Why did socialists consider private property a social problem?

Correct answer: Because owners earned private profit from workers' labour

The direct answer is C: owners earned private profit from workers’ labour. Socialists examined how production worked under private ownership. A capitalist owner controlled a factory, land or other productive property, while workers performed labour for wages. The value produced by workers could bring the owner a private profit, and socialists viewed this unequal relationship as exploitation. Option C is correct because it states the specific reason private property was treated as a social problem. Option A is wrong because socialists criticised private property for creating inequality, not for making everyone equal. Option B is wrong because private ownership did not automatically make workers owners; workers usually remained wage earners. Option D is wrong because religious tolerance is a separate social or political issue and is not the central socialist criticism of private property. The reasoning step by step is: private property gives control to owners; workers must sell their labour; owners receive the product or profit; the unequal benefit can become exploitation; therefore socialists wanted collective or social control over productive resources. Remember that the criticism concerned productive private property and unequal power, not every personal possession. Memory cue: owner controls, worker labours, owner gains private profit—socialists called this exploitation.