What is the exact difference between communism and capitalism?

Answer 1

Both are economic systems. Communism holds that all members share goods and services equally and work equally. This is based on the assumption that every one is equal to the other. There is minimal or no government.
Capitalism is based on each developing his own abilities and skills to the max and is rewarded(paid) the better he does his job.
Communism seems to be best for ant colonies. Whereas, Capitalism is best for humans. The rewards for the lazy are minimal. Since humans are NOT equal in talents, abilities, or drive to work and succeed, it does not take an Einstein to see why Communism has been such a resounding failure everywhere it has been tried.
Capitalism uses a carrot to get people to work and produce.
Communism uses a stick, police, 5 year plans, and medals to get people to work and produce.

Answer 2

It comes down to different definitions of value.

A capitalist says that apples, sugar, piecrust, etc, are intrinsically valuable. A poor cook can spend hours trying to make a pie, but instead ruins the already valuable ingredients, making them worthless. An average cook can make an average apple pie with less effort than the poor cook, which increases the intrinsic value of the ingredients and entitles the average cook to the difference in value that he created. A great chef can take the same ingredients and make an outstanding apple pie that people will desire a lot more than the original ingredients, and his great skill, even though it required comparatively little effort, makes him deserve more money than the average cook or the terrible cook.

Communists believe that all three should be paid the same, whether they ruined the ingredients, increased their value slightly, or quintupled their value. The central unifying concept of socialism (which communists believe is the path to communism) is 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.' What you get from that is universal mediocrity, because who is going to spend years at chef school to make great confections when he'll get paid only what he needs to live on?

In practice, of course, it doesn't work out that way. Capitalism includes elements of risk and luck, and but as a general rule it does function as advertised: if you add value, you reap a reward, though it's not always as great as you might think you deserve, and rarely has any relationship to actrual effort.

Communism in practice barely resembles its theory, because no matter how you slice it people simply don't work that way. Every communist nation had or has great chefs, who get great rewards for their excellence, because even though everyone is equal, party members and officials get the best because after all they're sacrificing their lives for the good of the rest and deserve a few extra comforts. Socialism/communism is just feudalism with intellectual pretensions and hipocrasies.

Answer 3

The biggest difference has to do with the means of production. In a communist system, the means of production belong to all (and benefit all) and in a capitalist system the means of production are mostly privately owned. There is a social difference as well. Pure communism promotes no social classes where capitalism does just the opposite, creates and promotes very distinct social classes.

Answer 4

communism is an extreme form of socialism based on the structure of a command economy where everything is decided by the guys up top(what gets made, how much it's gonna cost etc) it works in theory but in practice has failed miserably(see the fall of the ussr)

capitalism is basedo n the idea of the market economy where everything is decided by the consumer basically that means if it sells it'll be made(if theres a demand that demand will be met) this too also works only in theory there are too many schemes to cheat in this system but it's worked so far with partial government regulation(see the anti trust acts)

Answer 5

Capital (productive assets like factories, goods-producing machines, mines, natural resources like gold, timber, etc) is privately owned in capitalism, and used for the benefit of the owners through profit taking.

Capital is publically (collectively) owned in communism and the resources & profits (if the People allow profit) are shared.

Answer 6

the difference is who gets what for their work. in communism, there is no reason to try and do better. its not realistic to expect people to work at their best without any financial motivation. if god exists, then money is perhaps the 2-3 most powerful force in the universe.
in capitalism the sky is the limit, but if you dont work you generally dont get. you are paid for what you know, not for your physical labor. therefore construction workers dont get paid as much as accountants.

both are faulty in their purest forms because both strive to employ 100% of the population. this is bad for families, most for children. the problem with socialism (the so-called golden medium) is that lazy people can take advantage of using too much welfare. welfare isnt neccessarily bad for the economy, because the one receiving it spends 100% of his money, but it doesnt improve the economy because he is not helping to contribute to the labor force.

Answer 7

There are many regimes who have called themselves communist , and many who claim to be capitalist , so there is no hard and fast rule. But , essentially , a communist would , if having to choose , select Justice as being more important than Freedom , a capitalist would , if forced , choose Freedom rather than Justice.

Answer 8

The simplist way to explain is this:
During the reign of Communism in Russia (USSR), people risked their lives to escape.
In the U.S., people risk their lives to get in.
You figure it out.