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 "Bourgeois law" recognizes them as the private property of separate individuals. Socialism converts them into common property, and to that extent, and only to that extent does "bourgeois law" die out. But it continues to live as far as its other part is concerned, in the capacity of regulator or adjuster, dividing labor and allotting the products amongst the members of society.

"He who does not work neither shall he eat"—this Socialist principle is already realized. "For an equal quantity of labor an equal quantity of products"—this Socialist principle is also already realized. Nevertheless, this is not yet Communism, and this does not abolish "bourgeois law" which gives to unequal individuals, in return for an unequal (in reality) amount of work, an equal quantity of products.

This is a "defect," says Marx, but it is unavoidable during the first phase of Communism; for, if we are not to land in Utopia, we cannot imagine that, having overthrown Capitalism, people will at once learn to work for society without any regulations by law; indeed, the abolition of Capitalism does not immediately lay the economic foundations for such a change.

And there is no other standard yet than that of "bourgeois law." To this extent, therefore, a form of State is still necessary, which, whilst maintaining the public ownership of the means of production, preserves the equality of labor, and equality in the distribution of the products. The State is withering away in so far as there are no longer any capitalists, any classes, and consequently, any class whatever to suppress. But the State is not yet dead altogether, since there still remains the protection of "bourgeois law," which sanctifies actual inequality. For the complete extinction of the State complete communism is necessary.

Marx continues:

"In the highest phase of Communist society, after the disappearance of the enslavement of man caused by his subjection to the principle of the division of labor; when, together with this, the opposition between brains and manual labor will have disappeared; when labor will have ceased to be a mere means of supporting life, and itself will have become one of the greatest necessities of life; when, with all-round development of the individual, the productive forces, too, will have grown to maturity,