Communism and Totalitarianism: Political Ideologies Comparison

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Political ideologies chart

	COMMUNISM	TOTALITARIANISM	SOCIALISM
FORM OF GOVERNMENT	System of government. In the second sense it means political rule of all aspects of society and economy by a Communist Party, which is organized in totalitarian fashion from top down. Power is centralized; it is a sovereign form of government. The following are examples of countries that follow this system of government; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Democratic republic of Cuba (Adami 2006).	Form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual’s life to the authority of the government. System of rule, driven by an ideology, that seeks direction of all aspects of public activity, political, economic and social, and uses to that end, at least to a degree, propaganda and terror’. (Gilbert Leuber,	Government owns most companies, there is a limit to how much you can own, and this economy is used by governments who want to equalize the nation’s population economically. Dictators tend to be greedy and take as much as they can (Encyclopedia, 2005).
ECONOMIC POLICY	All the land is owned by the government for the interest of the entire population. There is private ownership of property. In the system all the people are considered as equal and thus no class system. Production is done by/ for the interest of the government. Factories and manufacturing companies are government owned. Wealth is deemed to be equally distributed (Forman, 1972).	The centrally controlled economy enables the totalitarian dictatorship to exploit its population for foreign conquest and world revolution. For example, all resources can be concentrated on a single important military project. The totalitarian type of economy enables the dictator to control the workers and make them dependent on the government. Work permits may be withdrawn for offenses such as objecting to foul working conditions (Microsoft &Encarta, 2007).	Basic economic decisions, as well as political decisions, must reflect the common good. The entire economy should operate for the good of the entire society, with no one left behind. No private concentrations of capital or rather wealth, and no other types of private concentrations of power. The end of money’s domination over society. The end of the priority of property and private greed.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS	The government is responsible for making all the relations and conventions; the decision of whether and which convention to engage in is the government’s responsibility. Civil societies are not recognized and thus cannot enforce any international regulation. The rights of the people are only recognized by the local government and no international influence encouraged (Daniels, 1994).	The government dictates the relationship that the country keeps with the outside world. Care is always exercised to ensure that no international agreement is entered that can limit the influence of the government or that that empowers the citizens. The public cannot influence the decision that the government has made regarding international agreement (Laqueur, 1987).	The government works for the interest of the general population. As much as the government retains power, there is the recognition of the rights of citizens. The agreements made are aimed at ensuring that the general good is maintained (Guy, 1978).
CIVIL LIBERTIES	Public assembly and voluntary association were prohibited; only meetings and organizations authorized by the state were tolerated. Communist states also limited, to one extent or another, individuals’ ability to worship, work, and travel as they pleased. The most intense restrictions were those clamped on the mass media, intellectuals, and artists, all of whom had to comply with party directives. (Microsoft Encarta, 2007.)	The public cannot influence the decision of the government. The government dictates both public and private life of the citizens. Civil societies only operate under the regulation of the government; they cannot organize for demonstrations or national strikes to object the decisions of the government (Dana, 2000).	Civil societies are recognized by the state and given a certain level of autonomy. They are allowed to form demonstrations to advise the government on the interests of the people at a particular time; however the permission of the government must be sort before any public demands are made. The government may consider the feeling of the people but ensure that they retain control. The rights of the people are recognized but its exercise controlled by the government (Makoto, 1995).

Personal Opinion

All the above forms of government have their advantages and disadvantages; they seem to address legitimate issues however what is in the books may be of high quality if it can be implemented and adopted the way it is made. Communism and totalitarianism can have elements of dictatorship; they have very little recognition of human rights and maintain a system that empowers the government at the expense of the citizens. The government takes the central role of activities in the countries that adopt this system. The underlying ideology is the distribution of wealth. They aim to have an equal distribution of wealth and don’t recognize individual wealth accumulation. From this angle, it is a good approach aimed at ensuring that the national cake is shared among the entire population. There are no classes and the government is seen to choose the direction that the masses will go. Sometimes, and it has happened most often, the actors in the government make some decisions for their own interest. They may look at the interest of a few at the expense of the masses. Production is seen not geared for a profit and thus the adopted methods of production are in most cases not the most efficient. The inefficiency limits the economic level in the country; in the era of limited resources these systems are not good for a country, more so in the developing and less developed countries. They are meant to encourage a vicious cycle of poverty. Socialist system seems to be a blend of totalitarianism, communism, and capitalism. There is the control of the wealth that private person can have at any one time, and a state owned properties for the general good of the larger population. With it there is improvement of production methods employed as the government try to compete with the private sector. This though does not guarantee that the most effective ways are adopted. Many are the times that there is conflict between the private and public interests. This system, in my opinion should be used at the initial stages of a development; where the governments should dictate the distribution of resources. However, as the economy deepens the citizens should be left alone to dictate who owns what. Prices of basic needs are controlled by the government; however the market is left to dictate the prices of other products. As much as this is a good policy for the good of the larger population, it hinders the development of the agriculture sector of the economy that is the backbone of most economies especially in the developing countries. The capitalism system of governance to my view is the better decision although it is not perfect; it does not limit the citizens to the amount of wealth that they can accumulate and gives them a level playing ground for wealth creation. Business in all sectors of the economy is enhanced. There are some vices that are seen to be associated with the system; the system encourages selfishness that results in corruption, secondly the distribution of wealth is not uniform and the economy can favor small group. Class (that is measured by how much one has) influences major decisions in these countries. It is common to get a large part of the population poor and resources centered with a small group (Reisman, 1996).

Comparison of the Above Model and the United States Model (Federal Form of Government)

Federal system of government which means that power is exercised on more than one level that is the central / national government also called the state government and the local government. The local government experiences jurisdiction in its area, however it shares power with the central government in some aspects. Some powers are not shared, for example all have power to collect taxes. The system has a four year term elected president. It also has a 100 member congress, whose members are elected on six year term. However, it is made in such a way that every two years one third of the congress term expires and an election is conducted. There is also a 435 member state, elected 2year term. In all the elections above the minimum age is 18 years to be elected exempt from the president. The president in the United States has power vested in him among other those in second article of the constitution and the congress Act (Brian and Geralyn, 2002). The citizens are free to earn and accumulate wealth, this is in contrast with the communists, socialists, and totalitarianism. This is a capitalist form of government but at certain points that a decision has to be made for the good of the larger population can be made by the local government or the central government depending on the interested party. Civil societies are recognized by the state and work independently; they can organize for national strikes and demonstrations to force the government to do something or oppose decisions made by the government. Human rights are highly respected and protected by the constitution; this is in contrast to other forms of governance where the exercise of one’s rights is limited by the government (Josephson, 1972).

Reference List

Adami, S. (2006). ‘Communism’, in Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, ed. Gaetana Marrone – P.Puppa. New York: Routledge.
Brian L. and Geralyn, M. (2002). Political Culture and Voting Systems in the United States: An Examination of the 2000 Presidential Election. Westport: CT. Publication.
Dana, R. V. (2000). The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Daniels, R. (1994). A Documentary History of Communism and the World: From Revolution to Collapse. London: University Press of New England.
Forman, J. (1972). Communism from Marx’s Manifesto to 20th century Reality. New York: Watts.
Guy, A. (1978). Beyond Monopoly Capitalism and Monopoly Socialism. Cambridge MA: Schenkman.
Josephson, M. (1972). The Money Lords; the great finance capitalists, 1925-1950. New York: Weybright and Talley.
Laqueur, W. (1987). The Fate of the Revolution: Interpretations of Soviet history from 1917 to the Present. New York: Scribner.
Makoto, I. (1995). Political Economy of Socialism. London: Macmillan.
Reisman, G. (1996). Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books.

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Communism and Totalitarianism: Political Ideologies Comparison

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