A Comparison Between Marx's And Rawls' Theory On Distributive Justice

Both Marx and Rawls considered the capitalism to be unjust. Marx pointed out that the origin of capital is its primitive accumulation, namely primitive deprivation. Exploitation is the nature of the capitalist relations of production, and that capitalism is a society of alienation and injustice. Rawls also argued that the capitalism is an unjust society in that in capitalism, there are great differences between the rich and the poor, the monopoly of economics and politics, and the violation of the liberty and equal rights of citizens. Social justice, at heart, is a problem of distribution, that is, how the value produced by all the social members is fairly distributed. Marx considered that the capital is obtained by violence and that the capital-based distribution in the capitalism is unjust. With the development of productive forces, the capitalist relations of production will certainly be destroyed while the socialist relations of production will win. The socialist relations of production, under which the principle of distribution based on labor is a just one, are just because they fit in with the advanced social production. However, Rawls thought that the principle of unanimous selection by people under fair conditions is the principle of justice. In the original state of fairness, people will unanimously choose the principle of equal liberty, the principle of fair equality of opportunity, and the difference principle which is the principle of just distribution. Labor-based distribution lacks fraternity while capital-based distribution has more fancy. Both Marx and Rawls brought forward their own conceptions about the just society of the future, and drew their blueprints of the just society. In Marx's socialist society, capitalist ownership is eliminated, the people possess the means of production equally and collectively; Class exploitation and class difference are also eliminated, they work together and share their means of subsistence according to the proportion of their labor. But in Rawls'blueprint, the means of production is widely and separately possessed among citizens and the distribution of wealth and income follows the difference principle. Marxism has been proved correct by social practice. In contrast, the development of realistic society runs counter to Rawls'concept. Nevertheless, Rawls'theory has its reasonable parts, which is of directive significance to the reform of socialist countries and the improvement of capitalist countries.