COMMUNISM abolishes all forms of exploitation of man by man and ushers in a classless society. But these cannot be achieved at one stroke.

The first stage of communism, usually called socialism, still carries the birth marks of the old capitalist society from whose womb it has just emerged. The means of production (big landholdings, factories, etc.) owned by the exploiting classes have just been confiscated by the state on behalf of society. Thus there are no landlords, kulaks and capitalists in the traditional sense. But such dispossessed individuals are still there and they carry on frantic efforts to regain their property and power with the help of friends abroad. Also the old division of labour (workers, peasants, economic and political administrators, small traders, self-employed professionals etc.) largely remains. Thus vestiges of classes and class struggle continue under socialism and at times the latter grows very sharp. The destructive anarchy of capitalist production and exchange is done away with and everybody works happily for the common good under a comprehensive plan based on the requirements and available resources of society as a whole. So there is real abundance for all while the stale provides for free education, health services etc. Yet some income differentials, though incomparably narrower than under capitalism, remain. For people are paid by society according to the quantity and quality of work done (e.g., an engineer earns more than a worker, a professor more than a clerk) and not yet simply according to needs.

These and other limitations, however, are consciously overcome in a protracted process. With great technological upgradation in agricultural and vast all-round improvement in rural life on the one hand and planned spread of industries throughout the country on the other, the anti-thesis between “town and country” will be resolved. So will the anti-thesis between manual and mental labour. The higher stage of communism, or communism proper, is reached. The vestiges of classes and class struggle gradually disappear. As this happens within a nation, so do hostilities between nations, and universal brotherhood flourishes on the basis of free economic, cultural and scientific exchanges. Thanks to rapid all-round development of productive and creative activities, 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 she/he can contribute by way of work and gives away whatever she/he needs. On the basis of such radically changed circumstances, and in course of a protracted cultural revolution, remnants of retrograde values and attitudes such as ego-centrism, male chauvinism and national or ethnic intolerance are overcome. The new communist man and woman are born. The history of classes and class struggle — which is actually a prehistory of humankind, comes to a close and the latter's true history begins in full glory.