恩格斯在《反杜林論》第一編第十章"道德和法。平等"中表明:一切人,或者至少是一個國家的一切公民,或者一個社會的一切成員,都應當有平等的政治地位和社會地位,這種平等要求是從人就他們是人而言的這種平等觀念中引申出來的;平等觀念是一種規范性價值判斷,是正義的表現;現代平等要求是資產階級首先提出來的;資產階級的平等要求只停留在政治權利的平等上;無產階級的平等要求則要進而實現社會和經濟領域的平等;無產階級平等要求的實際內容都是消滅階級的要求。

Engels indicated that the demand for equality—that all human beings,or at least all citizens of a state or all members of a society,should have equal political and social status—can be deduced from the idea of the equality of men as men.The idea of equality is a normative value judgment,and is the expression of justice.The modern demand for equality was first put forward by the bourgeoisie;the bourgeois demand for equality only concerns the equality of political rights,whereas the proletarian demand for equality concerns the realization of social and economic equality.The real content of the proletarian demand for equality is thus a demand for the abolition of class.