Distribution

One of the phases (stages) of social reproduction, the link between production and consumption. The share (proportion) of the producers in the realization and use of the aggregate social product and the national income is revealed in the process of distribution. This process is preceded by the distribution of the means of production among the sectors of the national economy and among enterprises, as well as by the distribution of the members of society in the various types of production. Production is the most important and the determining factor in the unity of the components of social reproduction.
K. Marx noted that “in the process of production, the members of society adapt (create, transform) the products of nature to human needs; distribution establishes the proportion in which each individual participates in the produced…. Distribution determines the ratio (quantity) in which the products are made available to individuals” (in K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch.,, 2nd ed., vol. 12, pp. 714, 715).
Each mode of production determines its own forms of distribution. Marx wrote: “The structure of distribution is completely determined by the structure of production. Distribution itself is a product of production not only in terms of content, for the results of production alone can be distributed, but also in terms of form, for a certain method of participation in production determines the special form of distribution, the form in which there is participation in distribution” (ibid., p. 721).
The character of production determines the character of distribution, but distribution also has an active influence on production, the growth of which it may either promote or impede, for example. Moreover, distribution may ensure the development of certain sectors and restrain the development of others, and it may alter the relationship between industrial and personal consumption by increasing the share of the product for industrial consumption and reducing the share for personal consumption, and vice versa.
Under capitalism, distribution has an antagonistic character. A significant share of the gross national product and the national income of the capitalist countries is appropriated by the financial oligarchy, the representatives of which control gigantic monopolistic corporations (seeMONOPOLIES, CAPITALIST). For example, more than 50 percent of the US national income goes to the capitalists. (This figure takes into account the redistribution of the national income.)
A portion of the gross national product of a capitalist society is allocated by the ruling class to pay for wage labor. The distribution of consumer goods among the exploited, in accordance with the social character of capitalism, determines the share of each worker in the aggregate wages fund, depending on the value of labor power. Taking advantage of unemployment, the capitalists try their utmost to further reduce the workers’ wages below the value of labor power.
The inverse effect of distribution on production under capitalism consists primarily in the fact that private capital, depending on its magnitude, varies in its capacity for further expansion by means of profit. Large-scale capital becomes even larger and stronger and preys on medium- and small-scale capital, which often cannot withstand the competitive struggle (seeCOMPETITION). The distribution of consumer goods among the workers does not make it possible for them to free themselves from the oppression of capital. Deprived of the means of production, the workers are forced to sell their labor power to the capitalists. Under state-monopoly capitalism, the monopolies intensify the exploitation of their own workers and of other strata of the working people, including the peoples of dependent nations (seeNEOCOLONIALISM).
Under socialism, with the dominance of social ownership, the means of production are distributed among the sectors of the national economy and among enterprises in accordance with the needs of expanded socialist reproduction, with the aim of providing for continuous improvement in the material and cultural level for the comprehensive development of the entire society and all of its members. The means of production are distributed according to the plans for material and technical supply.
Socialism and capitalism also differ fundamentally in the distribution of labor resources. Under socialism, the training of specialists and their distribution in the various spheres of production have a planned character. Nonetheless, consideration is given to the desire of members of society to work in a chosen occupation at a particular enterprise. Economic incentives such as wage differentiation are extensively used in the distribution of labor resources among the sectors of the natural economy and among various regions.
Social ownership of the means of production results in the distribution of the social product and the national income in the interests of the working people. The socioeconomic meaning of socialist production, which is fundamentally new in comparison to that of capitalist production, gives rise to fundamentally new proportions and forms of distribution. In the first phase of the communist mode of production, consumer goods and services are distributed according to the quantity and quality of labor performed by each worker. This is necessary because under socialism, labor has not yet become man’s primary vital need, nor has it been transformed into a custom of working without consideration for renumeration. Under socialism, labor requires a material incentive. Moreover, the level of productivity of social labor and the volume of production cannot yet provide an abundance of material goods and services. Therefore, society must exercise control over the measure of labor and consumption of each of its members. Labor is controlled and encouraged by means of the law of distribution according to labor.
As Marx emphasized, under socialism distribution has specific characteristics: “In a society based on the principles of collectivism and on the common ownership of the means of production… each individual producer will receive from society, after all deductions have been made, just as much as he produced for it” (ibid., vol. 19, p. 18). According to V. I. Lenin, one of the most important principles of distribution under socialism is “an equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 33, p. 94). In addition to the wages received by the members of a socialist society according to their labor, a portion of the assets is paid to them as bonuses drawn from the material incentive fund for the employees of an enterprise. This fund is made up of the profits earned by an enterprise. Consequently, the size of the fund and of the bonuses depends on the results of the work of the enterprise collective as a whole.
Distribution according to labor stimulates the fulfillment and overfulfillment of production plans and fosters the workers’ desire to work better, to raise labor productivity, and to improve product quality. It also encourages the workers to improve their skills, because more highly skilled labor is paid higher rates. Under socialism a portion of the means of subsistence is distributed through the social consumption fund. Under the conditions of socialism, this form of distribution supplements distribution according to labor, and to some degree, it has no relation to the individual’s share of labor in social production. As socialist production develops, distribution of the means of subsistence through the social consumption fund assumes increasing significance and contributes to greater social equality.
At the higher phase of the communist formation—under full communism—consumer goods and services will be distributed according to the principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (K. Marx, in Marx and Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 19, p. 20). Referring to the higher phase of communism, Lenin wrote: “There will be no need for society, in distributing products, to regulate the quantity to be received by each; each will take freely ‘according to his needs’” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 33, pp. 96-97). Distribution according to needs will become possible at a higher stage of development of the productive forces, which will provide an abundance of material goods and services.
===REFERENCES===
Iz rukopisnogo nasledstva K. Marksa. K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 12, pp. 714–24.Marx, K. Kritika Gotskoi programmy. Ibid., vol. 19, pp. 18-21.Lenin, V. I. Gosudarstvo i revoliutsiia. Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 33, pp. 94-97.G. N. KHUDOKORMOV
Category:Economics