Why was collective ownership in socialist view not only an economic arrangement but also a moral idea?

Correct answer: Because it stressed collective welfare and equality instead of private profit

Socialists treated collective ownership as a moral idea because they were concerned with how wealth, power, and opportunities were distributed among people. If productive resources were controlled only for private profit, owners could benefit while workers remained poor or insecure. Collective ownership was imagined as a way to place production under social control and direct its benefits toward the wider community. It therefore involved ideas of fairness, dignity, and equal social value.

Option A is correct because it connects ownership with collective welfare and equality rather than private gain alone. Option B supports royal privilege, not socialist justice. Option C wrongly removes rights from workers, whereas socialist arguments generally sought to challenge their exploitation. Option D protects feudal inequality, which socialism criticised. The moral point is that economic arrangements should serve people collectively and reduce exploitation.