Command Economies

Though voluntary communal ownership has Scriptural precedent for believers it must be done honestly and out of love for one another; the fact that such ownership created problems and is never recommended in the Epistles is doubtless significant. Acts 2:44-45 Acts 5:1-11

Values common good public welfare economic authority economic cooperation economic control economic equality equality of income focus on capital goods rather than consumer goods

The least you need to know: also known as a command, planned, socialist or communist economy an organized system of production and consumption according to some central authority Greed finds its way into the system through hoarding, corruption, and the Black Market

Features of a Command Economy See “Big Economic Theory Sheets” Questions and Commandments Public Enterprise Economy Chart Compare and Contrast Chart Play Wendy’s Commercial

Scarcity How is scarcity dealt with in a command economy? Discuss

Economic Questions Answered What goods and services should be produced? A: What the state needs, what consumers need, what consumers want 2) How should goods and services be produced? A: State sends publicly owned enterprises specific quotas and directives for production. 3) How should the goods and services be distributed? A: Who ever the state decides needs them, focus on equality 4) Who answers these questions? A: The state in the name of the people as a collective whole

Case Study: Agriculture Command Economy Centrally planned government intervention Private enterprise marketing boards which impose crop controls and quotas limit production government inspection of food government subsidies to help farmers compete internationally government negotiated sales of production e.g. wheat to other countries e.g. Russia, China, India Market Economy supply and demand governs much of the market high degree of competition from within Canada and around the world

Case Study: North vs. South Korea

Marx and Engels Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) father of communism Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895) main intellectual partner

How Marx thought change would come about (dialectical materialism) Primitive communalism || Slavery Feudalism or Rule by the Nobility The upper class of rich people, who took the profits and controlled the government of the county, would be overthrown by

Capitalism The bourgeoisie, the middle class (small businessmen, shopkeepers, etc) would rule society for a while; then be overthrown by || Socialism The proletariat or working class establish a dictatorship to control every aspect of society and move it towards ...

Utopian Communism Everyone works freely for the good of everyone else and does not try to gain more than the next person

Types of Communism Utopian Socialism – aim is to create a perfect society (never has been one!) Revolutionary Socialism – based on the belief that you need to used violence in order to create an equal society (Lenin’s Marxism) Evolutionary Socialism – the belief that a more equal, socialist society could be brought about by peaceful means (Democratic Socialism)

The Ideal Marxist Society Governing Values: All the people - food, shelter, health, physical, psychological needs A circle, all equality Economic Planning: Elected representatives=>info about needs=>production=>distribution to meet needs Abolished: (1) private property (2) profit motive (3) crime

Result:  communism creates a society where all interests and people are treated equally, as opposed to capitalism which creates a society where the interests of the rich capitalist bourgeoisie, exploit the interests of the poor proletariat.

Arguments for a Socialist State Reduce instability by controlling inflation and recessions Providing rapid growth through forced concentration of resources Reducing human and natural waste Overcome inequalities of income (all receive basic necessities)

Arguments against Socialism Creates a large unwieldy bureaucracy Camouflages instability but does not correct it Restricts growth, innovation, and quality of goods because of slow decision making and lack of profit motive Promotes waste through bad decision making and corruption Concentrates political power and wealth Lack of consumer goods

co-authored by Marx and Engels Class according to Marxism Communist Manifesto co-authored by Marx and Engels Class according to Marxism society made up of two classes hostile to each other: bourgeoisie - upper class, landowners, capitalists, bankers, industrialists proletariat - worker, farmer, poor

Das Kapital mostly written by Marx (completed by Engels after his death), explains theory of scientific socialism Scientific Socialism (dialectical materialism) basic motive of men:  to gain as much economically as possible (materialistic)

to understand history, one must understand the economic forces that motivate men i.e. wars, religious movements, social change all occur in order to satisfy the economic interests of those who are involved class struggle results from this basic motive:  a clash of interests between bourgeois owners and the proletarian workers over making economic gains the bourgeoisie try to make as much profit as possible, resist demands made by the proletariat capitalism is the economic system of the bourgeoisie; they control the economy because they own the means of production e.g. the factories the proletariat are to carry out the revolutionary overthrow of the government through the use of force

Stage of socialism (the stage the USSR achieved) public ownership of the means of production e.g. state owned factories, banks, industries production is geared to meet basic human needs e.g. industrial production geared toward providing food, clothing and shelter (the necessities of life), not makeup, cigarettes (the luxuries produced only to encourage consumption in capitalist societies)

V05 Commercial - Chinese School http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I-Y-z4e8yk What part of the system are they lampooning?

rational central planning is followed capitalist laws of supply and demand are thrown out all production is carefully planned, carried out for a specific social purpose dictatorship of the proletariat is established to make sure capitalism does not return principles of socialism are carried out

Stage of communism not yet achieved in this world, exists as a theory only, no practical example after all private ownership ends, there will be no need for political power all forms of the state or government would wither away society would be classless, without recognized leaders or an elite

people would live by one golden rule: the state would be replaced by a cooperative free association of people people would live by one golden rule: to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities everyone would contribute to their fullest for the common good no one's needs in society would be left unsatisfied

Leninism revised Marx's ideas in several significant ways Lenin felt it was not necessary for societies to go through the stage of capitalism first; societies could skip that stage going from an aristocracy to socialism (a revision of dialectical materialism)

Lenin followed this revision of Marxist thought when he led the revolution in aristocratic Russia and established a socialist government a vanguard, or an elite group, was needed to lead the proletariat during the stage of socialism Lenin created the Communist (Bolshevik) Party in Russia to serve that purpose during the Revolution of 1917