504
PARTISAN REVIEW
changes can take place by way of doctrine
alone,
for this seems to
me very improbable. Economic and international political factors
are usually more weighty. I am asking only whether
in the struggle
for freedom, any aspect of the Marxist tradition can be refashioned
and sharpened into a serviceable weapon.. Today in Poland there
is an intense discussion of the basic meaning of Marxism, which may
have such effects.
Let us look at some key Marxist concepts in this light.
There are two conceptions of property in Marx and the Marx–
ist tradition, one of which provides the basis not only for the critique
of capitalism but even more powerfully for a critique of what passes
for socialist economy in all the satellite countries as well as the
Soviet Union.
The first conception of property is substantial and legalistic. It
defines property in terms of legal relations where the law is construed
as a decree certifying
title
of ownership. The development of modern
economy in the West has limited the usefulness of this concept by
separating title from actual economic power. The second conception
of property in Marx is functional and sociological. It is bound up
with the Marxist ethical critique of capitalism. According to this
conception, property is a form of power- the power not so much
to use or abuse instruments, goods and services (since this is always
limited) as the power
to exclude
others from using them. That is
why property
in
things may be power
over
the lives of human be–
ings if they need access to these things to continue life. Wherever
property in land and instruments of production gives power to ex–
clude individuals from the land and from access to instruments of
production, they give a very real power over the personal lives of
these individuals.
Without reference to the institutional, social and political frame–
work of a community, one cannot tell whether the substantial legal
title
to the property of anything is any more than a
promise,
not so much even of income-for income may all be taxed away–
as only of non-transferability. That is why the British Labour Party
believes it can move toward socialism
within
the framework of exist–
ing legal relations, without expropriation. Conversely, even
after
ex–
propriation, where legal title to property has been abolished, the con–
tinued
de facto
power to deny access to others to goods and services,
