To Each According to his Need. From Each According to his Ability

Marx's famous slogan from his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program was first used by  Louis Blanc in 1839, in "The organization of work". It attracted me to communism as a young man, and still attracts me, but only as a slogan. I cannot, for the life of me, see what objection a Christian could have to it, as a slogan. As applied under communism, albeit by the use of cruelty, wholesale murder, torture, oppression, and lies, it still produced some remarkable results. One has only to talk to a middle-aged or older working-class Pole, completely familiar not only with Polish history, but with English history, including the Tudors and their so-called 'reformation', with European history, with ancient Greek philosophy, with classical and romantic music, and with the Saints, especially Polish, to realise the superiority of education under communism. The Church, of course, instilled knowledge of Catholicism, but the state did the rest.

While I was in a very fine woodwind shop in Marylebone (London) about ten years ago, an assistant (a music graduate like all the staff) told me a little story about a friend of his, a professional oboist, who had just bought a flat in south London, and on his first day there, was practising.

There came a thunderous hammering at the door. When he opened it, he found a large man, who said calmly, "Stop that noise!"

"It's my oboe. I'm a musician and I have to practise every day."

"Don't do it!"

"I'm sorry. If you let me know when you will be out, I'll practise then, and not disturb you."

"You don't understand. If I hear that noise again, I'll kill you."

So the friend sold his newly bought flat and moved somewhere else.

Need and ability. Certainly in the Soviet Union, the complainant would very swiftly have found himself expending his energies mining salt. Bravo from me!

Equally certainly, for those with musical or other talent (provided it conformed to socialist-realism and the party line), whatever was needful for the development of that talent, such as practice rooms, peace and quiet, would have been provided by the state.

I know many Poles, and a few Russians and Ukrainians, doctors, translators, university teachers, shop assistants, manual workers, and retired. Their knowledge and understanding of Culture (in the Arnoldian, not the sociological sense) far outstrips that of the average British graduate.

The last words are from an oldish acquaintance who teaches English at a well-known Polish University.

"Under the People's Republic of Poland life was grey, but we all had jobs, enough food, somewhere to live, excellent education, free holidays for all, and security. Now life is technicolor, but no one has job security, and there are people sleeping on the streets. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"