Ideological tensions

Question 1

Characteristics of capitalism

Answer 1

1. Gap between rich and poor
2. Possibility for advancement, doesn’t necessarily work in practice
3. Free trade
4. Paid fairly
5. Provide for yourself
6. Freedom of speech, religion and politics
7. Class systems
8. Rugged individualism
9. Laissez faire
10. Fair political representation
11. More space for innovation
12. Supply and demand
13. Motivation
14. Government chosen through voting

Question 2

Characteristics of communism

Answer 2

1. ‘For each according to their abilities, for each according to their needs’
2. Supposed to be equality; doesn’t really work in practice
3. High level of control is needed for a communist state to work
4. People lack motivation
5. Working class people live in better conditions
6. Lower standard of living
7. Cultivate national pride
8. Can only vote for one party
9. Human rights are violated, however had some rights that weren’t present in capitalist states
10. Communist party represents the views of all the workers
11. All businesses and farms owned by the state

Question 3

What did communism critique in capitalism?

Answer 3

It produces:

1. Inequality
2. Poverty
3. False consciousness
4. Alienation

Question 4

How do communists argue that capitalism produces poverty?

Answer 4

1. Wealth and the political power and economic opportunities that went with it is unfairly distributed
2. The capitalists reap the profits while paying the workers a pittance for long hours of hard labour, yet it is the workers who create economic value
3. Workers are not paid fully or fairly for their labour because the capitalists siphon off surplus value, which they call profit

Question 5

How do communists argue that capitalism produces inequality?

Answer 5

The bourgeois owners of the means of production amass enormous wealth, while the proletariat falls further into poverty

Question 6

How do communists argue that capitalism produces false consciousness?

Answer 6

This wealth also enables the bourgeoisie to control the government or state, which does the bidding of the wealthy and the powerful to the detriment of the poor and the powerless.

Question 7

How do communists argue that capitalism produces alienation?

Answer 7

The worker is separated or estranged from:

1. The product of his labour, which he does not own
2. The process of production, which under factory conditions makes him “an appendage of the machine”
3. The sense of satisfaction that he would derive from using his human capacities in unique and creative ways; and
4. Other human beings, whom he sees as rivals competing for jobs and wages.