people. In any case, property may be requisited strictly by law
and with an appropriate compensation.
This equally applies to the alienation of state and public prop-
erty. Its usurpation is almost always accompanied with the
destruction of the national economy and the suffering of mil-
lions of people.
Privatisation is not an aim in itself. Legal transfer of public prop-
erty to private hands is morally justified. This should result in a
real improvement of goods and services, lower prices, stronger
economy and the building of a dynamic and harmoniously devel-
oping society with justice.
Any unlawful re-distribution of property is always a crime
against society and a violation of the moral law. A private person
who has come into possession of a property through deceit has
neither moral nor legal right to be called its owner. In such a
case, the state is called to restore justice, observing the law and
the moral duty.The state of an economy stands in direct dependence on the spir-
itual and moral condition of the personality. Only a person with
a good heart and lucid mind, spiritually mature, industrious and
responsible, can support himself, while being of benefit to his
neighbours and his people. May it be so in Russia as she has
entered the 21st century.NOTES
(^1) See more above in the article by Pavel Shashkin, Chapter 27.
Code of Moral Principles : Russia 255