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Full Idea
Marx rejected the idea of equal rights, not because he was not a friend to the idea of treating people as equals, but precisely because he thought rights failed to live up to that ideal.
Gist of Idea
Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals
Source
report of Karl Marx (works [1860]) by Will Kymlicka - Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn) 5.1
Book Ref
Kymlicka,Will: 'Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn)' [OUP 1992], p.163
A Reaction
Presumably because the power to award 'rights' goes to the highest bidder. If equality is to be enshrined in law, it is a bit difficult to see how else to manage it.
| 20576 | Early Marx anticipates communitarian objections to liberalism [Marx, by Oksala] |
| 23862 | By saying the material dialectic of history aspires to the best, Marx agreed with capitalism [Weil on Marx] |
| 21999 | False consciousness results from concealment by the superstructure [Marx, by Singer] |
| 23875 | Marx says force is everything, and that the weak will become strong, while remaining the weak [Weil on Marx] |
| 18653 | Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals [Marx, by Kymlicka] |
| 20958 | Capitalism changes the world, by socialising the idea of a commodity [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 23876 | The essence of capitalism is the subordination of people to things [Marx, by Weil] |
| 20960 | Marx thought capitalism was partly liberating, and could make labour and ownership more humane [Marx, by Bowie] |
| 23874 | Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil] |
| 18662 | Liberal freedom is the right to be separate, and ignores the union of man with man [Marx] |
| 23372 | Liberals want the right to be separate, rather than for people to be united [Marx] |