Daniel Bensaïd (1946–2010) was a philosopher who taught at the University of Paris VIII. He wrote books on Marxism, Walter Benjamin, the May ’ 68 uprisings, and Joan of Arc.

Robert Nichols is associate professor of political theory at the University of Minnesota, former research fellow at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and author of Theft Is Property! Dispossession and Critical Theory.

Contents

Crisis and Kleptocracy: Bensaïd for Our Times

Robert Nichols

Notes on Translation

The Dispossessed: Karl Marx, the Wood Thieves, and the Right of the Poor

I. The Law on the Theft of Wood and the Rights of the Poor

“Rural Pauperism” and “Forest Malfeasance”—Hybrid and Uncertain Property—Market versus Popular Economy

II. A Social War of Properties

The Right of Necessity versus the Right of Property—“Property Is Theft!”—Possession and Property—Theft or Exploitation

III. The Customary Rights of the Poor to the Communal Goods of Humanity

The Privatization of Knowledge—The Privatization of Life—The Common Good and the Freely Given—Inappropriable Goods—Individual and Private Property—The Age of Access?—Enforcing Rights (against Existence)—Who Will Win?

Proceedings of the Sixth Rhine Province Assembly, Third Article: Debates on the Law Concerning the Theft of Wood

Karl Marx

Selected Works by Daniel Bensaïd

Notes

Index