From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Marx formulates this principle in his 1875 “Critique of the Gotha Programme,” written as marginal notes on the draft platform of the newly formed German workers’ party. There he distinguishes between a first, transitional phase of communist society (often associated with socialism), where distribution still reflects unequal individual endowments and is tied to labor contributed, and a higher phase, after material abundance and social development make such measures obsolete. Only in that higher phase, Marx argues, can society move beyond “bourgeois right” and adopt the maxim that each contributes according to ability and receives according to need.

The line expresses Marx’s ideal of a mature communist society: production organized cooperatively, with individuals contributing what they can and receiving what they require to flourish, rather than what they can purchase or “earn” under market relations. It is not merely a call for charity or equal shares; it presumes a transformation of social relations, productive capacity, and human motivation such that scarcity and competitive accumulation no longer dominate. The maxim also signals Marx’s critique of “equal right” as insufficient, since equal standards applied to unequal individuals can perpetuate injustice; needs-based distribution is presented as a higher ethical and economic horizon.

1) “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
2) “From each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs.”
3) “From each according to his capacity, to each according to his needs.”