Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.
Interpretation
Proudhon discusses the nature of inequality in both communism and property, suggesting both have exploitative elements.
In this quote, Proudhon contrasts the concepts of communism and property, arguing that both systems create inequalities but in different ways. Property leads to the exploitation of the weak by the strong, while communism permits the strong to be exploited by the weak, thus highlighting a cyclical pattern of exploitation inherent in both ideologies.
In practice
In a debate about economic systems, one could use this quote to illustrate the complexities of inequality.
I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I leave the business of governing the world.
All men in their hearts, I say, bear witness to these truths; they need only to be made to understand it.
A common danger tends to concord. Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak. In Communism, inequality comes from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
To name a thing is easy: the difficulty is to discern it before its appearance.
As man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy.
The possessions of the rich are stolen property.
The world can therefore seize the opportunity (the Persian Gulf crisis) to fulfill the long held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind.
What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.
Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?
All men would be masters of others, and no man is lord of himself.
While I meditate on the gulf towards which I travelled, and reflect on my youthful disobedience, for these things I weep, mine eye runneth down with water.
If the Devil can only make you think that you are abused or ill treated, and you begin to fret about it, and you give the Devil power over you - in the end, it is as bad as though you had done wrong yourself.
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