The real negation of capitalism is communism, which abolishes all forms of exploitation of man by man. But this cannot be achieved by one stroke. Socialism came to be conceptualised as the first decisive step of transition towards communism.
Initially socialism carries many imperfections (economic, political, cultural, etc.), many birth-marks of the bourgeois order from whose womb it emerges. Vestiges of classes and class struggle remain, and at times the latter grows very sharp. People work wholeheartedly for the common good, for the society as a whole, and are paid according to the quantity and quality of work done. This is expressed in the motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.”
The imperfections of the first stage, or stage of transition, are gradually overcome under the leadership of the victorious Communist Party. Classes and class struggle, and with these the state machinery, become a thing of the past. The second stage of socialism or communism, arrives. Thanks to material abundance, ideological progress and the cultural revolution, society can now inscribe on its banner the motto: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” That is to say, society takes from everyone whatever s/he can contribute by way of work and gives away whatever s/ he needs.
