Capitalism and communism are two of the most prominent political and economic ideologies of the 21st century. Together, they shaped human history for the last 100 years. But is there another challenger? Could a compromise between these two ideologies bring about the long-promised utopia?
Capitalism
Capitalism
is defined by the free market. Everyone has the
opportunity to do business as they please. So, in effect, everyone can abuse
one another without anyone to oversee them. Sounds horrible! But in reality, it
has worked for the most part. Capitalism thrives on the fact that humans are
unable to overcome their greed. So why even try; let the system take care of
you like it always has. Be it horrible or good. The participants of capitalist
society are being fed the idea that one day they can rule over others from the
top. This keeps them going. But in reality, the chance of it happening is a
little more than when we had the feudal system. Status, wealth was defined by
birth and peasants had little say about their fate.
We
can more accurately define capitalism as the economic system that is designed
to maximize production through private ownership and competition. In this
economic system, capital is more highly valued than labor. To be honest, very
few countries are truly capitalist to the core. Most countries operate under a
mixed economy.
Communism
Communism
comes with a "revolutionary" idea that a participant in human society
will be treated as an equal to any other. As humans are social animals, this
idea encompasses all humans. But communism fails to deal with human greed.
Equality sounds good when you are struggling. But when you are equal to others,
you are bound to want more. But if one wants more in an equal society, trouble
begins. Others will want more too. Finally, society will break down.
If
we go deep enough, communism is hard to define. It has gone through many
iterations such as Leninism, Maoism, Juche. Even Karl Marx’s view, the writer
of “The Communist Manifesto,” is open to
interpretation. So, if you ask 100 communists what communism is, you'll get 90
different answers.
Socialism
What
is socialism then? Well, it is characterized as the transition period from
capitalism to communism. So, it compromises on communist ideals to slowly bring
about communism without ruffling any feathers. But it's a delusion. Ruffle
feathers, socialism will. In the meantime, socialism seems like a better
capitalist system to live under. You get more rights, and any harmful activity
that might be done upon you with the state's blessing is limited.
Socialism
can be defined more thoroughly as a political and economic ideology that tries
to socialize the means of production. Meaning this ideology tries to lessen the
value of capital and increase the value of labor within a capitalist system.
So, what is the best system? Clearly, socialism is going to anger fewer people than the other two. And it's pretty good too. We get the perks of capitalism without descending into chaos. And we get some of the equality of communism while keeping up with human nature. But is there another solution besides it? Perhaps a completely new system with a completely new set of ideas. Maybe that’s a discussion for the future.
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