Do you think I have written the words randomly or there is something in the sequence of writing? From the very beginning when I actually started reading articles and novels (January, 2009) I was confused about these terms (frankly speaking almost all the words ending with -isms), their usage, meaning and the context. At some places they presented themselves to be similar and at some places different. When I came across the baffling words formed on the basis of person or time I got screwed.
Words like Stalinism, Nazism, Feudalism, Marxism, Leninism etc. Have meanings depending on thoughts and working strategies of individuals like Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Hitler and conditions prevailing at that time like Feud system in 8th century in Europe.
However words like Communism, Socialism, Capitalism and Totalitarianism were given by people at the time they were being followed or implemented in a region they became so effective and so widely used that they are still used widely.
Totalitarianism, the word came into existence in 1920s when in Italy a practice called Fascism was being followed by Mussolini. Here the ideology of the state has influence if not power over all its citizens as well as resources. The head of the state is the head of every aspect be it social, economic, cultural or political. And the head of the state is a charismatic leader like Mussolini, Stalin or Hitler. It can never be compared with dictatorship or monarchy. In monarchy we have one ruler where in the worst condition, when some power goes to a few snobbish people the exploitation of the oppressed part of the society begins like we saw in India in 19th century and before.
Crisis and competition is the mother of almost everything we have today in our hands, so is the Capitalism. It has nothing to do with politics or ruling regime, it is an economic and social jewel which adorned the world in 14th century, a period of crisis. The clash between the landowners and producers accompanied with famines and droughts led to the development of Mercantilism which had less to do with production ,resources, land and more to deal with transportation. This killed the landlords and they then to survive and retain their control started a system which we named later as “Capitalism “. Then or now it is the best system ever evolved if we consider economics and development of a nation in terms of wealth. High efficiency, free trade, abolition of subsidies, low inflation and customer control of prices as a result of healthy competition are some of the good aspects of it.
But as yin yang is unquestionably exists everywhere. Capitalism has some yin which with time got amplified in such a manner that it gave birth to greatest evils ever for the society like slavery, oligarchy, imperialism, social inequality and highly partial distribution of wealth and hence power. It actually eclipsed the earth with time in an insidious manner. Bigger capitalists (countries) took over smaller ones with some agreements which at the time of talks never seemed perfidious.
Then there came activists like Marx, Engels and Lenin who came up with a concept called communism. However this is not against or opposite to Capitalism it is assumed so by many people because it came into existence only to abrogate the evils of capitalism. As it is said “if modification seems to be arduous erase the existing and start from the scratch” communism advocated something like that. Socialism, as envisioned by Marx and Engels was, ideally, a where everyone would share the benefits of industrialization.
Definitions, similarities and differences between socialism and communism are always confusing not because they have never been defined or researched but because different societies have tried different types of both concepts in myriad forms. To have proper knowledge we still have options like taking the words of the great people who gave birth to these or to follow what majority speaks.
I am going to put some of the best ones I got from Wikipedia, wisegeek and many others.
Socialism is the bridge between capitalism and communism; it is a transitional period that has features of both the society of yesterday (capitalism) and tomorrow (communism) because it will inherit the world capitalism has left it. Socialism generally refers to an economic system, while communism generally refers to both an economic and a political system. As an economic system, socialism seeks to manage the economy through deliberate and collective social control. Communism, however, seeks to manage both the economy and the society by ensuring that property is owned collectively and that control over the distribution of property is centralized in order to achieve both classlessness and statelessness. Both socialism and communism are similar in that they seek to prevent the ill effects that are sometimes produced by capitalism.
The other difference is DEEDS Vs NEEDS
Socialism is "from each according to their ability, to each according to their DEEDS," whereas Communism is "from each according to their ability to each according to their NEEDS." Both socialism and communism are based on the principle that the goods and services produced in an economy should be owned publicly and controlled and planned by a centralized organization. However, socialism asserts that the distribution should take place according to the amount of individuals' production efforts, while communism asserts that that goods and services should be distributed among the populace according to individuals' needs.
As Communists people advocate Socialism because it is the next necessary step to get to Communism and I see communism as the ultimate aim of everyone’s existence in this world. Once people realize that hurting others or system in turn will hurt themselves the world becomes communist totally. Great men advocate socialism as much as they can, not to avoid communism, it's not that we've given up on building a house; we just realize there is a need for a sturdy foundation first.
Now I think you can say why have I written the first line in that sequence? The words like Stalinism, Marxism, Nazism, Leninism, Fascism, Syndicalism, Liberalism and many others are still topics of debate because of the lack of evidences and some confusing authors. Well will come up with these as soon as possible........
No comments:
Post a Comment