Capitalism vs Socialism: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

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Intro to Debatabase Discuss topic
Summary: Which is the superior system – capitalism, or socialism?
Debatabase Junior
Contributing Topics
Introduction
Commission Topics
Author:Alex Deane ( United Kingdom ) Alex Deane won the World Universities Debating
My Topics
Championships 2004 in Singapore.
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Suggest Topic Created: Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Last Modified: Monday, December 20, 2010

Context
Capitalism is the world’s dominant economic system. Within it, the means of production and distribution
are owned by individuals: private ownership and free enterprise are believed to lead to more efficiency,
lower prices, better products and rising prosperity. Socialism advocates the ownership and control of the
means of production and industry by the community as a whole: the community is believed to be both
more just and more efficient through central planning. In Marxist theory Socialism represents the stage
following capitalism in a state transforming to communism; for many, however, it is a goal in itself.
This binary view of potential political and economic systems may be thought simplistic, but it is a debate
that is extremely common, especially after the 2008 financial crisis led many to question the western
capitalist economic system. Necessarily, many other systems are not touched upon.

Arguments

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Pros
The right to own property is central to man’s
existence. Private ownership of property (including
land, businesses and goods) gives individuals security
and a means to control their own affairs. Ownership
brings responsibility and allows individuals to plan for
the future so as to provide for themselves and their
families. For example, owning a house, a business or
some land makes it possible to borrow against that
property so that individuals can invest for the future.
The lack of private property rights in much of Africa
makes such borrowing and investment impossible,
and is one reason for the continent's lack of economic
growth.
Cons
The wealth of the earth belongs to all men or to none.
Under capitalism, property is concentrated into the
hands of relatively few well-off people, leaving the
many with nothing and at the mercy of the rich for
work, charity, etc. This leads to gross inequality,
exploitation and misery. Nor is it economically efficient,
as the rich have so much already they have no
incentive to use their land productively. Socialism
seeks to redistribute wealth and to ensure that the
means of production are at the service of the whole of
society, so that all can benefit and none will go
without.

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The drive to succeed as an individual is the strongest
motivating factor a human being can feel in their work.
When work is uncoupled from reward, or when an
artificial safety net provides a high standard of living
for those who don’t work hard, society suffers. The
fact that individuals are driven to succeed is in all our
interests.
In capitalism, the market determines price, including
pay - the price of labour. If some people are paid huge
sums, that is because other people believe they have
unique talents which are worth paying for. If they fail
to perform, then they will stop being rewarded so
highly. This is all part of a dynamic capitalist system
which values individuality and rewards ability and risk-
taking.
In any case capitalism isn't a monolithic system -
capitalism can have elements of control in it. After all,
taxation is a capitalist creation and almost all
capitalists accept a role for state regulation to prevent
market rigging and to help those in absolute poverty.
Many could be motivated to work by a wish to aid their
fellow man. Over time, as the benefits of this better
way of life become obvious, all will. The impulse to
share wealth and material amongst the community, to
support all, leaving none behind, is one of the purest
mankind can experience. It is not merely possible – it
is a demonstration of the progress of our species to a
finer, more humane state of being.
Capitalism rewards people in perverse ways. Some
footballers or company chief executives earn a
thousand times more than nurses. Wealth is
concentrated in the hands of the few. The rich get
richer, the poor get poorer. The poor are fooled into
thinking that they can gain in capitalism, when really
all their wages do is hold them in place – their savings
are swept away in the first moments of
unemployment, a concept central to capitalism but
one that socialism destroys.

The guiding hand of government is too strong in a Economies in capitalist systems are essentially
socialist system; it means that change is slow – which unplanned, so they often crash, producing depressions
means that innovation is missed. This isn’t just pro- that damage the lives of millions. Socialist economies

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Capitalism vs Socialism: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

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business, it has real effects on the lives of citizens -
people are poorer because of it. In a capitalist system,
economies are diverse enough that when problems
happen in one sector, others are often insulated by
their differences. In a socialist system, where
everything is centrally controlled and diversity is non-
existent, when government gets things wrong,
everyone suffers. Ultimately, socialist systems are so
inefficient and corrupt that labour has to be forced for
the state to continue functioning (though this may also
be a logical outcome of thinking less of the
importance of individual freedoms compared to some
abstract communal good).
The failure of the USSR and other command
economies shows the poverty of socialism and the
failure of central planning, as on a smaller scale does
the failure of nationalised industries in many western
countries.
are planned, which means that problems can be
foreseen and prevented. Ultimately, socialism guides
with the aim of human happiness in mind, rather than
the glorification or gratification of a particular individual
or class. To gain this for all rather than just for some
requires an element of social control – the excesses of
capitalism will forever mean that too many fall by the
wayside as the strong profit, and the weak are left
behind.
Critics who point to the failure of the soviet bloc don't
understand that this was not true socialism, which has
never been properly tried, but a corrupt version of
central planning which served selfish elites rather than
the good of the people as a whole. Examples such as
Britain's National Health Service, or the European
social model of welfare provision show the strengths
of a socialist approach.

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In capitalist systems, society is ruled by the individual.
Who would want to live any other way? In socialist
systems, society is ruled by the state. Why would one
want to live like that?
Competition yields better products and more efficient
processes in all fields of man's activity. Whilst it is true
that monopolies sometimes form, these are combated
by regulatory methods like monopolies commissions
(witness attempts to break up Microsoft, or regulators
forbidding the merger of some airlines on competition
grounds). So capitalism actively tries to stop
monopolies. On the other hand, monopolies are
inevitably a part of every aspect of activity in socialist
systems - the monopoly of the state.
In socialist systems, society is ruled by the people.
Who would want to live any other way? In capitalist
systems, society is ruled by money. Why would one
want to live like that?
It is false to say that capitalism secures competition
automatically. As everyone knows, monopolies are
often formed under capitalist systems. Capitalist
monopolies are pernicious - they mean that individuals
profit obscenely as they can charge exorbitant costs,
since citizens cannot obtain services anywhere else.
On the other hand, socialist monopolies are benign
since the state has the interests of citizens at heart,
rather than the enrichment of a particular person.

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Socialism cannot protect human rights because it Capitalism may use the language of human rights, but
seeks the good of "the people" in the abstract. This it only really respects the right of the weak to starve in
means that socialist governments feel justified in the gutter, and the right of the strong to keep them
overriding individual rights, sometimes resulting in there. Socialism understands rights more widely and
great injustices and even atrocities. Examples of this fully, and provides for the right to work, the right to an
range from the compulsory purchase or confiscation of education, and to health care free at the point of use.
land or businesses by the government, the forced It cannot be right for a few individuals to block the
relocation of people, controlling labour so that the progress of all towards these great goals.
individual cannot choose their own employment,
through collectivised agriculture and fertility policies
(either putting pressure on women to have many
children or a "one-child" policy, as in China), to the
misuse of the justice system to persecute political
opponents who might "threaten the socialist project".
Motions
This House believes that capitalism is better than socialism
This House believes in the sanctity of private ownership
This House prefers capitalism

Useful Sites
Debate on whether only capitalism can save the planet
In defence of socialism
The Socialism website
World Socialist Movement
Socialism Today
Socialist group in the European parliament
Party of European Socialists
Capitalism.org
A short history of capitalism as a political and economic idea
The Centre for the Advancement of Capitalism
The American Prospect article: The End of Capitalism

Useful Books
The Road to Serfdom
By: F. A. Hayek

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Capitalism vs Socialism: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

Capitalism and Freedom

By: Milton Friedman
Individualism and Economic Order
By: F. A. Hayek
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
By: Joseph A. Schumpeter
The Wealth of Nations
By: Adam Smith
The Third Way: Renewal of Social Democracy
By: Anthony Giddens
Political Ideologies: An Introduction
By: Andrew Heywood

Themes
Politics and Economics

Discuss
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Author Post

dadman Posted: Wed Aug 4, 2010 03:39 pm

Member
communism does not work

CoyoteBlue Posted: Thu Jul 8, 2010 12:41 pm

Member
False Dilemma. The choice is presented as though it's one or the other, however,
most of the world's most prosperous nations enjoy the benefits of a mixed-economy.
For example, Americans have the right to own property, free(ish) enterprise, but also
does that country address social concerns through legislation and regulation: welfare,
public education, etc.

caleb Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:34 am

Member
I owe a big thanks to the one to put this chart up. I'm using as a resource for a
research paper I'm writing, "Socialism: The Big Lie!" When I finish it, I'll be posting on
debatabase as a topic.

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