Communism/Socialism vs Capitalism

By Julien, Newcombe SC, Geelong

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/boyer/geog1014/TOPICS/109ec_dev/econies.html

Introduction:

Our lives form a small part of an extremely complex society. The evolution of the human society has never been more rapid. [...] This evolution has engendered two opposite political, economic and social systems. On the "left" of politics are communism and socialism and on the "right" is capitalism. 
 

COLLECTIVISM

Socialism: (AUDIO download Mp3 file)

Socialists believe that the inequalities that exist in our society are unjust and that the minority of the population should not own the vast majority of the wealth. Socialists do, nevertheless, differ on ways by which this change should be achieved. Some believe that the change should be gradual, achieved through parliament and others believe that the change should be rapid, brought about through revolution.[...][...]

 Modern socialism emerged as the world went through the process of industrialisation. From the 18th century the industrial revolution transformed Western Europe and North America from agricultural, trading nations to industrial nations. The metamorphosis of these country's economic structure led to great and complex changes in the lifestyle of their people. The average worker went from being a self-employed farmer to being an employee at a large factory. The working class was formed!

People began to move away from the country and the population became centralised. Cities grew rapidly and overcrowding became an enormous problem. This new industrial workforce, the proletariat, worked and lived in appalling conditions. Poverty was rampant. The cities were havens for crime and disease. The tumultuous transformation affected not only the lives of the workers (factory fodder) but also craftsmen, such as handloom weavers, who were being forced out of business by factories which could produce the same product at a lower price. Much of the working class was confounded by the radical changes that were going on.

Without anyone planning it, capitalism had emerged and began to flourish as there was no opposition to it. The factory owners became richer and low-skilled workers and the unemployed became poorer. Workers whose trades were less secure decided to form trade societies (the forerunners of trade unions). [...]For the next hundred years capitalism thrived. In opposition to this, trade unions grew in magnitude also. [...]

Nowadays almost all western countries have Labour (or gradualist, socialist) parties who believe in achieving either total or partial socialism gradually. These parties go in and out of government just like the Liberal (or conservative) parties. 
 


Karl Marx and Marxism: Audio MP3 file

Karl Marx became the prophet and teacher of socialism whose writings transformed socialist thinking all over the world. Marx was a philosopher and an idealist who studied history and was greatly influenced by the writings of Georg Hegel, the famous German philosopher. In 1848 Karl Marx published, with the help of his long-time friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, "Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei", more commonly known as "The Communist Manifesto". The Communist Manifesto was a summary of his entire social and political philosophy. The publication of this book occurred at a most propitious time. The book appeared on the eve of the 1848 revolution in France and less than one year before an attempted revolution in Germany. After the failure of the 1848 revolution in Germany he was expelled from his country of origin and moved to London. He later published "das Kapital" or Capital, an analysis of the economics of capitalism.[...]

Marx believed that man should labour not only for himself as an individual but for society as well. Implied in Marxist philosophy is the notion that man being a social animal has his destiny indeed his reality inextricably linked with his society. [...] In a capitalist society the proletariat invests its labour so that the bourgeoisie (or upper-class) can make all the profits without investing any labour themselves. The disconnection of a worker from the end product of his labour leads Marx to his theory of alienation. Workers are alienated from the product they manufacture, having no control over what becomes of it. Finally workers are alienated from other human beings, with competition replacing co-operation.

Marx's theory of history is an account of the different stages of government through history. His analysis describes capitalism as the first stage followed by socialism and finally communism. Marx believed that socialism is an unrealised potential in capitalism and once most workers recognised their interests and became "class conscious," the overthrow of capitalism would proceed as quickly as capitalist opposition allowed. The socialist society that would emerge out of the revolution would have all the productive potential of capitalism. People would be aided on the basis of social needs. The final goal, communism, toward which socialist society would constantly strive, is the abolition of alienation. A class-less society would be advantageous for the vast majority of the population.[...]


Communism: AUDIO: MP3 file

Communism, a form of government, inspires some people with the zeal of a religion. Communism in theory stands for total public ownership and rejects private property and personal profit. In practice, however, the state determines how strictly the doctrine is applied in any particular country.

Communism in Russia:

The huge losses (both human and material) in the First World War intensified the revolutionary spirit in Russia. In 1917 Lenin led a small party of professional revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks, to power after the Tsar was overthrown. To achieve the transition from Capitalism to socialism and finally communism, Lenin used Marx's theory of "Dictatorship of the Proletariat". The most politically advanced section of the proletariat would form the communist party and lead the rest of the country forward. Since the Bolsheviks totally represented the people, all other political parties were abolished. The party: tolerated no opposition, owned all industry and property, had a powerful secret police, kept strict control over all levels of education and disallowed all liberal literature and art from entering Russia; [...]

After Lenin's death in the late 1920's, Josef Stalin took control of Russia. It was under Stalin's command that the terrible political purges in the 1930's took place. Until his death in 1953, this dictator showed what Marxism-Leninism could mean in practice, which is vastly different than in theory.[...]

The Bolshevik government actively discouraged all religious practice, handing out pamphlets and closing down churches. Schools were totally under the control of the communist party. Marxism was taught in schools like religion.

There were programs such as the "young pioneers" for children under 14 and the "communist youth league" for teenagers and young adults which were set up to promote the involvement of young people with the communist party.

At the conclusion of the Second World War Russian Forces pursued the last of the German troops into Germany and on their way occupied most of Eastern Europe. In these countries Stalin imposed communist regimes. These nations became known as the satellites of the USSR. Over the next 25 years there were many attempted revolutions that were mercilessly crushed by the Soviet government. Gradually these countries became increasingly independent of the Soviet Union until its demise in 1993.

In January 1959 Fidel Castro became the head of a new revolutionary government in Cuba. Castro freed his country from the excessive US influence. In retaliation the US imposed a trade embargo on Cuba. As a way of protecting Cuba, Castro allied himself with the other super power, the Soviet Union, and within 3 years Castro was proclaiming "I am a Marxist-Leninist". 
 


The Cold War:

As the USSR set up left-wing governments in most of Eastern Europe much of Western Europe feared that the "Red Army" may venture further west. In an effort to prevent this threat NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was set up. In that same year the communist countries signed the Warsaw Pact. During 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear bomb and in 1950 along with China it aided the North Koreans invasion of South Korea. The US helped South Korea defend the communist invasion resulting in an indecisive three year war. After some relaxation of the tensions between the two super powers, the Cold War reached a climax in 1962 when the Soviet Union secretly installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, less than 200km off the coast of Florida. After discovering the missiles President Kennedy gave an ultimatum to the Soviets; remove the missiles or risk nuclear war. After a long and agonising week Nikita Khruschev backed down. The world escaped Armageddon. 
 

Communism in China:

In 1949, after a fifteen year war, the communists seized power in China. Mao Tse-tung took control of China and removed Chiang Kai-shek (the nationalist general) and his army. Chiang Kai-shek took refuge in the Chinese island of Formosa (present day Taiwan), thus creating what the Chinese government consider today its biggest problem with the West, particularly with the US.

Mao's army consisted mainly of peasant farmers because the majority of China's people lived through agriculture. This came to be the fundamental difference between Russian and Chinese communism; Russia's form of communism was urban and factory-based while China's form of communism is rural and peasant-based.[...]


Capitalism: AUDIO: MP3 file

Capitalism is a political system in which factories, companies, land, etc. are owned privately in order to create profit for the owners. Prices of goods and services fluctuate depending on the desire of the consumer and the availability of the goods (the law of supply and demand). In a capitalist society their will be significant differences in wealth and power between those who have capital (machines, factories, ships, land, etc.) and those who do not.

No one can say when capitalism first began. Clearly the development of capitalism was not revolutionary like that of communism. Instead it emerged gradually without anyone making a plan of what it should become. However, aspects of modern capitalism such as the stock exchange, banks and great disparity in wealth came about during the industrial revolution.

In 1776 Adam Smith, a Scottish university professor, produced a book which described the workings of a capitalist society. He believed that a country's wealth depends on all people pursuing their own interests. If a person promotes his own interest he or she is unintentionally promoting his country's interest. Smith thought that governments should promote free trade and not interfere by protecting certain industries from competition. The only duty of governments, Smith wrote, was to provide services that couldn't be profitable like the building of roads, schools and churches. These policies were adopted by much of western Europe and continue to be fundamental components in the thinking of most right-wing governments today.

Clearly Capitalism has its benefits; accelerated economic growth and prosperity and rapid progress in science and technology. But along with these came inequities; great disparity in standards of living, power concentrated into very few hands, dangerous working conditions, poor housing and unsanitary sewage systems due to rapid centralisation.

Marx believed that capitalism would bring about its own demise. As capitalist companies competed against each other they would reduce in number. Due to fewer companies unemployment would rise and people would have less money to spend. This would mean that people could not buy the goods that the companies were producing. Finally in an attempt to find new markets, companies would go abroad only to come into conflict with other companies looking to go abroad and wars would begin as a consequence. The other faults, as Marx's sees it, are the advances in technology reducing the need for human labour and the economic "boom-slump cycle" which is evident in all capitalist countries.

Nevertheless capitalist governments are in power in almost every country in the world and show little inclination to change their system. 


Conclusion:

The war between capitalism and communism is an interesting one, with many battles and new developments still to come. I believe that the conflict between these different ideologies is by no means over.

In theory both capitalism and communism have their advantages. In a theoretical capitalist society there is an extremely strong profit incentive which leads to the accelerated development of new products and technological advances which benefit not only those who are strong enough to succeed but also those who are left behind, through the famous "trickle down effect". In a theoretical communist society there is no unemployment, no inflation, higher productivity in times of crisis and no disparity in wealth, status and power.

However, in practice the story is vastly different for both political systems. Capitalism in practice leads to high unemployment, alienation, the boom-slump cycle, poverty and crime. Communism in practice leads to political control, the suppression of free speech, limited travel, the repression of religion and restricted expression of the arts. Marx idea of the ultimate abolition of the state was in practice as far as it could be.


Bibliography:

Communism: People in Politics, Rex Winsbury 
Socialism:
People and politics, Richard Evans 
Socialism:
The Options, Ron Breth and Ian Ward 
Capitalism for Beginners, Robert Lekachman and Borin Van Loon 
Capitalism:
People and Politics, Peter Donaldson and Harold Pollins 
Encyclopaedia Britanica, volumes 3,7,9,17 
The New Grollier Multimedia Encyclopaedia 
 



http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/street/pl38/sect2.htm

FASCISM

A relative newcomer (1919 - Mussolini) fascism is characterised by elements of pride in the nation, anti-Marxism, the complete rejection of parliamentary democracy, the cultivation of military virtues, strong government, and loyalty to a strong leader. Whereas in communism the individual is second to the society, in fascism the individual is second to the state or race. It is not 'right wing' per-se, but is virtually the same as national socialism (Nazism), it therefore shares much with Marxism in its view of mankind as a collective. We all know what can happen when sufficient people in a state are in eager support of national socialism, hence its widespread repulsion.

CAPITALISM

Contrary to popular belief capitalism is not a 'system' as such. It is the consequence of individual liberty and corresponding property rights (the right to own that which you create, or are born owning). Capitalism is readily blamed for various inequalities despite having never been practised in fact, with the closest examples being 19th century USA and to a lesser extent 19th century Britain.

Many people appear to have a very different idea about what is meant by capitalism. It is not a system of force imposed by people. It is a lack of such a system. It is what happens when people are free from the force of other people. In order to have people 'free' of the force of natural conditions something must be done to make those conditions better for mankind. That is exactly what people have been doing with the invention of the wheel, of machines, the production of energy and everything that followed. All of this is the product of mans mind, without it mankind is returned unprotected to nature. Capitalism itself forces nothing. 

Capitalism doesn't aim at equal ends because they do not occur where people are free to choose their own paths. Those better off do have more opportunities (not more freedom), but that in no way gives one person (or group) the right to rob them of these opportunities and give them to another. Life can be very hard for an impoverished man in a desert compared to a rich man in a European landowners family. That does not give anyone the right to rob the European and give to desert dweller.