socialism/welfare states/russia

who was robert owen?

• extremely wealthy factory owner who was horrified with how workers were treated

• He believed it was possible to pay workers fairly and treat them well and factories could still make a profit

utopian capitalism

the success of a business would primarily be assessed in terms of its contribution to the collective good - the idea that a perfect world can happen

what is the difference between capitalism and socialism?

Capitalism: profit motive, greed is good, self-interest, privatization, competition

Socialism: Cooperation, common good, nationalization of key industries but communism believes in violence and owning all business. Socialism also believes that you can change the system within.

what is socialism biggest challenge?

economic inequality

• attempting to redistribution of the wealth from the rich to low income earners

redistribute the wealth between all peoples

what is the main point of social programs?

gov’t comes up with predictions where they believe the economy is headed towards. Companies have the freedom to ignore or embrace these ideas

indicative planning

tax that is more burdensome on low-income workers

Regressive Tax

what were the main ideas of communist manifesto and das Kapital?

• All the world can be divided into two groups

  • Proletariat (factory workers)

  • Bourgeoisie (factory owners)

    • will continue to exploit the proletariats

— All of history can be explained by the struggle of these two groups

what is the main idea with communism?

loyalty to your working class, and communist party (represent workers) above all else - even above country. A new society would be created. No longer production be based on profit motive but for the common good.

Provisional Government

a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolution, civil war, etc.

how did Lenin change Russia?

turned it into the USSR and put the ideas of communism into reality

work and labour camps

Gulags

too much gov’t involvement, individual and their needs becomes secondary to the state/gov’t because of the states goals

what does the Holodomor exemplify in terms of gov’t involvement?

Capitalism: harder you work, the better your life will be

Communism: harder you work, the reward is to the state

what were the ideas of communism and capitalist?

Gov’t agency responsible for all prices of everything in the USSR

what was Gosplan?

russians enslaving other russians (don’t get paid, forced labour)

Serfdom

improve the conditions of factory workers

improve the conditions of factory workers but instead workers are rushing to finish their work all in the name of communism so they could just meet the quotas

what was the core ideas of Karl Marx’s ideas about communism and what was it’s irony?

100% employment = factories are going to remain technologically behind

If everybody has job there is no innovation and industrialization in the society

what does 100% employment mean and why could it be deemed insufficient?

Lada was the only car that can be sold and bought in USSR = no competition

what is an example of economic equality at the time of USSR?

2. Because they were motivated by profit, they worked harder by their private plots

   → Even in the USSR, farmers weren’t motivated by common good but by profit motive

why were private plots the most successful and what does that say about communism?

1. Perestroika - economic changes. Privatization of business was allowed and are able to make profit

2. Glasnost - Freedom, openness. People had to be able to criticize the gov’t without fear of prosecution

what were Gorbachev’s reforms?