Abstract

There is no question that Marx’s work constitutes the most elaborate and radical critique of capitalism hitherto produced. Whether this critique is justice-based is, however, a controversial issue that gave rise to a longstanding debate. The present article, which focuses on this question, first presents a detailed account of the claim that Marx did not find capitalism unjust, but condemned it for other reasons. Next, three versions of the opposite claim are discussed and shown to have significant shortcomings: the claim that Marx found capitalism unjust according to the capitalist standards of justice, the claim that he found capitalism unjust according to a postcapitalist but relative conception of justice, and finally the claim that he found capitalism unjust according to a transhistorical conception of justice. Finally, following the conclusion that these claims do not constitute a serious alternative to the claim that Marx’s critique of capitalism has no juridical content, it is argued that Marx’s condemnation of capitalism can best be understood in terms of his objection to the capitalist division of labor and the problems that this division involves