Humans have been around for millions of years, and with that comes different ways to attempt to make a better society, whether that be by ruling with an iron fist or by being thoughtful and carrying to your people. The two systems that are the most discussed and debated over are Capitalism and Communism, both have been argued over multiple times. The most debated however, is do they work and/or which works better. After reading this essay I’m hoping you can make that decision yourself, throughout the essay I will be focusing on the similarities and differences of each system, the benefits and the problems that both systems have.
So, what does Capitalism and Communism have in common? These two systems ultimately have the same goal. Though this goal may seem futile at this point, their goal is for everyone to succeed, for everyone to have everything. They both take different approaches to reach this goal, but both want to succeed and for their people to thrive and live “The American Dream”. Their ways of achieving these goals vary drastically, Capitalism wants there to be a free market and a competitiveness to it, while communism focuses more on equality throughout the system, so essentially, if your neighbor is rich you’re rich. Though one may have a better way in which to achieve this goal, they both want the same thing.
There are also plenty of differences between the two, one being, they both have different rhetoric. Both systems have the same ways of shunning the other system and making their people blame the other for all of their hardship. Communist/Capitalist rulers often tell their people that the other wants to ruin your ‘freedom’ and take away your way of life. Capitalism uses the “My fellow man” rhetoric which makes it seem like they’re just like you, doing their duty to the country. While communism uses the self-rhetoric, which focuses on you as a person not as a society. There are some similarities, such as demanding sacrifices from the lower class for the greater good, communism saying the sacrifice is for “the economy” and capitalism saying it for “the people”.
Another similarity is that both systems use immense violence to rid of the other system. Capitalism countries such as the United States, start wars with anyone who threatens their system. Such as the Cold War, the USSR wanted to spread their communist system so the US decided they needed to stop it from spreading and threatening their system hence the start of the Cold War. With communism, there are plenty of examples to choose from but one outshines the rest, Joseph Stalin and the Massacre of 7 million to 20 million people, if anyone said anything against communism or their leader they were deported, killed, or sent to the Gulag for treason and threatening communism as a whole. Though that is an extreme example that just goes to show the extremes both these systems will go to protect their beliefs.
Scarcity has been an issue, well forever and that holds true in these two systems, but in completely different ways. Communism has an issue with scarcity because they give too much of everything to everyone. So, if you have a car everyone else must also have a car, if you get paid $10,000 a year everyone else also gets paid $10,000 a year. Their version of scarcity is from a shortage of goods often which results in scarcity for all the common people in the country. Capitalisms problem with scarcity comes from the free market, Capitalism has an overabundance of stuff with the rich, that they throw out when they’re done with it so the poor doesn’t get anything. Essentially the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Though both are different in many ways, they are also similar in plenty of aspects. Which is better we may never know, we can never have a perfect communist nation and we can never have a perfect capitalist nation, there are always flaws, always things to fix. We may all have our opinions, but in truth no-one is right, either can work if executed properly and mixed with the other to the right extent. So, in conclusion if you want to live a life of freedom and can bad mouth whomever without being killed or sent to prison for treason, capitalism is for you. If you want to be equal with your peers and never wonder who’s better because you are all equals communism is for you. The decision is yours choose wisely.
