Is capitalism just another form of communism? Or are there fundamental differencas?

Answer 1

Capitalism and Communism are systems of government based on diametrically opposed methods of running an economy. Capitalism is based on private enterprise. Basically those who own the means of production make all the money and pay those who work for them a relatively small amount for doing so. Communism is based on shared ownership and equality, where those actually doing the work supposedly are the ones who benefit from their own efforts. If applied in their purest form, however, both systems tend to end up having a very similar effect.

i.e. (from one of my previous answers):-

"Communism - forced equality whether you like it or not, to the detriment of equal opportunity and social justice, and some are always more equal than others. A small minority end up with all the power and privilege. You end up with an elite class ruling over the downtrodden masses who suffer from poverty and have very little freedom of choice.

Capitalism - exploitation of the many to benefit the few, again to the detriment of equal opportunity and social justice. A small minority make most of the available money, the rest have to work hard to make enough to stay alive and so suffer poverty and very little freedom of choice."

Both have their good points as well as their bad points though, and what most democratic governments actually do is use the best bits of both and try to keep the worst bits to a minimum. What we mainly argue about in a democracy is "which are the best bits and which are the worst bits, and in what mix should they be applied?"

Answer 2

The main difference is idealistic. In Capitalism the essential premise is that any person can gain a large share of money and property. Wealth is the most desirable thing in Capitalist systems and one of the main benefits is that once a person becomes rich it is very easy for them to stay rich.
It is in theory possible for someone poor to become rich through stint of hard work, but generally this is almost impossible. In order for a person to triumph in a Capitalist system they either must be born wealthy or have discovered a way to exploit those around themselves for money.
In a Capitalist system the amount of money you get is mostly related to how much you already have and the pay you get from a job relates as much to it's rank as it does to to the level of skill involved. A chairman of a company does not work 40 times harder than the other employees nor does that position require 40 times more skill but it does earn 40 times more pay.

A communist system is basically set up so that the government controls the wealth. It is easy to choose a bad example of a different form of government and claim it is Communism. There are actually very few Communist systems in place in the world, most of the countries who attempted communism suffered such harsh economic penalties and trade embargoes that the government was replaced by a system of State Capitalism. There is no nation in the world at this point that has a true Communist system, although Cuba is possibly the closest.
The basic system of Communism is that people are given a fair and even basic wage and resources like food and medicine are freely distributed rather than monoploised. People earn money to spend on goods and services but the amount of money you earn relates more to the number of hours you work and the level of skill involved. Thus a medical doctor will be paid perhaps three times more than a factory worker, but not 30 times more as in a capitalist system.

Answer 3

There are very fundamental differences. first of all, you have to realize that Marx's utopian vision is just that--and not relevant to the real world.

Communisim in practice (e.g. the Soviet Union) has certain key featrues. As an economic system, it entails the abolishing of markets and substuting state-ownership of the means of production and distribution. "Planning"--responses to needs and demand--become functions of a bureaucracy. What in any other econommic system (not just capitalism) are market forces (supply and demand) are sidestepped in favor of mandadated production quotas.

In capitalism, on the other hand, the means of production and distribution are in the hands of a decentralized group (businesses) who attempt to anticipate and respond to variations in demand with appropriate supply (production) and to gain market share by innovation. The system is driven by the prospect of making a profit.

Over and above the political ramifications, capitalism has proven to work very well in terms of economic growth and technological progress. Communism hasn't. When it does come to those political factors, communism also does not work well. In practice, by becoming the sole employer and by removing the options of entrepreneurship and individual judgement, it centralizes power--without any checks and balances, either politicalor economic. In this area, however, a capitalist system also has problems. Cheifly these have to do with power relations. Today, we see large corporations often dominating markets--and unduly influencing the political process via the large amounts of money they have at their disposal--what Alfred Chandler ("The Visible Hand") calls "managerial capitalism." This is in contrast to "proprietary capitalism" that dominate the 19th century and was almost entirely composed of small or medium-sized firms and individual artisans--a system in which owners actually operated the businesses. A good example of the problem this presens is the current extent to which large energy corporations are derailing public policy and so delaying needed innovation and change in the energy industry to protect their existing investments."

The point is that capitalism is demonstrably the most effective economic system yet devised--and yes, fundamentally different from communism. But its far from being perfect.

BTW-don't confuse communism with socialism. The two are also fundamentally different. A socialist system (e.g. Sweden) is distinguished by extensive government ownership of some industires--and, via a "welfare state," of the means of distribution as well. But it does not eliminate the market or private ownership, business enterprises, or innovationand entrepreneurship. In addition, many socialist systems do have strong democratic institutions and protections of individual rights andcivil liberties. No communist system has managed anything other than an abysmally brutal record on that score.

Answer 4

As others have said, they are fundamentally different, nearly opposite and would take ages to explain.

Keep this in mind, pure capitalism seeks to sqeeze the most from its resources, in the most efficient manner to maximize profits. This is often at odds with workers who feel a bit too squeezed and underpaid for their efforts. Additionally, without regulation, companies have shown little regard to the environment to get their raw materials.

Communism, on the other hand, is "citizen" owned production, so the theory goes. People and resources are supposed to be controlled by the masses, yet this hasn't quite played out that way. Communism lacks many efficiencies as there is no true profit motive. Additionally, pure Communism is supposed to allow workers to swtich jobs at will. That leads to a jack of all trades, master of none population, if people choose to work at all.

In capitalism, you tend to have an over abundance of options from competing companies and in Communism you tend to have scarcity as the market produces what it thinks or feels the population needs.

Answer 5

Capitalism:
Profit are common goal.
(Profit without ethics are common goal)
Society must have different layers and each layer has different privileges. People work to change its personal status and companies do anything to improve its profits.

Communism:
People should not receive different treatment. Everybody have same rights. State works to the group. Group works to the group and not to the individual achievments. Personal profit is not allowed. All rpofit must be distributed to entire group

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Capitalisms have illusion of equal opportunities and freedom, but what really happens are: Depleted environment, slave work, small group control opportunities and keep control through midia and supporting elections.

Answer 6

Capitalism is founded on the principle of private property.

Communism is the denial of that principle, to the extent of denial of ownership of your own labor.

The fundamental difference is simple to understand. Imagine you live in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood. Would you be more likely to plant a tree if you rented, or if you owned?

Answer 7

The biggest difference is the presence of a feedback loop. Companies compete for consumers interest, whereas in communism, there is no competition or choice. You get what you get. The government decides who makes soap, how much, and at what price. In capitalist society, you decide what soap you buy and at what price. This goes for almost all goods and services. Companies that don't do well will go belly up, so they have to fight for their survival.

Answer 8

Grab a dictionary and look up the words. Then take a look at how these systems when applied to populations that are similar produce different results (n. Korea = s Korea) E Germany = W Germany) Then ask yourself which of these countries you would rather live in. Not in a theoretical sense but in a how I would live my life on a daily basis point of view. When I read questions such as yours I fear for my country

Answer 9

Major differences. State control to market control in the purest essence of each. But it would take pages to show the real differences today. Pull a basic government or economy book out and read it.

Answer 10

one thing their starting to have in common is that its keeping the middle class and poor down.
capitalism is way out of control because of no cap, people cant afford the high prices. in this sense its like communism ---keeping the middle and poor down.