Common Ownership & Religion

By the eighteenth century, common ownership had found a purely political expression. But over the centuries, the flame had been kept alive by a variety of religious movements. The history of common ownership would be incomplete without a brief survey of the religious significance of the concept.

Common ownership was always an important strand of Taoist and Buddhist writings and practice, and Zen Buddhism is particularly strong in its rejection of private property. Many religious communities, such as the Essenes and early Christian groups, were run along almost communist lines, reviving common ownership in accordance with their interpretation of their scriptures:

In the fourth century, Ambrose stated that "Nature has poured forth all things for all men for common use."

The assimilation of Christianity by the Roman state subdued such notions, but they resurfaced occasionally. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas argued that wealth was held in trust for the public good, that people should give away what was excess to their needs, and that if a hungry person took food, it was not theft.

Francis of Assisi also repudiated private property, but his followers were taken under the wing of the Catholic Church, founding the Franciscan order. Those who preached his message thereafter were denounced as heretics.

The English Revolution saw groups such as the Diggers and the Ranters fighting for common ownership, based on their religious beliefs. Later, it found a powerful voice in the writings of William Blake. Do those who prefer Jerusalem to the Red Flag understand the former's connection to Clause IV?

Religion also underpinned the development of William Godwin's ideas. Known as the father of anarchism, he trained in his early years to be a Dissenting Calvinist minister. Though he later became an atheist, he was strongly influenced by Aquinas and others. Tolstoy also belonged to this "tradition," and was, in turn, a major influence on Gandhi.

Gandhi maintained that any property, including one's talents, should be used for the benefit of all. His followers, the Sarvodaya, who are still a major force in Indian politics, pursued this notion of "trusteeship," particularly in the context of common ownership of the land.