The Good, And The Bad And Ugly The other day I was talking to a coworker about Cuba and how a society under a communist government works. It was interesting to see how little he knew about this topic. This does not surprised me because I have often heard to coworkers who say Obama is a communist, which is not true and demonstrates little knowledge about communism. As I consider myself an expert in this area, having lived twenty four years under a communist government, I decided to make a comparison between the Communist system, particularly the one in Cuba, and the capitalist system. Obviously both systems are very different from who owns the means of production, how the economy is managed to the propaganda in the media. A fundamental difference between communism and capitalism is in the hands of who are the means of production. In communism there is no private property, which means that the means of production are in the hands of "the people". This is what the Communist government likes to say, the reality is that under such governments everything belongs to them. The government in communist societies handles everything from hospitals, schools, banks, all kinds of industry to the ice cream cart that is pushed by a vendor on the streets. The government is the major employer, this is one of the ways he manage to subdue the people, nobody revealed against it for fear of losing their jobs, without economic freedom is very difficult to pursue political freedom.
After World War two, the west and the Soviets brought up tensions between each other. Countries such as Great Britain, the United States, Canada, France and others practiced a capitalist economy. Capitalism is a free market ideal in which the government has as little intervention to its people as possible. On the other hand, the Soviets practiced a Communist government. Communism is a form of socialism that has its government get involved in everyone’s daily life. This meant that the government determined how much and what kinds of goods would be produced.
Capitalists wanted a democratic society to go with their economic plan, led by a leader or group of leaders that were chosen through an election, and Communists wanted a totalitarian society to go with their economic plan, ruled by a single leader that took control over everyone and leads every aspect of their lives, instead of the old-fashioned concept of kings. Whether a president, prime minister, Congress, or a dictator, the leaders from these economic plan/societies dictate public policy. Communism is simply just more strict.
In a communist country they treat people equally. They barely get anything at all. In the United States we are a democracy, which means we still have laws, but we can do a lot of things. In a communist country you have strict laws, and can not do a lot of things that The United States can.
During the 1950’s, Cuba was on the brink of revolution. The nation, which had suffered numerous corrupt and oppressive governmental regimes, fell victim to yet another when Fulgencio Batista seized power under a military coup in March of 1952. A cry for a just Cuba, that was economically, politically, and socially free continued to echo throughout the island. In 1959, a group of radical revolutionaries, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and put in place the political and social structures that exist in Cuba to this day.
In a perfect example of communism man helps each other not hurt each other. However capitalism is just the opposite man can own private factories, stores and businesses. While taking down other people in their way. Not everyone benefits from a capitalist economy, especially the lower class who can't afford their own private businesses.
Capitalism means that, well any and every businesses and market forces with supply and demand determine what goods are available in their markets and what the prices they want those goods to be are. Everything, land, shops, housing, industries, and land are for the most part, owned by private individuals or companies instead of the collective whole. And in The United States political system, a democracy, every single citizen chose their leaders by voting them into office by elections that are free and fair. Governmental oversight however of every day life is very minimal, allowing its individuals to make each and every one of their decisions on their own free will. As to what career they want to pursue, where they want to live, what they want to eat, etc. Although each system had benefits and disadvantages, during The Cold War both the Soviet Union and The United States were viewing the other 's system as incorrect and a threat to their own system. Both countries worried that the other may indeed one day attempt to spread its ideology throughout the world. The United States was unwilling to live in a world, as where communism dominated and out ruled, and The Soviet Union felt very similar about living in a situation to where they would be under capitalism. Communist tent to believe that capitalism is indeed a selfish ideology
differences. One of the main tenets of communism is that capitalism is inherently bad and posed a threat to
Two of the world’s most popular and diverse economic systems are Communism and Capitalism. Capitalism, or a free enterprise economy, is an economic system constructed by the freedoms of the marketplace. The capitalist economy has several promising advantages. The capitalist government subtly changes and adjusts to the current conditions with ease. A communist system can be defined as an economic system where many, if not all, factors of production are controlled and owned by the government.
There have been many conflicts and wars fought over communism and capitalism. One of the longest and intense conflicts was the Cold War. “The Cold War was a nearly 50-year long period of tense relations between the United States and the Communist-ruled Soviet Union. The Cold War began almost immediately after World War II and ended with the 1991 dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” (Turner, 2001-2014 p.1). The Soviets fought to expand communism and destroy capitalism, but in the end capitalism was one of the reasons the Soviet Union dissolved.
Capitalism and Communism are both economic systems, adopted by different regions, which has played a major role in how society has been shaped in the 20th century. Capitalism, is simply an economic system where things like property and/or businesses are owned and controlled by individuals instead of the government. The United States was one of the first majorly developed regions to adopt this philosophy and it has had a huge impact on the global economy by allowing free market competition and by promoting the culture of work. Communism, is an economic system in which things like businesses and property are own and controlled by the government. Communism was adopted by the Soviet Union and played a critical role in global politics and social classes.
The major differences between the two are their preferred styles of government, capitalism and communism. The major difference between the two is their view on economic production. In Communism, the central government controls all production and determines what goods the economy should produce, as well as the price of those goods. Meanwhile, Capitalism allows the market decide what goods should
Anyone who accepts communism is accepting total submission to the government and is okay with not having individual freedom. The goal of communism is for the government to own and rule over everything and everyone in the nation. In Communist countries the government owns the houses, land, businesses, factories and farms in that society. Not only do they have control over these physical things they also have control over the freedom of speech and expression. This has been shown in communist countries today like China; “Chinese authorities, recognizing in recent years that limited freedom of
There are many different outcomes and problems that can occur as a result of the different systems. The benefits for communism are set up on a larger scale that takes time and effort, as for capitalism hard work produces quick gains. Since it is harder for people of communism to see direct results from their hard work, there can be a tendency of people doing less, but still receiving the same as everyone else. Thus, there needs to be some type of point system, which makes sure each person does enough work to show for the goods received. If the work is not done then something needs to be done, such as not giving them their share, jail time, or kicked out of the community, resulting in poorer living standards. Capitalism however, gives each individual a choice of the benefits they will receive from working hard or not. You still have the chance to be poor, but unlike communism you have the chance to become rich. In communism the hardest workers receive the same, but in capitalism the hardest workers reap the most rewards.
Communism is based on the belief that man is inherently good, and when given the option he will work for the betterment of his neighbour. This layout is helped along when all men are economically equal, and the only way to ensure that is to rid society of private property and monetary exchange, thus, the government controls all of the
In seeking to highlight the key differences between socialism and capitalism, it would be prudent to first offer a concise definition of the two terms. Capitalism in the words of Brinkerhoff, White, Ortega, and Weitz (2007) "is the economic system in which most wealth (land, capital, and labor) is private property, to be used by its owners to maximize their own gain." As the authors in this case further point out, this particular economic system is largely founded on competition. Socialism on the other hand is defined as "an economic structure in which productive tools are owned and managed by the workers and used for the collective good" (Brinkerhoff et al., 2007). From the definitions, it is clear that unlike capitalism, socialism favors a situation whereby there is deliberate control as well as planning of economic activities on behalf of the entire community. In the case of capitalism, no attempt is made to have economic activities controlled from a central point on behalf of the community. Here, enterprises are allowed to compete in the supply of goods and services as they seek to rake in monetary returns. The key