• astreus@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    To follow up, let’s talk about the names of the system!

    Absolute Monarchy: a system where an individual has absolute control of the means of production (often, though not always, via birth).

    Feudalism: a system where the a wider, though still small, group of people, control the means of production based on land ownership (often, though not always, through an aristocratic class) (fun fact: the Magna Carta changed England from an absolute monarchy to a feudal state, it did not create any kind of democracy, as the myth often goes).

    Capitalism: a system where those with money (i.e. capital) control the means of production. We are here.

    Socialism: used interchangeably by both Marx and Lenin with communism (Lenin specifically states the “socialist” in USSR was aspirational, not literal). However, has now come to denote the “transition” period from Capitalism to communism where the workers control the means of production via what Lenin called a “vanguard party” or worker-controlled legislature

    Communism: where the means of production are no longer controlled at all with no class divide, legislature, or private property (note: personal and private property are two different things; no one wants your toothbrush) based on the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”.