distribution, n.Definitions

Distribution (n.) looks ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠identical across different societies only if you abstract from all their differences and cling to their unity.

Distribution (n.) before ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠it is a sharing-out of products is a sharing-out of the means of production, and of people among the kinds of production.

Distribution (n.) into ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠profit, rent and wages creates none of the substance it divides; it presupposes value already made by social labour — yet to the agents it looks as if each source makes its own share.

Distribution (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the reverse side of production: how you take part in making things decides the form in which you share in them.

Distribution (n.) seen ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as historical while production is held eternal is a criticism of bourgeois economics still timid and restrained — confusing social production with the labour of an isolated man without social aids.

Distribution (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠matters is not the sharing out of consumer goods but the prior sharing out of the means of production — objects piled on one side, bare labour-power isolated on the other.

Distribution (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only a consequence of how the conditions of production are distributed; to make socialism turn on distribution is vulgar socialism borrowed from bourgeois economists.