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| 22971 | In moving from capitalism to communism a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is needed |
| Full Idea: Between the capitalist and communist society lies the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875], IV) | |||
| A reaction: This hugely influential idea was catastrophic for the twentieth century, because the leaders of the proletarian dictatorship adored and abused the power, and wouldn't give it up for some feeble next stage. |
| 22000 | From each according to his ability, to each according to his need |
| Full Idea: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875]), quoted by Peter Singer - Marx 9 | |||
| A reaction: Singer says this was not original to Marx, and he placed little emphasis on it. The obvious capitalist response is to ask how you will motivate someone who has huge abilities but few needs. It implies huge inequalities of altruism. |
| 22969 | People who only have their labour power are the slaves of those permitting them to work |
| Full Idea: The man who possesses no other property than his labour power must, in all conditions of society and culture, be the slave of other men who have made themselves the owners of the material conditions of labour. He can only work with their permission. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875], I) | |||
| A reaction: In a world of vast multinationals, the person giving the permission to work is nearly always dependent on some higher level permission. In any sort of society people can only work with the consensus of other people. |
| 22970 | Freedom is making the state subordinate to its society |
| Full Idea: Freedom consists in converting the state from an organ superimposed on society into one completely subordinate to it. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875], IV) | |||
| A reaction: The intermediate stage is dictatorship of the proletariat (presumably exercised by the communist leadership). No twentieth century marxist state ever got near the freedom which Marx was seeking. A liberal society might achieve it! |
| 22972 | Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' just tolerates all sorts of religious intolerance |
| Full Idea: Bourgeois 'freedom of conscience' is just the toleration of all possible kinds of religious unfreedom of conscience, and the workers' party should endeavour to liberate the conscience from the witchery of religion. | |||
| From: Karl Marx (Critique of the Gotha Program [1875], IV) | |||
| A reaction: We see this in modern 'faith' schools in the UK, which do not seem to be required to live up to the standards of freedom of belief expected in the rest of a liberal society. |