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 sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their heads. Laughter, praise, honors, money, and the love of beautiful girls will be your only reward.
As the clockwork of the millennia moved a notch in front of their eyes, it had taken their thoughts from small things and reminded them of how vulnerable they were to time.
History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.
We the Living is not a novel 'about Soviet Russia.' It is a novel about Man against the State. Its basic theme is the sanctity of human life - using the word 'sanctity' not in a mystical sense, but in the sense of 'supreme value.'
Our culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect.
The cautious faith that never saws off a limb on which it is sitting, never learns that unattached limbs may find strange unaccountable ways of not falling.
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