>>> <JKSCHW at aol.com> 01/25/00 10:54PM >>>
In a message dated 00-01-25 16:14:31 EST, Charles write's:
<< equality can only be achieved through inequality. This is the same idea as "from each according to ability , TO EACH ACCORDING TO NEED" , which is direct quote from "Critique of the Gotha Programme". There is a relativity of equality. Marx often has these little loopty loops.
Whether equality can only be achieved through inequality or not, I don't see what this has to do with Marx, no never expresses any interest in achieving equality.
(((((((((
CB: Yes, he does. To each according to need is a complex equality. To each according to need, or even to each according to work are direct expressions from Marx in the Critique of the Gotha Programme of interest in achieving equality.
Also, imbedded in historical materialism and the idea that exploitation of humans naturally begets a class struggle to get the full fruits of one's labor is based on the assumption of the equality of each individual's labor. The whole logic of Capital, the calculation of value added to the commodity based on equality of labor hours such that the hour of one human's labor is equal to the labor of another is a profound expression of interest in equality.
Marxist equality is material equality, not bourgeois idealist equality. You miss the direct , bold, loud and clear expressions for equality in Marx because you are not reading Marx as a materialist.
CB