State capitalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

State capitalism - Essay Example Thus the government itself is acting as a capitalist in such state capitalist systems. Communist countries like China and Russia are examples of countries in which state capitalism prevails. State capitalism is a controversial subject in the world. The declared aim of an elected government is to implement socialism in a society. Both democratic and communist administrations have no second opinion about the necessities of socialism for reducing the gap between the rich and the poor. Income should be distributed equally in a society in order to achieve the objectives of socialism. Communism tries to achieve the socialism objectives by giving more benefits to the working class. They are trying to achieve a wealth balance by taking more wealth from the wealthiest areas and distributing it in the poorest areas. This is logical and easy to understand. However, the governments in capitalist countries are active capitalists and it is difficult to believe that these governments will distribut e their profits to the poor people in order to raise their standards. â€Å"State-capitalism is in itself the total contradiction, absolute antagonism. In it are concentrated all the contradictions of revolution and counter-revolution† (James and Dunayevskaya). This paper analyses how state capitalism is a contradiction. ... He argued that the competitive processes of a capitalist market society will lead towards the accumulation of wealth towards one particular segment. In other words, the global wealth would come in the hands of few people in a capitalist economy. Marx explained capital as money and the services of the workers as a commodity. He argued that a person achieves capital or money at the expense of another person. In other words, he argued that the gain of one person would be the loss of another person. In order to avoid such gains and losses, Marx proposed the intervention of states in capital systems. According to Marx capitalism is the number one enemy of socialism. He argued that the intervention of states is necessary in preventing capitalism. For him the entire resources of a nation belong to the state and it is the duty of the state to distribute this wealth evenly among people. In other words, Marx dreamed about a society in which all the people enjoy equal power, wealth and rights. However, Marx’s beliefs are against the developments of current realities. Marx defined state capitalism as a social system just like other social systems in our community. He argued that in state capitalist countries, the government controls the economy and acts just like a single giant corporation. He also pointed out that capitalism would result in over production ultimately since there is no control over the production activities of capitalists. In European countries capitalism is currently working in three different forms; Market, Managed and State. In these countries, state capitalism means a system in which the state, large firms and labor unions work together to ensure the economic growth of the countries. France and Italy are examples for this modern model of