The Communist understanding of property is not often taught in school, but is important to understand.
Under Capitalism it is assumed that every type of property is equal to another. That property is often called private property. That, however, is not that simple under any other system. Every economic system analyzes social relations in a different way. All property exists through these social relations, so under different economic systems property comes in different forms.
Private Property VS Personal Property
One of the main aspects of capitalism is private ownership of the means of production, otherwise known as private ownership of capital. The means of production are the tools used to produce the goods for all of society. These tools can take many forms, but the most commonly used example is the machines within factories. Under capitalism these are under absolute control of an entity or group of entities. The working class must come to an agreement with those who control the means of production, or starve. This agreement generally comes in the form of wage labor, where the worker is given a portion of the profits while the majority goes to those who control the property.
Personal Property tends to exist under every economic system. Personal property is property intended for use by the individual who controls it, and is attained in a socially “fair” manor. Items in this category would include toothbrushes, personal computers, and most cars. Most personal property of the bourgeoisie, the owners of private property, can only be afforded through this ownership. A 500 room mansion, and collective of private jets would not count as personal property. A private jet could easily cost a million dollars per year, and very few people would be able to produce enough themselves to afford that, so it can only come through control of the means of production. [3] [4]
Property and The State
All public law today is based on the principles of a “monopoly on violence”. A monopoly on violence. The social relations of the worker to the controller cannot exist without this. There is no basis for control without a monopoly of violence, so private property cannot exist without it. Some groups, “anarchist capitalists” for one, would claim that private property is independent of the government. The counter-claim is that a force of guards used to protect private property rights is itself a state. A simple definition of state from dictionary.com states “a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory; especially : one that is sovereign”. The private property itself would be the territory and the owner(s) would be the ruler, while the guards would be the much-needed monopoly of violence. The workers made the means of production and use the means of production. In other societies it has been shown that they can also manage the means of production. That means anybody controlling the means of production through violence is doing it offensively, and not defensively. As they are trying to take the rights of the workers away by calling it their own property and structuring society around that control.[5]
Note: The definition of state has no consensus and changes over-time (especially since “anarchist capitalism” relies on a different definition than everyone else). [6]
The only thing somebody controls when they are born is themselves. Everything that comes from the control of their own body is the fruits of their labor. The fruits of their labor, and their personal property created from that is part of their freedom. To take personal property is to take their freedom. This means that a thief is using offensive violence to attack the freedoms of a worker. Defensive violence is not authoritarian like offensive violence, so thus personal property can exist outside the bounds of the state (or depending on your definition, each individual is their own state).
Social relations are surprisingly simple, but different interpretations of the actions of humanity lead to many different ideas. The different types of property under different systems are examples of this.