Richard Garner (letters, 3rd April) states that Kropotkin contradicts himself when he (Kropotkin) argued that "Who, then, can appropriate for himself the tiniest plot of ground in such a city, without committing a flagrant injustice?" while allowing individuals to hold land for personal use. He asks me what I "believe 'for himself' means, if not personal use?" and asks me (and Kropotkin) to "make up your mind."
However, in my letter I did explain what I thought Kropotkin meant by "for himself" -- that from the context Kropotkin was discussing landlordism and not land for personal use. This can be seen from page 90 and from the comments I quote from pages 95-6. Kropotkin on page 90 is discussing the abolition of landlordism and on pages 95-6 Kropotkin is discussing those who have a house suitable for their own needs. There is no contradiction, other than that generated by quoting out of context.
It is interesting to note that Mr. Garner does not address the fact I pointed out that Proudhon also argued that "Land cannot be appropriated" (Chapter 3, part 1 of What is Property?). Proudhon, it is well known, supported the use of land (and other resources) for personal use. How, then, can he argue that the "land cannot be appropriated"? Is Proudhon subject to the same contradiction as Kropotkin? Of course not. As I explained in my initial reply, we must take into account the difference between private property and possession, appropriation and use. The former leads to usury and domination while the later promotes liberty. That Mr. Garner ignores my basic argument (and a large chunk of my letter) suggests an unwillingness on his part to address it and the implications it has for his own arguments.
On a related matter, Mr. Garner suggests that the "second logical failing" of anarchist-communists is that we have "still asserted that we don't have a right to own private property" while "voluntary" (why the quotation marks? Perhaps Mr. Garner does not believe us?) communism "implies that people have the right to choose not to own property privately." This, he claims, "necessarily implies the right to own property, which is the same as a right to privately own property." All I can say is that Mr. Garner seems intent in ignoring the bulk of my letter in order to create a straw man. I argued in my letter that there was a difference between private property and possession. The former is a means to exclude people from resources you own but do not use (landlordism, for example, is based on this). This basic point was explained by Proudhon in 1840. I would have imagined that an anarchist would be familiar with this basic libertarian position and analysis. Kropotkin was aware of it. In The Conquest of Bread he mentions "the form of possession of the instruments of labour" and of economists' "thesis in favour of private property against all other forms of possession." [pages 145-6] Which, to state the obvious, means that there are many different ways to possess an item, private property being but one.
The aim of anarchist-communism is, to quote another of Kropotkin's work, to place "the product reaped or manufactured at the disposal of all, leaving to each the liberty to consume them as he pleases in his own home." [The Place of Anarchism in the Evolution of Socialist Thought, page 7] In other words, to give individuals possession of the goods they need (in their own home!) and for them to use them to maximise their pleasure. This, of course, implies individual possession of the products a person decides to consume (including homes). However, this does not imply property in the capitalist sense. And, of course, this basic principle applies to those who do not desire to join the communist-anarchist commune. They would have the same rights to possess the resources they need to live (i.e. to produce the consumption goods they need). This does not imply the "right to own property privately" as it currently means. It implies the same rights of possession ("use-rights") as those who live in the communist-anarchist commune but extended to include any resources (such as land) used by the individual.
Mr. Garner seems to want to call two different things the same name. He desires to call the use-rights based possession of anarchism the same name as the property-rights of capitalism. This just produces confusion. For example, the right-wing icons (and decidedly non-anarchist) Murray Rothbard, Frederick von Hayek and Mrs Thatcher all supported "property" and "private property." Does this mean that Mr. Garner (and anarchists like Tucker) mean the same thing when he talks about "private property"? I doubt it. As John Stuart Mill pointed out over a hundred years ago, the "powers of exclusive use and control are very various, and differ greatly in different countries and in different states of society." To use the term "property" to describe many different social customs is simply silly (and produces silly comments, such as the Tory MPs -- in Saturn's Children -- who argued that "primitive communism" did not exist as tribal people "own" their own clothes and weapons! Talk about missing the point). It also seems to ensure that communist-anarchism is subjected to straw men arguments.
Mr Garner states that "housing co-operatives own houses as corporate property." The same can be said for the communist-anarchist commune. The members of the commune possess the resources of the commune in common (and consume many of its products individually just as the housing co-op members control their own home). Those who do not wish to pool their resources are free to live outside (as happened in the collectives in Spain, for example). However, they have no means to appropriate land and resources and just possess what they actually use. For individuals to appropriate resources implies that they are physically stopping people from using any excess they own, or hiring people to do so, and only allowing others access when they agree to submit to the property owners' authority -- both of which are the germs of the state.
Thus, I would suggest, that Mr. Garner seems intent in attacking straw men. Kropotkin does not (nor communist-anarchists in general) show a contradiction in his argument as communist-anarchism does not mean the end of individual possession (how could it? Individuals would obviously possess their clothes, for example, the food they take from communal stores and so on). What it does mean is the socialisation of the resources of those who wish to live in a communist society, while leaving those who do not the necessary resources to live ("the point attained in the socialisation of wealth will not be everywhere the same" -- The Conquest of Bread, page 81). It is, as I argued in my initial letter, the end of private property in the means of life (i.e. the ability to exclude others from resources you are not currently using) and their transformation into a combination of communal and individual possession (as would be implied by the term "free communism").
If Mr. Garner desires to use the term "private property" to describe all forms of possession, then he is free to do so. However to do so cannot help to bred confusion and helps to ignore an important difference between two essentially different concepts. One concept is capitalist, and so generates exploitation ("property is theft") and domination ("property is despotism") and which no anarchist can support and remain an anarchist. The other is libertarian, the idea of individual possession in Proudhon's sense of the term, and one which communist-anarchism is based on. As I tried to make clear in my last letter. Sadly Mr. Garner decided to ignore that aspect of my argument.
Iain Mckay