Marx's and Engel's Two-Stage Theory of the Establishment of Communism
System |
Who Owns Means of Production? |
Who Runs Government? |
Who Gets What? |
Alien-ated Labor? |
Trades and Professions Exist? |
Capitalism |
Capitalists |
Capitalists Rule |
Workers get the value of their ability to work, capitalists get all the profits they can extract. |
Yes |
Yes |
Socialism (not their term for it) |
Working Class |
Working Class Rules |
People rewarded according to the quality and quantity of their work. |
Yes |
Yes |
Communism |
Whole Society |
No repressive government, no classes, the community rules itself |
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." |
No |
No |
Other notes:
1. The specific features of communism listed near the end of Part II of the Communist Manifesto are a mixture of moderate reforms that have now been achieved without communism and radical measures that threaten capitalist ownership, like abolishing the right to inherit property.
2. Many of the arguments in Part II of the Manifesto are hard to follow because they amount to turning around an accusation that advocates of capitalism make against the communists and transforming it into an accusation against capitalism. For example, the capitalists accuse the communists of wanting to abolish the family. The Manifesto makes this into an accusation that the capitalists have already in effect abolished the family by child labor, prostitution, etc.