The prevailing chaos (in France during the 1820's and 1830's) resulted from the repression of true capacity and excellence among industrialists, artists, and scientists and the haphazard disposition of human energies in accordance with hereditary privileges and antiquated legislation. The principle of the new order would be antithetical: "Each according to his capacity! Each capacity according to its works!" became the Saint-Simonian motto.

from Utopian Thought In the Western World by Frank Manuel and Fritzie Manuel (1979), (Belknap, Harvard University Press) pg 629. ("Capacity" among Saint-Simonians meant "natural talents".)

On the morrow of the July revolution, the Saint-Simonian Fathers issued a proclamation abolishing inheritance and setting forth the new hierarchical principle: "Each will be placed according to his capacity and rewarded according to his works." "Each according to his capacity, to each capacity according to its works," was emblazoned ont he masthead of their newly acquired newspaper, Le Globe In their sermons and formal expositions of the doctrine, they testified to their recognition of sexual needs with "rehabilitation fo the flesh" and "emancipation of woman." They introduced novelty into the political vocabulary: "The end of the exploitation of man by man; its replacement with the exploitation of nature by man," and "Performance of the function to which a man's natural calling destines him." Other battle cries were repetitions, with minor modifications: "Each one pursuing his own capacity in order that its products may be distributed to each one according to his works"; or "To each, labor according to his calling and rewards according to his works"; or "An education and function that conform to one's natural calling and a reward that conforms to one's works." (author's note: See, for example, Le Globe, November 5, 1831) The Saint-Simonians were clearly adapting religious terminology - oeuvres, vocation - for their program. And in his turn Marks utilized the Saint-Simonian language. Though he could never stomach Saint-Simonian religious balderdash, the Critique of the Gotha Program phrase "From each according to his abilities" has an unmistakable Saint-Simonian resonance. This is not to say that Marx consciously plagiarized the Saint-Simonians; but their proclamation "Each will be placed according to his capacity and rewarded according to his works" is a pretty fair statement of Marx's expectations for the first phase of communist society.

from A Requiem for Karl Marx by Frank Manuel (1995) (Harvard University Press) p. 163. (Note: the French word "capacite" was about synonymous with "talent", or "natural talent" according to Manuel). The above excerpts reproduced here pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 107 for educational purposes only.

(that justice would be satisfied only)
"When each one in accordance with the law written in some shape in his organization by God Himself, produces according to his faculties and consumes according to his wants". -Joesph Charles Louis Blanc, Organisation du Travail published in the 1830s. Blanc was a prominent figure in the Socialist movement in France which led to a failed revolution in 1848.

Article 12 Work in the U.S.S.R. is a duty and a matter of honour for every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat." The principle applied in the U.S.S.R. is that of socialism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."

The 1977 Soviet Constitution contained it as follows:

Article 14

(1) The source of the growth of social wealth and of the well-being of the people, and of each individual, is the labor, free from exploitation, of Soviet people.
(2) The state exercises control over the measure of labor and of consumption in accordance with the principle of socialism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work". It fixes the rate of taxation on taxable income.
(3) Socially useful work and its results determine a person's status in society. By combining material and moral incentives and encouraging innovation and a creative attitude to work, the state helps transform labor into the prime vital need of every Soviet citizen.

from each according to one's ability, to each according to one's academic credential and occupational license"...

"But no system of social engineering has ever been perfect..."

from The Campus Radical's Commentary 1995.

Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 13:24:10 -0400
From: James Jones 
To: [email protected]
Subject: "...To Each According To His Needs"

I just ran across your webpage http://dhm.best.vwh.net/each.html and
thought I'd offer the original variant of the slogan "From Each According To
His Abilities, To Each According To His Needs" in answer to your request at
the top of the page.
It originated in the Bible.
"Neither was there any among them that lacked: for those who 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." Acts 4:34-35

It's always disturbed me how Marx is so demonized, when much of his work is
paraphrasing of Christ. The power of propaganda.
I really like your website, the Supreme Court parody page is great.

James Jones

http://www.democraticunderground.com/

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