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The question of whether property should be publicly or privately owned has long been debated. With the rise of socialism and communism, many believe that property should be government owned and kept in the common domain for all the people. John Locke, however, argues for the possibility of private acquisition of property through labor. Although socialists and communists believe that all property should be owned by the state and be common to all people, this author’s opinion is that private ownership of property should be allowed because this possibility motivates men to labor to obtain property and improve it. Two major forms of government today believe that all property should be owned by the state and common to all people: socialism and communism. Socialism is an economic system, a political movement, and a social theory. Most socialists believe that national or local governments, rather than individuals, should own a nation’s resources and control their use (Schumpeter 20). Socialism calls for public ownership of land, factories, and other basic means of production. Similarly, communists believe in a society based on public ownership of the means of production (Schumpeter 22). Although both socialism and communism have