What is more misunderstood? Communism or Capitalism?

Communism is easily the most misunderstood. History associates communism with totalitarian authoritarian states (whether or not they are a product of communism is a discussion of its own) and thus people often misconceive big government state ownership to be communism.

In the US, Communism also gets a lot of negativity due to the hate filled propaganda of the 1950's where McCarthyist's basically lied, cheated and smeared those they opposed.

 

Exactly.

Also, capitalism can be implemented as it was intended anywhere instantly. Communism was simply a revolutionary plot aimed at transforming an industrial era Germany. True, it was designed to be universal, but many say that it was developed specifically for countries that had already industrialized.

 

I agree with Bananas and Gavik that communism is very misunderstood but I would say it's easily the most misunderstood. I hear almost on a daily basis whether it be in discussions, on the news, reading posts here, about how evil capitalism is and how much it is to blame for any downturn in the economy. I think 99% of the time the critique is horribly misguided.

 

I'd love to find this blog I read a couple of years ago. The jist of it was how the (post) industrialised developed countries are gradually turning to towards the ideology of communism via their own natural progression. When you have a society with an abundance of wealth and a general good nature the wealth starts to loose ownership and gets distributed either directly (social care, recycling, etc) or indirectly (cheaper goods, social norms)..

 

I would really like to read it as well if you ever find it. It sounds like I would agree with the premise for the most part.

 

I think communism is most misunderstood and most of what is known by the Western world is designed to make communism seem almost evil.

You have Capitalism which is extremely individualistic then there is Communism who's design it is to put society before its self. These are the 2 most major differences and views of each. Something that puts the common good of its society before its self seems pretty harmless to me and is in many ways better than Capitalism.

Both are extreme opposites and it is my opinion somewhere in the middle is better than either.

 

I disagree that capitalism is extremely individualistic, in fact I think the opposite is true. It rewards those that are creative and innovative and thus it benefits society. Society as a whole rewards those that are good stewards of wealth and society thus benefits from the products and services provided therefrom.

I agree though that somewhere in between them, a mixed economy, works best.

 

True, but don't forget one of the underlying principles of Communism laid out by Marx and Engels was the abolishment of private property.

Communism is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it isn't as simple as "state control". It's complex, and to understand it you have to do some reading and understanding the plight of the European worker in the 1800's. It predicts a revolution of the proletariat, or working man, and establishes a complex working pattern where everyone rotates jobs and government positions. The whole thing is pretty wild, check out The Communist Manifesto by Marx.

Capitalism makes a lot more intuitive sense, at least to me, and is easier to understand without researching. So I would say it is understood better.

 

But aren't these societal benefits just by-products? Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of your other posts seem to focus on incentives and rewards to do well, mainly in the form of wealth for the individual. Capitalism may have the potential to benefit society as you describe, but I see it as more of a side effect rather than a main goal as it is in Communism.