Capitalism, socialism and communism. Three
words which are perhaps most confusing three
words in modern human society. Meanings of
all 3 words are inter linked or dependent
on each other. To understand these words it’s
also necessary to understand the evolution
of these words and how the meaning and face
of Capitalism, Socialism and Communism has
changed over time. So, have these terms been
confusing for you as well??
If Yes, Worry not, today in this video from
History People and War we shall take a look
at these three political ideologies and how
the theories of Capitalism, socialism and
communism has shaped human society.
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subscribing to History people and War. And
now let’s begin.
People usually have a very strong opinion
over all 3 of these political-isms. Both in
favour of them as well as against it. Also,
one thing to take a note of would be that
Socialism and communism are both political
as well as economic theories, but the Capitalism
is only an economic theory. Which means that
capitalism theory does not comment or state
anything about the role of government in Society
but communism and socialism does. These 3
theories together have heavily influenced
and shaped world politics, in 20th century.
In this video firstly we will take a look
at the socialism and capitalism in first half
of the video and then in the later part of
the video we will focus on communism and on
the views of Karl Marx, who publicized the
term Communism. Philosopher, economist and
revolutionary, Karl Marx is one of the most
recognised face in world history. His take
on capitalism is still studied by people to
understand capitalism.
So now, first let’s try to understand Capitalism
and socialism, in that order.
Capitalism is based on the theory of making
profit via trade. and both trade and profit
making has existed in human history from the
earliest times, just the form of making profit
and doing trade has changed from time to time.
In 18th century with the invention of steam
engine Industrial Revolution had begun, *CHECK*
because of it production of goods was automated
and output had increased by many folds, which
brought drastic economic and social changes
all around the world. The Factory owners became
more wealthy, while most of the workers of
Factory lived in excessive poverty and worked
for very low wages. In short we can say, that
under the umbrella of capitalism rich kept
getting richer and poor more poorer, which
is still continuing in 21st century. Because
of its contrasting nature, in now days you’ll
find both hardy haters and hardy followers
of capitalism.
Now let’s move on to the much argued, Socialism.
The concept of socialism can be dated back
to at least as far as Greek times, when Plato
first shared his view on a collective society,
in his dialogue, in 360 BC. Socialism drives
its standing from human welfare or egalitarian
concepts of human welfare to uplift everyone
in the society. So Socialism as an ideology
actually emerged in 18th century as a response
to the rising capitalistic system. Ideology
of Socialism aimed at improving the condition
of working classes and create more egalitarian
society. Socialism theory also emphasised
on public ownership on the means of production
and wealth, which was very sharply in contradiction
with capitalistic system of free market and
private ownership.
The word socialism has been applied to various
economic and political systems throughout
history, including, utopianism, anarchism,
soviet communism and social democracy. (please
take a note of the term “Soviet communism”,
as we will talk more about it later.) So these
Systems or philosophies based on socialism,
are widely varied in their structure, but
all these theories oppose free market and
advocate for public ownership on the means
of production and wealth for a nation or the
society.
Even for socialism it is true that you’ll
find both hardy haters and hardy followers
of Socialism in today’s time.
Both the capitalism and socialism has been
a part of society in one form or another,
from 100’s of years. If you’ll try to
find a government in history or even today,
which is either purely capitalistic or purely
socialistic. Then I would say, that chances
for you to find one, are very slim to none.
But, then what about a purely communist state?
Is there any?
Few of you might think, that Soviet union
was communist, so is China, Vietnam, Cuba
and North Korea. Right? But, the truth is
that they are not purely communist states
as they follow one part of the theory and
negates the other. That is why it is also
referred to as Soviet Communism, started by
Lenin as per his own interpretations of the
communism and later on the system created
by lenin inspired Soviet union, china, Vietnam,
Cuba and North Korea. In truth it is an unrealistic
scenario for any one of this theory to solely
exist. Well that being said, now let’s take
a look at what communism actually is??
The word communism was termed by Karl marx
and his associate Fredrich Engles, in 1848,
in one of the most controversial book till
date, the communist manifesto.
Communism, sometimes referred to as a revolutionary
socialism, also originated as a reaction to
the Industrial Revolution or Capitalism, as
Marx heavily criticised the system of capitalism.
So he wrote a new political and economic theory
in Communist Manifesto which was inspired
by Socialism.
Capitalism dominates most of the world economic
policies today, in 21st Century. And Marx
was one of the biggest critique of Capitalism.
So, it is absolutely necessary for us to understand
some his work to understand his theory of
communism. So, before further looking at communism
in comparison to Socialism. Let’s first
understand what Karl Marx had to say on Capitalism.
Some philosophers before Marx saw religions
as the root cause of all problems in society.
But, marx views were very contrasting to his
previous generation of philosopher’s and
he saw those believes to be very unreal. He
saw religion as a mere “opium for the people”.
A pain killer or a way for people to escape
from the inequality and oppression of society.
Marx also stated that law, religion, politics,
culture and arts are designed in a way to
keep the ruling class in power and in place
and to maintain status Quo. He believed that
the capitalistic way in which society has
been designed and shaped is the real evil
of our society. He didn’t believe capitalists
themselves to be evil or bad. Rather he even
considered them to be a victim of the uncontrollable
alien force that capitalism has become as
capitalism is naturally exploitive in nature.
Another way to put, what Marx said would be
that Capitalism is a monster that humans have
created and It’s not something that we’re
in control of now. So Marx was bound on finding
a way to empower these exploited worker classes
and put an end to capitalism.
So if we compare Marx Communism with socialism,
then it can be said that both socialism and
communism are essentially advocating public
rather than private ownership, on the means
of production, resources and wealth, in a
society. Both aim to fix the problems they
see as created by a free-market capitalist
system, including the exploitation of workers
and a widening gap between rich and poor.
But the main difference between socialism
and communism theories, is in the way that
the end is to be achieved. In communism, a
violent revolution in which the workers will
rise up against the middle and upper classes
is seen as a necessary part of achieving a
pure communist state while in socialism it
is believed that it can be done within existing
structure, in a democratic way, by means of
reforms.
But karl marx himself never really marked
a clear difference between socialism and communism.
Apart from the point that communistic state
is to be achieved through a revolution.
Love him or hate him, but no one can deny
that Karl Marx changed and affected our world
heavily. Within 70 yrs of his death, more
than 33% of world population followed a system
which they called was inspired by Marx, though
that’s another thing that he himself would
not have approved any of these governments.
As they were not truly following the communism
of Marx where worker class is to be empowered,
rather they just focused on controlling the
means of production and wealth.
Today while socialism and capitalism may seem
two entirely opposite theories, But the truth
is that most capitalist economies today have
some socialist aspects. And in fact, most
modern countries operate with a mixed economic
system, where government and private individuals
both influence production and distribution.
And government provide basic necessities like
health and education to its subjects. In modern
world, elements of both the theories have
been mixed together and modern world today
is working with a Mixed Economy.
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