Marx, Karl. “After the Revolution.” In Princeton Readings in Political Thought. Edited by Mitchell Cohen and Nicole Fermon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996. This very short essay, from the much longer “Critique of the Gotha Program,” highlights some of the key concepts of Marx’ ideas about the situation society would be in directly following the dissolution of capitalism. This is where the concepts of each according to his ability, to each according to his work, and “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” are formulated. These two concepts lay the foundation for the Marxist transition from capitalism, to a socialist society, and then culminate in the Marxist utopia of Communism. From a
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Of particular interest is Wei 's formulation of the problem of distributive justice from a perspective that illuminates Marx concern to be one of exploitation of the workers. Wei explains that the Marxist view of distributive justice is one that deals with concerns about “private property” and “private ownership,” and the connection of these ideas to the exploitation of the working class. From a Marxist interpretation, the principle of distributive justice is “reward according to effort and ability.” Hence, this principle is betrayed, necessarily, by private ownership of property that exploits workers in a capitalist society. Consequently, the Marxist solution for distributive justice is the abolition of private property. Wei then analyzes the writing of Rawls and Nozick to show that their positions are actually similar. Nozick and Rawls both agree that private ownership is a natural result of the Marxist principle of “reward according to effort and ability.” The difference between Rawls and Nozick is that Rawls seeks to improve Marx principle of justice by having it operate through “justice as fairness.” The problem, Wei thinks, is that both Rawls and Nozick fail to understand that the principle of “reward according to effort and ability” is actually undermined by the ownership of privately held
Of particular interest is Wei 's formulation of the problem of distributive justice from a perspective that illuminates Marx concern to be one of exploitation of the workers. Wei explains that the Marxist view of distributive justice is one that deals with concerns about “private property” and “private ownership,” and the connection of these ideas to the exploitation of the working class. From a Marxist interpretation, the principle of distributive justice is “reward according to effort and ability.” Hence, this principle is betrayed, necessarily, by private ownership of property that exploits workers in a capitalist society. Consequently, the Marxist solution for distributive justice is the abolition of private property. Wei then analyzes the writing of Rawls and Nozick to show that their positions are actually similar. Nozick and Rawls both agree that private ownership is a natural result of the Marxist principle of “reward according to effort and ability.” The difference between Rawls and Nozick is that Rawls seeks to improve Marx principle of justice by having it operate through “justice as fairness.” The problem, Wei thinks, is that both Rawls and Nozick fail to understand that the principle of “reward according to effort and ability” is actually undermined by the ownership of privately held