A simple definition of Communism:
Communism is a political and economic system in which the major productive resources in a society—such as mines, factories, and farms—are owned by the public or the state, and wealth is divided among citizens equally or according to individual need.
A simple definition of Capitalism:
The definition of capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and the operations are funded by profits.
There has been an alarming rise in the support of Socialism and Communism over the last few decades and it seems to be growing, especially among millennials. In their Utopian ideals, everyone should have everything equally. They believe in equality of OUTCOME, not equality of OPPORTUNITY. Let’s look at the difference.
In its simplest form, equality of outcome means that everyone in a society has the same approximate income and material wealth. Doesn’t that sound like a lovely kumbaya kind of existence? Until you realize that this idea goes against every possible concept of hard-work, effort, and fairness. Let’s put this in a Steemit related concept.
You work on a Steemit post all day. You do research, you select the best images, you edit and refine your work until it is perfect. You post it and receive a lot of upvotes and comments. Your post earns $50.
I work on a Steemit post for 5 minutes. I write a poem that I don’t even think is any good. I post it just because I need to make a post that day. My post earns $2. Under equality of outcome, all of the rewards earned on Steemit would be collected and then equally distributed so that my post with very little effort put into it would earn the same as yours.
What we should be striving for is equality of opportunity. Under this concept, everyone has the same opportunity to post on Steemit and earn rewards based on the amount of work, effort, and talent that they have. These examples do not translate perfectly into the world in which we live, but the basic idea is the same
Anyone that thinks for a moment that Communism is an ideology that is good and just should research the Kulaks. The Kulaks were a group of more affluent peasants that lived in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. According to the political theory of the Marxist-Leninists, the Kulaks were the enemy of the poorer peasants simply because they had more.
The Government then violently seized Kulak farms to “liberate” poorer peasants and the Kulaks were either killed or sent to labour camps where many more died. Famous Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn estimated that as many as 6 million people died, and almost 2 million sent to labour camps.
While Capitalism has drawbacks, it is by far the fairest system. It encourages hard work and ingenuity while discouraging laziness. Capitalism is a naturally flowing system while Communism relies on massive government interference.
If you are one of those people that scream out that Capitalism is a terrible thing, do some research on the death and poverty that Communism has caused over the last century. Or look at what is going on in Venezuela at this very moment.
Capitalism isn’t perfect. But it’s a damn sight better than Communism.
Images are courtesy of Pixabay.
