1. Communism & Capitalism

2. What is capitalism? Economic system Believes in individual ownership and competition The theory is that when everyone is selfish, it benefits everyone Adam Smith is “the” capitalist

4. What’s good about capitalism? Freedom and choice If you’re successful, you can be very successful

5. What’s bad about capitalism? No “safety net” If you’re unsuccessful, you can be very unsuccessful Gap between rich and poor

6. What is communism? Economic system Believes in collective (group) ownership and a planned economy The theory is that everybody pools their resources and labor to evenly distribute everything Karl Marx is “the” communist.

7. Communist Manifesto 1.Abolition of private property 2.Abolition of inheritance 3.Central banking 4.Government-controlled communication, education, and health care 5.Government-controlled economy (vs. Free markets and Smith’s Invisible Hand)

8. Marxism Marx and Engels studied the history and development of the world’s economies Basic Communism Feudalism Capitalism Communism! Socialism They believed they discovered a pattern

9. Stage 1: Primitive Communism The way humans lived together before large-scale agriculture. Small hunting and gathering tribes Everything was shared amongst the tribe: food, jobs, property. No one owned land and no one was exploited for their labor. Eventually one group comes to power which leads to Feudalism…

10. Stage 2: Primitive Communism - Feudalism Under feudalism, a king becomes ruler over all the people; exploitation begins The people are kept uneducated and told that god chose the king to rule The king gives land and privileges to nobles who rule the people for him As trade develops, some people get richer. This leads to Capitalism…

11. Stage 3: Feudalism - Capitalism Business owners or capitalists get richer while the workers do the work Capitalists get more power to serve their own interests Capitalism creates a large working-class of people who organize, create unions, and demand changes. This leads to Socialism…

12. Stage 4: Capitalism-Socialism In a Socialist revolution all the rulers lose power, wealth, and privilege. Workers take control of the country to produce goods and services for everyone. No one is exploited. Nothing is made for profit, therefore all people benefit. These ideas spread across the world to create Communism…

13. Stage 5: Socialism-Communism Capitalists will try to control the masses, but the will of the people will always win. Everyone now works together, war eliminated, and armies are obsolete. Everything is provided by the people so money becomes a thing of the past. All human activity goes towards benefiting each other, allowing everyone to live their lives to the fullest.

14. Communism/Socialism: What’s the difference? –Socialism is the stage between Capitalism and Communism. It builds upon the previous system, Capitalism, by nationalizing (putting under government control) the “means of production” (i.e. corporations, resources, banks, etc.), but not by making everyone equal. People are paid wages based on several job factors (social need, difficulty, amount of schooling required, etc.), so not everyone will make the same wage. “…from each according to their ability to each according to their needs.”

17. What’s good about communism? Security and basic needs met Everyone has a job, house, health care, etc.

18. What’s bad about communism? Lack of choice No reward for being a better worker or punishment for being a slacker Everyone expected to be the same

19. How is this related to the Industrial Revolution? Adam Smith’s capitalism dominated the Industrial Revolution, and led to bad working conditions. Karl Marx wrote about communism as solution to capitalism’s problems. –Marx said the workers would get fed up and overthrow their governments to start communism.