Refute this claim

[Karl Marx's Camel]

"One may receive according to need, but never work according to his ability. Unless there is a connection between how much one work and how much one make one will generally not work as hard as one actually can"

[LuXe]

Well, there will not be a need to work according to ability. We only do so because the capitalist bosses pressures us to do this in the name of their profit. WE do not gain from it, the bosses do. And also, it would be most liberating to have to work according to what you actually need, meaning the value of those "needs" will be exactly the value of the work, cutting away the extra slack the capitalists eat away.

[Dr Mindbender]

Originally posted by [email protected] 01, 2007 04:57 pm
"One may receive according to need, but never work according to his ability. Unless there is a connection between how much one work and how much one make one will generally not work as hard as one actually can"
it really depends on wether or not the type of work is alienated from the skills, passions and talents of the worker in question. In a society where not only the goods are appropriated correctly, the same will be the case with jobs too.

[mikelepore]

I wouldn't refute what you said, because I agree with it. IMO, a socialist economic system is only feasible if it pays workers by the hour and requires individuals to spend those earnings at the store. Certain necessities may be distributed for free, but not all luxuries can. If all goods were free, individuals would not return from vacation and go back to work with the frequency required to carry on production.

I suggest this (unpopular) interpretation of the passage in Critique of the Gotha Programme where Marx writes, "... from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs":

1. Marx is writing it in a private correspondence that is not intended for publication; he's brainstorming with a few collaborators, not presenting a completed idea.

2. They are not his words. He's quoting a line from Louis Blanc's book that was published 25 years earlier. He omits the quotation marks and the source because the recipients of the correspondence are aware of the background.

3. He quotes it in the context of saying that the suggestion should be dropped, that it's _not_ an appropriate goal for the socialist movement, that some future generation that is born into a socialist system may choose to revisit the idea, but, under capitalism, the socialist movement should defer such a goal.

[Whitten]

I also won't refute the claim. It amazes me how people can take "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" to mean that those who do not work according to their ability should recieve according to their need.

[Dean]

Originally posted by Karl Marx's [email protected] 01, 2007 04:57 pm
"One may receive according to need, but never work according to his ability. Unless there is a connection between how much one work and how much one make one will generally not work as hard as one actually can"
People are inherantly inclined towards productivity. If they are lazy, uninterested in their productive forces, they are a crippled human. The point is to change the social order so it does not foster those vices which can cause shortages.

If people don't work "to their ability," that isn't necessarily a problem. It is a problem only if too few work to their ability.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

Originally posted by Karl Marx's [email protected] 01, 2007 06:57 pm
"One may receive according to need, but never work according to his ability. Unless there is a connection between how much one work and how much one make one will generally not work as hard as one actually can"
The problem with this statement is that it assumes "work" is something people always hate to do, so that they must be given some form of compensation (such as money) in order to do it.

One of the fundamental requirements of a communist society is that most kinds of "work" should be turned into enjoyable activities, and people should be able to spend most of their time doing something they like to do.