**If property is theft, who are you stealing it from?** - Theft implies that the property has been stolen from someone, or something. But, for this to apply someone or something has to own that property in the first place. Whether this opinion is implicating that things need to be owned by a collective, or shared out, I am unsure. But, my point is WHO is the property being stolen from? If you cannot answer that, then surely property is not theft.

**Owning resources which should be divided more equally could be interpreted as stealing from wider society.** - Firstly, this phrase needs to be contextualized. ‘Property is theft!’ is a phrase used by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Proudhon was talking specifically here about [the ownership of real estate/land property and being able to do what you please with it.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_is_theft!) - Marx takes issue with this phrase, saying the term ‘theft’ itself [suggests that ‘property’ is real and valid](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1865/letters/65_01_24.htm). However, I think Proudhon’s wording does make sense: As a society, we could be said to collectively ‘own’ the resources which we need to uphold our basic rights and freedoms. (For example, an individual owning all the arable land would violate the rights of other humans beings, as not having access to food would be cruel and deprive them of liberty and security.) - Some might say that it is better to consider land as belonging to no one rather than everyone. However, I think as we have to use and look after the earth to keep on existing, I think it is appropriate to say it is ‘owned’ by everyone. - In my opinion, 'property is theft' rings true, as, while [there is, in theory, enough resources in the world to feed a population of about 10 billion](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2015/04/28/can-10-billion-people-live-and-eat-well-on-the-planet-yes/), many people go without. In this sense, these people ‘own’ a share of land which has been stolen from them due to capitalism. - (Even if we consider property as no bad thing, or as a necessity for a functioning society/economy, we can still consider it ‘theft’ as land that we 'rightfully' buy today may simultaneously be land that has been usurped/colonised in the past.)