefits of competition and work toward monopolistic practices. They extol individual initiative and support legal limitations on individuals who might challenge their ascendancy
In short, they are for the State, the enemy of private property, because they profit by its schemes. Their only objection to the State is its inclination to invade their privileged position or to extend privileges to other groups.