barriomulas.com - Socialism and Property?

Neoliberals chant praise whenever a former socialist country begins to liberalize and decentralize its economy. Recently the Economist preached progress in Vietnam, stating that "farms were given their own land and agricultural prices were freed... There can probably be no going back: any attempt to reapply the dead hand of government will ensure that Vietnam's dream of riches by 2020 remains just a dream." Similar praise has been given to Raul Castro's Cuba and any other country where collectivist farms decline in face of individual property rights.

But such reform would not have been possible if it was not for the initial expropriation of the land in the first place. Quite possibly these lots would still be in the hands of a single aristocratic family. Without an invasive government to redistribute the land, those holy property rights would have been enjoyed by only a few.

American settlers in the West were often granted deeds to large plots of land in order to foment expansionism. Many 20th century political struggles in Latin America where characterized by similar demands from peasants and the indigenous community, but were quickly branded as communist reforms. Though these people were subject to coups, invasions, and political meddling from foreign powers, all they wanted was the same thing that their American counterparts wanted: not only the right to own property, but a realist chance to do so.