Morning Comrades.
One of the central concepts of Marxism is the premise of achieving Equity, not Equality. Everyone knows the meme at this point but I wanted to dig into this idea a little deeper, primarily because it leads to one of, if not one of the most important questions of humanity: justice. To be clear, I am not ready to get into the concept of justice, yet, it is hugely important question but also one where I do not feel qualified to reach and share a helpful conclusion for anyone reading this. Nevertheless, the road to that question is paved with the concept of Equity and the difference to Equality, the enshrined holy grail of modern western capitalist democracy.
It starts with the tenet that Marx put into words in his Gotha Programme. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" (German: Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen) - The principle refers to free access to and distribution of goods, capital and services. In the Marxist view, such an arrangement will be made possible by the abundance of goods and services that a developed communist system will be capable to produce; the idea is that, with the full development of socialism and unfettered productive forces, there will be enough to satisfy everyone's needs. As you will have noticed over the years I have decided to change this a little to: Each according to their needs etc for all the obvious. One day I will get into the history of this idea as it obviously did not originate with Karl and can easily be traced back to the New Testament where in Acts of the Apostles the lifestyle of the community of believers in Jerusalem is described as communal (without individual possession), and uses the phrase "distribution was made unto every man according as he had need": Acts 4:32–35
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
However, for the rest of the day we are going to talk about the difference between Equality and Equity, the path it cleared for the discussion on Justice and more. Enjoy.
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