An Overview on Capitalism, Socialism and Communism – A Reply to a Comrade

REQUEST: Hello comrade! Could you please talk to me about communism and classes in society?

ANSWER: Communism is attained in the long term of class struggle around the world, and this is the last stage to be achieved in the class struggle. Note: There is not any single country that can attain communism, communism is attained by the whole working class of the world, the proletariat. At the initial stages we can attain socialism, this can be attained at the initial stages of the struggle. So socialism is achieved in one country or multiple countries, but when it develops into mature stages at the global level communism is achieved.

We have socialist/communist ideologies in the world that are antagonistic with the capitalist ideas, so this creates ideological conflicts, whereby the socialist ideologies are advocating which is antagonistic to what the capitalist ideologies are agitating for. All these ideologies wherever they are, facilitate the establishment and sustenance of a system of production. This system rests on a base and the superstructure: the base is economy; and the superstructure is the political system. They live interdependent and interconnected to each other. So the economic system, whether socialist or capitalist, plays a major role in allocation, distribution and ownership of resources as well the share of the profits or gains from this process of production.

Here is the difference: capitalism advocates for policies that can be summarized as “survival for the fittest” and survives on private property, the private ownership of the means of production, which is sustained by the free market system. Not only the free market but also state monopoly capitalist planning measures like the Amazon company from the USA is using.

Under capitalism there are two major classes, namely the bourgeoisie (private producers or capitalists) and the proletariat (the working class). The former exploits the latter and under the capitalist mode of production, the former is always the minority and the latter is the majority of the people, but resources are concentrated in the hands of the few, the capitalist class, at the expense of the majority classes, the workers and peasants. Here lies the commodification of labor and the proletarian class, which survives entirely on selling its labor power on the labor market but reserves no right on the profits gained from the production process. So the capitalist mode of production is not only parasitic, but also exploit the working class mainly through owning the huge capital, and the means of production and the factors of production, they purchase labor on the labor market under the low wages determined by the forces of demand and supply to extract the surplus value.

Ruled by the bourgeoisie and their comprador bureaucrats, unpleasant working conditions are created that make the working class to be the oppressed and exploited in this process. Some ways of increasing the rate of exploitation are:

1- speeding up the process of production;

2- subjecting workers to the long hours of work;

3- and paying low wages or reducing wages, all these and others make the capitalist class and its allies in a capitalistic society to enjoy all the fruits of production at the expense of the proletarians majorly the working class.

So precisely, socialism is the ideology that seeks for the liberation of the workers and the peasants from oppression and exploitation and it is built on the state ownership and cooperative ownership, control and distribution of means of subsistence and production through a centrally planned economy; it is derived from the classics of Marxism-Leninism Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Its principles and doctrines can be applied through the universal and scientific laws of dialectical materialism. Democratic centralism, collectivization of the means of production mainly in the agricultural sector and industrial development through establishment of national and state controlled industries, at first in the critical sectors like mining, agriculture, manufacturing and industry which based upon to build a centrally planned economy an integrated and self-reliant with minimal or least unemployment, and that ensure free and affordable social service delivery. On the field of payment under socialism we will follow the principle “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work.”¹ to give incentive to increase productivity.

However, the oppressing class being the minority, and the epoch of historical development occurring in the process usually developing from contradictions by the productive forces, oppressive forces are weathering and dying but the oppressed class being the majority, its productive force is growing and gaining strength over time and according to Karl Marx. He said: “Of all the instruments of production, the greatest productive power is the revolutionary class itself.”² Through the social class struggle, the working class forces will in the end triumph but this occurs only via a revolution.

A revolution must occur for one class to overthrow another and though it occurs in the phases, generally it is the evolutionary activities first that gives rise to the revolutionary activities. The evolutionary activities account for quantitative achievements gained from various quantitative changes and preparations for a long term qualitative change and this is none rather than a revolution. For instance, the unionization of labor, establishment of cooperatives and other progressive revolutionary movements and activities. All these are mainly responsible to raise political, social and economic consciousness of the masses in the community to gain ideological strength and rise against the oppressing class and the struggle that is most of the times violent and chaotic in nature that leads to the overthrow of one class, like bourgeois, by another class, the proletariat. This is what is called revolution. And it is continuous, it is the process which is fully attained by the proletarian dictatorship, unionization of the working masses, the abolishing of the exploiting classes as well of the market and full implementation of collective production (societal production). This marks the end of exploitation of one class by another and works on production based on society’s needs. And it is the socialist principles that are guiding this struggle, the doctrines stand for the truth of the oppressed proletariat and fight against the parasitic system of capitalist tendencies and all its manifestations, like colonialism, imperialism, fascism, hegemonialism, neo-colonialism, bureaucratic capitalism and the comprador system as well all other related forces of exploitation.

Henceforth any movement that seeks for total liberation in all spheres of the society be it social, cultural, political and economic, and achieve both social-economic and political independence, it needs to stand on the firm ground of socialism and must be well guided by the Marxist-Leninist principles and doctrines of socialism and communism. So, in summary that is what is to say about socialism, communism and class struggles in brief. But we shall continue to engage more on any that you are seeking to discuss.

In this regard, thanks comrade.

Comrade JOSEPH SOZZI

THE HEAD OF RESEARCH AND IDEOLOGY

COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF UGANDA (CLU)