Capitalism or communism?

[Anonymous]

Capitalism

Communism

[nightdrot]

This is not a hard one. The success rate for socialism being less than stellar, with an unblemished record of failure since the model first came out. (To which I can add some family members who enjoyed the pleasure of life behind the Iron Curtain back in the day.) This also allowing for the fact that any human institution - being the product of imperfect beings - will be imperfect. It then being not a question of the ideal but rather, on balance, the least harmful.

To start, socialism needs to be properly defined. It is a system based on the theoretical premise that human nature is nothing save a product of economics and the inevitable dialectic of History - with a capital "H." Man has no identity save that of his class. In practice, then, socialism is a centrally planned economy, government ownership of the means of production and the abolition of private property.

In its communist variant it is also the leadership - by a party elite - of the masses in a dictatorship of the proletariat who will help the masses recognize their class interests and guide them to the otherwise allegedly inevitable end of History with its stateless utopia. (Though why a totalitarian part elite is needed to lead the masses to that which is historically inevitable is something of a conundrum.)

Suffice to say, the absurdities pile one on another and in practice - whatever its theoretical predictions - the historical record was clear. Totalitarian dictatorship with a police state, augmented by empty store shelves, shortages, corruption and a black market and economic mayhem.

One thing is does NOT mean, by the way, is a welfare state. Socialism and a welfare state are NOT the same things. Indeed, Marx opposed the welfare state as a bribe by the bourgeoise of the proletariat to deprive the latter of their class identity. Thus, for example, in China, until the market reforms of the 1980s, China had no pension system and the health care system was really nothing but the remnants of the old pre-20th century village system.

In fact, the welfare state was founded by two conservatives - Disraeli in Britain and Bismarck in Germany - for the purpose of reconciling the masses to the dynamics and uncertainties of a free market economy. This by alleviating the worst impacts of old age, illness and temporary unemployment. Note that capitalism and the welfare state are NOT inherently in conflict.

Please note that, despite American usage, conservatism is not pure free market economics. Capitalism is the product of classical liberalism and interestingly - at least in one respect - is similar to socialism in that it defines man as a merely homo econimus. As Adam Smith said, "The merchant has no country." This having its parallel in the Marxian, "Workers of the world unite!"

Both suggest a dramatic oversimplification of human nature. The advantage of capitalism being that it gives scope to alternative identities. While it fails to give man a sense of identity and this can lead to much social tumult, it does not, as socialism does, seek to impose a singular identity. Thus capitalism being superior by giving wider scope to human freedom while preserving economic rationality.

Burke, the father of classical conservatism, called Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" the greatest work of ECONOMIC philosophy ever written. The modifier matters. Burke recognized that capitalism defined one facet of human complexity, it did not seek to supplant it.

This being the ultimate failure of socialism. It oversimplified human nature and made no room for alternatives. The result was bloodshed and tyranny - and let that be socialism's epitaph.

Besides, as a man whose family grew up in Germany under both the Nazis and the Communists, I can add family history to theoretical arguments. Well some of my family remembers - and still talk about - sending their youngest, this under the communists, to walk the perimeter of their yard to make sure that they could not be overheard, lest the Stassi come knocking at the door.

Well does my uncle remember seeing a colleague arrested at work. Why? Because he had said an indiscreet word to a man who was his colleague. Unfortunately, under the communists, you never knew when a neighbor, family member or colleague would report you to the authorities. In the communist system, EVERYONE you knew was a spy.

Either way, not knowing who you could trust - even among the people you called friends. Not knowing if you might be overheard and, if you were, not knowing how even the most innocuous things might be interpreted and thus bring the "knock at the door." Every day was a risk.

So, in my family's case - they were in-laws, actually - they sold what little they had to someone who was able to sneak them into the West. (This in the days before the Berlin Wall went up. You still were not allowed to travel without government permission.) Even then, to the last minute, they worried that the man that they had trusted to get them to the West was not a government agent or would otherwise betray them. So, they sweated it out, got lucky, and made it.

There was nothing redeeming in communism and it is, frankly, a sad example that the state of education in this country is such that it is even a question. As was said of the French kings can be said of contemporary society - they forget nothing and learn nothing.

[exitseven]

Communism has failed wherever it has been tried. Without totalitarianism it cannot function. Humans are selfish by nature. They work towards their own ends. Communism assumes that people will work towards the common good.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO

[normalice]

There is a bit of a horseshoe effect. The extremes of both are identical to each other and are just two other names for a dictatorship. Balance is the name of the path towards civility..

[AviatorTom]

Capitalism survives, while Communism has died.

Best is actually a mix of the two, call it social capitalism, capitalism with some si ial safeguards, enforced by government.

[DrPepper12]

Capitalism IF MOST of the negative externalities are mitigated and there is an activitst government regulations with a progressive tax system that favors people over corporations.

[DryGermanGuy]

There is more than those two, just look at Germany.

[handsomelad70]

Neither. Democratic socialism ala Fennoscandia.(Finland, Norway, Sweden.)

[war_daddy]

hard to say since China is kicking so much ass nowadays and USA is clown world

[itsclearlynicholas]

Mmm that delicious socialism 😋

[Anonymous]

How about a Fascist Dictatorship?

[strateguy632]

1st,

[XXblack88]

Capitalism

[Anonymous]

Capitalism.