The Marxist concept of social equality as a theoretical basis for the implementation of the principle of social justice (socio-philosophical aspect)

The article explores the Marxist understanding of social equality. Based on the historical analysis of the understanding of the category of social equality in various historical epochs, the author examines the main provisions of the Marxist understanding of social equality. On the one hand, it differentiates itself from “egalitarianism” because it does not take into account the individual characteristics of each person; on the other hand, Marxism contrasts social equality with the formal uniformity before the law that liberal concepts postulate. Formal equality before the law and the court, in the absence of equality in relation to the means of production, does not eliminate, but only changes the form of social differentiation. The existence of private ownership of the means of production inevitably entails the persistence of social inequality. From the Marxist point of view, its elimination is understood as the destruction of the conditions under which one group of people can appropriate the labor of another, which is possible only in the elimination conditions of the division into classes and private property on means of production.