This book comprises a systematic analysis of Karl Marx’s reasoning on ownership. Marx as the author of an original theory of ownership is yet to be discovered. The creator of a theory which was to interpret social reality is quite a different thinker from the creator of a doctrine which was to alter the world. In designing communist society, Marx ignored the threats which social property bears, despite having skillfully identified them in investigations of diverse pre-capitalistic forms of common ownership. The author seeks to break through one-sided interpretations which discern in Marx a decisive critique of private property and an apologia of common ownership. It becomes apparent that Marx treated both the processes of socialization and privatization of ownership with equal consideration.

Wies?aw Gumu?a divides his interest between academic life and financial institutions. He is Professor of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University of Cracow (Poland), where he specializes in the sociology of finance. He is the creator of the theory of social peculiarities. For many years, Gumu?a has been working for the banking sector.