Who first defined socialism as "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"?

Baloo55th

It's commonly attributed to Karl Marx (who did use it in German), but "à chacun selon ses besoins, de chacun selon ses facultés" was written by Louis Blanc (1811-1882) in L'Organisation du travail in 1839. Marx's great work Das Kapital was published in 1867. Of course, someone might have thought it up before Blanc, but I can't find them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Blanc Dec 06 06, 3:01 PM

zbeckabee

Although Marx is popularly thought of as the author of the phrase, it has been widely speculated that he merely co-opted a term earlier used by other leaders of the socialist movement. The slogan was first used by Louis Blanc in 1840, in "The organization of work", as a detournment of a quote by the utopian socialist Henri de Saint Simon who claimed that each should be rewarded according to how much they work. It has further been suggested that, despite the secular nature of Marxism, inspiration for this creed was drawn from Christian socialism or directly from two lines in the Book of Acts in the Christian Bible: All that believed were together, and had all things in common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_need Dec 06 06, 4:07 PM

bloomsby

Many thanks to you both. From what I can see, it appears that Marx was inclined to push this concept into the Communist phase of development, rather than treat it as a definition of socialism. Dec 06 06, 6:02 PM