14 NOVEMBER 1941, Page 4

Having occasion to look through the text of the Soviet

Consti- tution of 1936 the other day, I came on an article which surprised, and still surprises, me. Article XII states, among other things, that in Russia is now realised the principle of Socialism—"From each according to his ability to each according to his work." This is so completely different from the familiar Marxian: " From each according to his ability to each according to his need," that I turned to another translation, this time the official translation, of the Constitution. Here it was more explicit still—" To each according to the work performed." This seems a rather startling change, for the new dictum is very nearly the precise opposite of the old. It implies the old competitive payment-by-results to which the Communist doctrine as originally framed only in com- plete antithesis. Is the change real or somehow only apparent?

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