Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism

In history class we took part in an activity using starbursts to learn about capitalism, socialism, and communism. When we walked into the classroom our teacher randomly handed out starbursts to each student. Some people got two or three pieces of candy while others got more. We were told to then play Rock Paper Scissors to compete for candy. This part of the activity represents capitalism. Each student started with his or her own candy with some people having more than others and this is like private ownership of industry with inequality in capitalism. The freedom of competition was when we could decide who to play and how much to play. The results were unequal economic classes because some people won candy and others lost. Class struggle was when we complained and workers revolt was when people would argue about fairness. The next piece of the activity was when the teacher collected the candy and redistributed it to all the students equally. In socialism this would be government ownership of industry and hoping to bring economic equality. With each student having an equal amount of candy, this is a classless society. After that we showed communism by having a classless society because many students refused to compete for candy and agreed to share which meant that the government was no longer needed and the teacher didn't have to supervise candy distribution. For me, capitalism was very frustrating because a lot of people were stealing and getting things they did not earn. Other than that, I enjoyed how I controlled my own earnings and was not stuck with one amount of starbursts. When the teacher collected all of the candy and redistributed it equally for socialism I felt annoyed because I worked hard to earn my candy and I got some of it taken away from me. If I had less candy then I would appreciate the socialism aspect because I was given more starbursts.

For communism I just wanted to play it safe and not play because I didn't want to lose anymore.

 

Marx and Smith both had ideas on how to help the poor but their minds worked very differently. Marx believed that socialism would eventually lead to socialism. He thought that government ownership and economic equality would eventually lead to a classless society. In a classless society no government would be needed to supervise and regulate money because everyone would be equal, including the ones who were once poor. Smith created the 'Invisible Hand' which meant that the government steps aside and let's the people work things out in business themselves. Without a government, businesses can choose their own prices to charge customers and eventually prices will drop dramatically. The decreasing prices will help the poor because they will then be able to afford to buy the goods they need. The market will then open up and have more job offers for the poor.

 

Personally, I believe that Smith’s theory with the invisible hand is the best. It allows people to work hard and earn what they deserve. This is more beneficial than Marx’s theory because in Marx’s everyone gets money handed to them. The hard workers and the lazy workers are both given the same amount of money and it is unfair. The invisible hand allows diligent workers to increase their success while the lazy ones stayed the same. Smith’s theory is the best option because everyone only earns what they work for and get what they deserve.