[lbo-talk] A Note on Equality was RE: (no subject)

indigo at ymail.com indigo at ymail.com
Wed Apr 25 17:05:16 PDT 2012


Yes; the human demand for freedom and human demand for equality are inherently at odds. The libertarians say the same, then interpret freedom as strictly the freedom of the individual. Communism focuses on the freedom of the collective. In this way communists make an additional demand that libertarians don't: the demand for justice.

On Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:55:00 -0400, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:


> Attacks on inequality are, it seems, a crucial element in political
> agitation. But lets be clear. At least from a Marxist perspective, the
> demand for equality is quite false. And the formula for communist
> society
> does _not_ imply equality; in fact it is a call for inequality:
>
>> From each according to his [her] ability:
>
> In other words, humans are unequal in their ability, and it is wrong to
> call
> for anyone to provide more than his/her abilities provide.
>
> To each according to his [her] needs.
>
> Humans do not have equal needs; many need much more than others. That
> need
> should be satisfied. Again, communist society is a fundamentally unequal
> society.
>
> The aim of communist society is human freedom, and human freedom (however
> defined) is in contradiction to the demand for equality. We demand much
> more
> medical care for the ill than for the well. That is only one example.
>
> And I think that even for agitational purposes it would be well to get
> away
> as much as possible from attacks on inequality and put more emphasis on
> the
> constraints on human freedom built into capitalist relations of
> production.
>
> Carrol
>
> P.S. And in politics, of course, we demand very unequal effort from
> various
> sectors of the population or from particular comrades. For example, we do
> not place political demands on children nor on parents. That is why the
> suggestion that students should refuse to take the tests associated with
> No
> Child Left Behind is such an outrageous suggestion. Individual students
> and
> individual parents must not be asked to stick their necks out. The
> political
> burden of attacking NCLB must be born by others.
>
>
>
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