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Ownership in a Post-Collectivist Society
Robert Skidelsky
Monday, January 12, 1998
The two key terms in the discussion 'ownership' and 'post-collectivism' are notoriously difficult to define. Perhaps I can give a better account of my position if I approach it from standpoint of 'post-collectivism'.
In standard political (and I think economic) thought, collectivism is synonymous with collective, usually state, ownership of the means of production,distribution and exchange.Individual ownership is confined to consumer goods. Soviet Communism is the main historical example, but Clause 4 socialism aspired to this. Individual ownership of productive resources is the antithesis.
In my book, The World After Communism, I gave a broader definition.It seemed odd to say that Nazi Germany was not a collectivist society, even
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