Communism and Capitalism

Communism and Capitalism

The word Communism comes from the word commune. The meaning of commune is a group of people who live together and share responsibilities. Therefore, there is nothing wrong in being a Communist. Unfortunately, society did not implement the true concept of Communism properly. They underestimated the true nature of the human race. There can never be equality because human beings have different needs and wants. No two people are the same. At most Communism can achieve short term successes.

The founder of Communism was Karl Marx. He was born into a comfortable middle-class home in Trier on the river Moselle in Germany on May 5, 1818. His theories were based on the exploitation of the working class ( Proletariat ) by those that controlled the means of production ( Bourgeoisies ). They were being exploited by being paid low wages whereby the owners took full advantage of the profits made by their company. Unions were formed in order to persuade the workers to accept whatever rule the owners implemented thus creating a false consciousness. They were persuaded to think that they were doing well in their jobs and that the company that they worked for cared for them.

These union leaders were chosen by the owners themselves therefore the workers had to obey them. He also stated that the workers also felt alienated in their work because there was no room for innovation. He envisaged that the workers in order to overcome their exploitation must first be aware of their exploitation. They must form unions to fight against their exploitation. The difference this time is that the unions that would formed by the working class would have leaders appointed by the working class and not the owners. They will take over the factories and the government. Ownership of private property will be shared out equally. All will have equal education. They will have to innovate and make changes to their lifestyle. However, innovations and changes to their lifestyle must be made across the board. There cannot be any inequality. As you can see, these concepts are actually short lived as equilibrium between man kind wants and needs can never be achieved.

Communist ideologies are actually short term ideas. That is why Communism was successful in the Soviet Union for a short period of time before the period of social unrest developed because the government of Soviet Union became a dictatorship. Influential leaders from various countries at one stage was romanizing the way Soviet Union was governed despite that there was repent poverty occurring. Even though there was repent poverty, most Russians had jobs and food compared to the times they were under the Tsar ruling. Men like Antonio Gramsci and Mao Zedong, strong believers of Marxism, saw the short term success of communism. They wanted to implement it in their respective countries – Italy and China. However as history has it Stalin twisted the concept of communism and became a tyrant. Executing those who oppose him including the Jews.

Dictatorship has been so internalized in Russian that when in became a capitalist country, their leaders like Boris Yetsin and Mikhail Gorbachev pivoted the country into deeper turmoil. These leaders , even though made changes to their countries, were still trained in the communist doctrines and were members of the Soviet Communist Party. Boris Yeltsin fired his government when they did not meet up to his satisfaction. At least it is better than killing them like what Stalin or Leon Trotsky did.

China had more success in implementing the concept of capitalism and communism. They have had rather a good success in implementing the concept. However, great economic inequality still do exist. In Shanghai, where there are tall sky-scrapers, there are also many poor people living on it’s streets. There are still provinces in China where people are still hungry and living below the poverty line.

Russia has accreted their ideology of dictatorship by attacking Georgia. There are sentiments of wanting to become a superpower. Will there be another Cold War? History repeats itself so do not be surprise if there is another Cold War or World War 3 in the future. With so many social unrest happening and nothing being done about it, embargoes may be implemented on violent – prone countries. Countries that are affected by the embargoes may go to war in order to survive. For example, in World War 2, Japan went to war with America because there was an embargo place on their oil exports.

The concept of capitalism encourages competition between business. Governments using the concept of capitalism to run its economy also promote democracy. However, even though a government can practice capitalism in a country , it does not mean that it can be totally democratic. For example, Singapore, even though its economy is based on capitalism it is not a very democratic country as it does not allow it’s laws to be challenged. It also increases the income gap between the lower and upper income population. Thus creating poverty. Therefore whether one uses Communism or Capitalism to govern a country , it is inevitable that poverty would be formed. For example in Britain, even though majority of its population are doing well, there are still areas in Britain where poverty flourish. Social unrest still occurs in countries that adopt capitalism. Another country in mind is India.

Discrimination between races and jobs also occur. For example, in Singapore, there was a call to segregate foreign workers and to do away with job advertisements that only advertised for Chinese workers. The latter is now not encouraged but there is no law against companies to choose what kind of race it wants to employ. Which concept works best? The answer is none.

Communism and Capitalism are theories that each different individuals theorize the best way to run a country. However both are without their flaws. The former would not work because there can never be equality in the world. The latter would not work either because capitalism feeds on man’s greed more one gets greedy. The most one can do is try to even the odds which implies the concept of Communism. Total balance in people’s socio economic status can never be achieved but a leverage to increase their status in economic terms can be achieved ( for those in the lower income region ). There must be more equality in the distribution of resources among the various races in one’s county and between the lower and middle income families.

Do note that I have left out the upper income, this is to reinstate my call for the welfare of the lower and middle income families to be more on par with the upper income families. The lower and middle income population however can never be on the same level playing field as the upper income as those with the money would generate more income for themselves. Of course , it can be argued that lower and middle income can rise to the level of the upper income with a sudden surge of monetary income ( striking the grand price of a big sweep and successfully investing in a business are two examples ) but how many would have such luck. I am more concern to those that are perpetually trapped in the lower and middle income range level. To govern a country properly, the concept of communism and capitalism must be applied.