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.
It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.
You are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. You divinities on earth. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; you are not matter, you are not bodies; matter is your servant,not you the servant of matter.
Buddhas move freely through birth and death, appearing and disappearing at will.
From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.
The coming of Christ means a denial of what we thought we were. It means destroying the white devil in us. Reconciliation to God means that white people are prepared to deny themselves (whiteness), take up the cross (blackness) and follow Christ (black ghetto).
Time is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible, without it nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it.
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