Marx and Redistribution

"Look, what does a capitalist do? Let me ask you that, Mike. Huh? Tell me. I mean, what does he make, besides money? I don't know what he makes. The workers do all the work, don't they?"
--John Reed (Reds)

Nice point made here that Karl Marx was not a proponent of forced redistribution of privately made output. Instead, Marx's brand of socialism specified no private ownership of capital. Productive assets would be the property of the state.

At the outset, according to Marx, planning boards would make production and distribution decisions. Over time, however, as people adjusted to a life of serving others and void of self interest, they would cooperate amongst themselves to produce according to each person's ability and distribute according to each person's need. Like what happens in a commune...thus 'communism.'

Both theory and empirical evidence demonstrate just how wrongheaded socialism in general, and Marx's version in particular, is.