NEEDS OR WORK
Sig,—In your article The Challenge of Prague you mentioned the doctrine, " From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," as being considered by many to be the essence of Communism. It may be interesting to note that the Communist Party's rise to power in Russia did not leave this doctrine unchanged. In article 12 of the new constitution of the U.S.S.R. (1936) the famous formula from the Critique of the Gotha Programme is replaced by a new principle, " From each according to his ability, to each according to his work." Just as the "withering away of the State," which apparently should have followed the destruction of the bourgeois State, was interpreted by Lenin as " a rather lengthy process," to be preceded by the " centralised organisation of force, the organisation of violence, for the purpose of crushing the resistance of the exploiters," so the rule "to each according to his needs " has been relegated to a " distant future " to be preceded by the " conversion of all citizens into workers and employees of one huge syndicate."
The substitution of " work " for " needs " theoretically reduces revolutionary principles to the commonplace. But when the State, as in Russia or her satellite States, has become the only employer, setting the amount of labour to be performed and its value, this again being made dependent upon whether you are a " progressive' or a " reactionary," a theoretically harmless principle is turned into a means of ruthless
exploitation and enslavement.—Yours faithfully, Z. JORDAN. 44 Carlisle Mansions, Carlisle Place, S.W
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