To each according to his contribution

To each according to their contribution is considered by Marxists and other socialists as a characteristic of society after a socialist revolution and before the transition to communism. Although the phrase has never been explicitly used (it has been stated as an equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor by Lenin or to each the full product of his labor by many others) the same concept has been put forward by several prominent members of the labor movement. Karl Marx and Engels would mention it in several of their works but usually with very different wording.
*Karl Marx first described it in Capital as "...his share in the part of the total product destined for individual consumption" and in the same paragraph he would later state "...the share of each individual producer in the means of subsistence is determined by his labour time" [ [http://marx.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm#S4, Karl Marx, "Capital Volume One"] ]
*In the Communist Manifesto in response to the accusation that people will not work due to lack of incentives. Here he says "we (the communists) by no means intend to abolish this personal appropriation of the products of labour, an appropriation that is made for the maintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves no surplus wherewith to command the labour of others.'" [ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "The Communist Manifesto"] ]
*Friedrich Engels in his philosophical work, the Anti-Duhring wrote that the individual worker would receive a certificate that is "merely evidence of the part taken by the individual in the common labour, and of his right to a certain portion of the common produce destined for consumption," and in carrying out this function, it is "no more 'money' than a ticket for the theatre." [ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch26.htm, Friedrich Engels, "The Anti-Duhring"] ]

Definition and purpose

To each according to his contribution, has been mentioned in various forms by many members of the labor movement, from Ferdinand Lassalle's and Eugen Duhring's hazy statements to Leon Trotsky. However it was Lenin who claimed the principle to be a founding pillar of socialism within Marxist theory.

The term means simply that in a socialist society, each worker is rewarded in accordance with the amount of labor that they contribute to society. This translates into productive workers earning substantially more than mediocre workers. It could also be extended to mean that the more difficult one’s job is (whether this difficultly is because of greater training requirements or intensity) the more one is rewarded for one’s labor.

The purpose of the principle, as Trotsky would later state, is to promote productivity. This is done by creating incentives to work harder, longer, and more productively. The principle is ultimately a stowaway from capitalism, a "bourgeois right" as Marx explained that will vanish as the proletarian state vanishes and society becomes more equalized.

Elaboration in Gotha

The principle has its roots in the way that capitalism manages its affairs. That is, each is rewarded according to how much he produces. Monetary payments increase as the amount of hours worked increase. However within capitalism, the means of production are owned by a small minority who does not produce, but rather lives off the labor of others. Socialism is said to remedy this by putting the means of production in common hands and rewarding individuals according to their contribution.

In the Critique of the Gotha Programme, while attacking Lassalle's ideas, Marx elaborates on the theory. According to Marx's analysis of the Programme, Lessalle suggests that "the proceeds of labor belong undiminished with equal right to all members of society." While he agrees that the citizens of a workers' society should reward according to individual contributions, he claims that giving them the "full product" of their labor is impossible as some of the proceeds will be needed to maintain infrastructure and so forth. [ [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch01.htm, Karl Marx, "The Critique o the Gotha Programme"] ] He then explains the nature of communist society as one that does not emerge from its own foundations "but, on the contrary, just as it emerges from capitalist society; which is thus in every respect, economically, morally, and intellectually, still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges." And so "accordingly, the individual producer receives back from society -- after the deductions have been made -- exactly what he gives to it." He explains this as: In the paragraph immediately following Marx continues to explain how this system of exchange is related to the capitalist system of exchange:

Marx says that this is a rational and necessary, but unfair method. And that once society advances from the lower phase of communist society, distribution will occur along different lines. During the higher phase of communism, the standard shall be "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" as Marx's famous slogan states.

Use by later Marxists

Lenin wrote the State and Revolution to answer all the burning questions of the movement, and to prevent Marxism from becoming tainted by "opportunists" and "reformists" as he called them. The work is very important as it categorizes the "first phase of communist society" as socialism, with the higher phase being communism proper. The pamphlet also answers all questions and concerns of the Marxists of his time by utilizing the classic works of Marxism.

When he is set to describe socialism and its economic features he turns to the authority of Marx, especially the Critique of the Gotha Programme. Lenin claims that socialism will not be perfect since, as Marx said, it has emerged out of the womb of capitalism and which is in every respect stamped with the birthmarks of the old society. This society, socialism, will be unable to provide people with total equality, precisely because it is still marked by capitalism. He also explains the difference between the old society and the new as: Quotation|The means of production are no longer the private property of individuals. The means of production belong to the whole of society. Every member of society, performing a certain part of the socially-necessary work, receives a certificate from society to the effect that he has done a certain amount of work. And with this certificate he receives from the public store of consumer goods a corresponding quantity of products. After a deduction is made of the amount of labor which goes to the public fund, every worker, therefore, receives from society as much as he has given to it.

Lenin states that such a society is indeed socialism as it realizes the two principles of socialism "he who does not work, neither shall he eat" and "an equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor." [ [http://marx.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm#s3, Vladimir Lenin, "The State and Revlution"] ]

Joseph Stalin the founder of Stalinism that would become the ideology of nearly all Communist states, and Leon Trotsky who created Trotskyism and worked to overthrow the Stalinist bureaucracy, both mentioned the term in their works.

*Stalin's most famous use of the concept is in his Constitution. He writes that "The principle applied in the U.S.S.R. is that of socialism:" From each according to his ability, to each according to his work." [ [http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/36cons01.html, "1936 Soviet Constitution"] ] It is especially noteworthy that he says the principle of socialism and not communism. And the fact that his form of the principle is blended with communism's principle (From each according to ability, to each according to his work) which helps other communists to understand his statement.
*Trotsky's mention is in his famous The Revolution Betrayed. He says that "Capitalism prepared the conditions and forces for a social revolution: technique, science and the proletariat. The communist structure cannot, however, immediately replace the bourgeois society. The material and cultural inheritance from the past is wholly inadequate for that." He goes on to defend his position by saying that "in its first steps the workers’ state cannot yet permit everyone to work “according to his abilities” – that is, as much as he can and wishes to – nor can it reward everyone “according to his needs"”, regardless of the work he does." And he presents the principle as the method that socialism will use by saying: "In order to increase the productive forces, it is necessary to resort to the customary norms of wage payment – that is, to" the distribution of life’s goods in proportion to the quantity and quality of individual labor." [ [http://marx.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/ch03.htm, Leon Trotsky, "The Revolution Betrayed"] ]

ee also

*He who does not work, neither shall he eat
*Leninism
*Socialism
*Labour voucher

External links

* [http://marx.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm "Capital: Volume I"] Marx's socioeconomic analysis of capitalism.
* [http://marx.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm "The Critique of the Gotha Programme"] The pamphlet from which Lenin draws much of his arguments for the State and Revolution.
* [http://marx.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm "The State and Revolution"] the complete text of Lenin's main philosophical work.
* [http://marx.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/index.htm "The Revolution Betrayed"] the complete text of Trotsky's most famous and important work.

References