Introduction

The peoples of Europe demonstrated at parliamentary elections that the policies which governments had conventionally employed before 1939 were no longer acceptable. Social decay and deterioration in the physical fabric of particular loci in society produce social instability, feelings of insecurity and high mobility rates. The European political traditions of the twentieth century, which have followed the parallel historical paths of J. S. Mill and K. Marx, derive from this long theoretical - at times metaphysical - controversy positing collective against private ownership. There are two main explanations for the fervour of the debate. Firstly, since there are no direct sources detailing the origins of landed property in Rome, evidence cited by the contenders to truth is sharply disputed. Secondly, the outcome of the adversarial, academic argument becomes a weapon placed at the disposal of the field marshals of the ideological battle.