The justice of private property: analysis of Locke, Smith and MarxPrivate property and, in a sense, the distribution of wealth are key subjects of the debate on social justice for centuries. . John Locke, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx had different and sometimes overlapping ideologies regarding real estate acquisition, economics, and land ownership. I argue, however, that although it was not put into practice in a way that corresponds to theory, Marx had the greatest ideas in creating and maintaining harmony among men in his economic theory. Perhaps one of Locke's greatest contributions was his ideas regarding property. In Locke's time, the Bible was believed to declare that the earth was made for humanity in common. Locke argued that although land belongs to all, this does not imply giant common use, but rather allows for the acquisition of private property. Locke believed that God, being the creator, had control over creation in the sense that he could work to create and manipulate/possess/improve creation. Since we are created in the image of God, we share (to a lesser extent) this power. Although creation may have been originally designed for the common, we as humans inherently own our bodies. This property of our body includes our actions/works. This is similar to Marxist thinking regarding the relationship between man, work and the products we create. 1) “Whatever he takes from the state of nature…he has mixed his labor with it and joined it with something of his own, and thus makes it his property.” Assuming we truly own our work/efforts, Locke believed that when we apply our work (ourselves) to the rest of creation, we somehow put ourselves in the creation and more or less... in the middle paper. .... Ray, John. Religion, art and science; a study of reflective activities in humans. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1961. Marx, Karl. Thoughts of a young man about choosing a profession. :, 1835.Marx, Karl. The Grundrisses. [1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Rader, Melvin. Marx's interpretation of history. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. Rousseau, Jean and Maurice Cranston. A speech on inequalities. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1984. Scruton, Roger. A brief history of modern philosophy from Descartes to Wittgenstein. 2nd, rev. and enl. ed. London: Routledge, 1995. Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations. Hoboken, NJ: BiblioBytes, 1776 Tonnies, Ferdinand and Charles Price Loomis. Community and society (Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft). East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1957.