He who does not work, neither shall he eat

He who does not work, neither shall he eat is a New Testament aphorism cited by John Smith in Jamestown, Virginia, and by Lenin during the Russian Revolution.

The aphorism is found in the Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle (with Silvanus and Timothy) to the Thessalonians, in which Paul writes:

that is,

The Greek phrase οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθαι means “is not willing to work”. Other English translations render this as “would” or “will not work”, which may confuse readers unaccustomed to this use of the verb "" in the archaic sense of “want to, desire to”.

In the spring of 1609, John Smith cited the aphorism to the colonists of Jamestown:

Countrymen, the long experience of our late miseries I hope is sufficient to persuade everyone to a present correction of himself, And think not that either my pains nor the adventurers' purses will ever maintain you in idleness and sloth...

...the greater part must be more industrious, or starve...

You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers.

According to Vladimir Lenin, “He who does not work shall not eat” is a necessary principle under socialism, the preliminary phase of the evolution towards communist society. The phrase appears in his 1917 work, The State and Revolution. Through this slogan Lenin explains that in socialist states only productive individuals could be allowed access to the articles of consumption.

In accordance with Lenin’s understanding of the socialist state, article twelve of the 1936 Soviet Constitution states:

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