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Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism

Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism. Capitalism. An economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned

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Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism

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  1. Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism

  2. Capitalism • An economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned • Investment of capital and the production, distribution, and prices of commodities (goods and services) are determined mainly in a free market rather than by the state • Means of production are (generally) operated for profit.

  3. Socialism • State ownership of common property, or state ownership of the means of production. • In a purely socialist state, the state owns and operates the means of production. • Nearly ALL modern capitalist countries combine socialism and capitalism. Rutgers is a socialist institution: owned and operated by New Jersey. Highways, state parks, harbors, etc. are all socialist – owned and operated by the state – though they facilitate capitalism.

  4. Socialism • As capitalism emerged in opposition to feudalism, socialism developed in reaction to capitalism • Combination of passionate concern for social justice and proposals for economic reform (though the type is not agreed upon by all socialists) • Key themes • Dignity of work • Value of workers’ cooperation • First half of the 19th century • Some ambivalent toward industrialism • Others seek to harness industrialism to welfare of impoverished masses • Disagree central planning

  5. Diversity in Socialism • Saint-Simon (1790-1825) : technocratically planned and controlled industrial society • Robert Owen (1771-1858): self-governing workers’ co-operatives • Francois Marie Charles Fourier (1772-1837): local communities (phalansteres) based on diverse and freely chosen forms of work • English Fabian Society (founded 1883)

  6. Marx and Engel’s Effect on Socialism • Critique of capitalism by Marx and Engels provided resources to socialism • Marxism provided emerging socialist parties of Western Europe with a general philosophy and a final goal in the shape of the common ownership of all means of production and distribution • The goal could incorporate various socialist beliefs in workers’ co-operation and self-management without specifying clearly how a socialist society would actually operate.

  7. Socialism in Action • The First Internationale or International Workingman’s Association (1864-76) • Destroyed by conflicts between Marxists and Anarchists (especially prevalent in repressive quasi-feudal societies such as Russia and Spain) • The Second Internationale (1889-1914) • Both tried to incorporate Western labor movements into an international organization based upon Marxist philosophy and the common interests of workers around the world. • Success in France and Germany • Up until 1914, emerging ideas of democratic socialism could be reconciled with and partly based on Marxist ideology

  8. World War I and Russian Revolution • Transformed socialism • Split the communist and democratic forms of socialism • Bolshevik Revolution  product of a disciplined elite not a mass proletarian movement occurring in an economically backward/quasi feudal country • Doubtful relation to Marx’s theories or speculations • Russian revolution showed that Marx had some flaws • Marx viewed government as coercion by a dominant economic class and not as a separate or independent source or power • Stalin showed how overwhelmingly tyrannical a complete union of political and economic power could be

  9. Communism • A community ownership of property with the end being COMPLEGE social equality via economic equality. • Communism is an idealized utopian economic and social state that the country as a whole is working towards. • The People’s Republic of China aspired to this form of communism in the time of Mao. • Mao justified authoritarianism and repression if they facilitated the establishment of communism.

  10. Marx and the Labor Theory of Value • Marx believes that each individual owns his or her own labor (the labor theory of value) • No man can – or should – own another man’s body or his labor • Profit belongs to the laborer not the capitalist who controls the means of production (e.g. factory owner) • Profit that is not shared with the laborer is inherently exploitive. • Communism claims to transfer the ownership of the means of production to the state so that the profits of labor can be shared with the laborer

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