Association of Free Producers

The new form of organization of communist society envisioned Marx and Engels based on free and equal association of producers and organized in a new way after the future proletarian state withers away on its own.

In The Communist Manifesto of 1848 and Capital of 1867, Marx clearly put forth the concept of “association of free men”, and made a concrete elaboration on the basic features of the future form of organization of communist society. Marx pointed out in Capital: “Let us finally imagine, for a change, an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expanding their many different forms of labor-power in full self-awareness as one single social labor force.” “The total product of our imagined association is a social product. One part of this product serves as fresh means of production and remains social. But another part is consumed by the members of the association as means of subsistence, and this part should therefore be divided amongst them. The way this division is made will vary with the particular kind of social organization of production and the corresponding level of social development attained by the producers.”

According to Marx and Engels, we can establish a real “association of free producers” only through a social revolution, the development of productive forces, the abolition of private property, the abolition of all classes and the attainment of a truly free and all-round development of individuality to replace the old bourgeois society with its classes and class antagonism. They pointed out in The Communist Manifesto that “in place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”

Regarding the historical task of the “association”, Engels expounded in his book Principles of Communism: The general co-operation of all members of society for the purpose of planned exploitation of the forces of production, the expansion of production to the point where it will satisfy the needs of all, the abolition of a situation in which the needs of some are satisfied at the expense of the needs of others, the complete liquidation of classes and their conflicts, the rounded development of the capacities of all members of society through the elimination of the present division of labor, through industrial education, through engaging in varying activities, through the participation by all in the enjoyments produced by all, through the combination of city and country—these are the main consequences of the abolition of private property. In June 1887, Engels pointed out: “Our aim is to bring about a Socialist System which will give healthy and useful labor to all, ample wealth and leisure to all, and the truest and fullest freedom to all.”

The task of the “association” is to organize production, push forward the development of productive forces and provide people with abundant material products under the new historical conditions; to manage society so that members of the society can freely engage in occupations, contribute their own strength and enjoy the fruits of their common labor; to organize members of the society to engage in all kinds of cultural and recreational activities and to enjoy the intellectual products created by the society and so on, so that everyone can have a comprehensive development. spiritual products, etc., so that everyone can have an all-round development.