Solved English Precis exercise on “Capitalism versus Socialism” complete Precis for Class 10, 12 and Competitive Examination.

Solved Precis exercise on “Capitalism versus Socialism”

Capitalism, Socialism, Central planning are means not ends. In themselves, they are neither moral nor immoral, humane nor inhumane. We have to ask what their results are. We have to look at what are the consequences of adopting one or another system of organization. From that point of view, the crucial thing is to look beneath the surface. Don’t look at what the proponents of one system or another say about their intentions, but look at what the actual results are.

Socialism, which means government ownership and operation of means of production, has appealed to high minded, fine people to people of idealistic views, because of the supposed objectives of socialism, especially because of the supposed objectives of equality and social justice. These are fine objectives, and it is a tribute to people of goodwill that those objectives should appeal to them.

But you have to ask the question: Does the system-no matter what its proponents say-produce those results? Once you look at the results, it is crystal clear that they do not Where are social injustices greatest? Social injustices are clearly greatest where you have central control. The degree of social injustice, torture, and incarceration in a place like Russia is of a different order of magnitude than it is in those Western countries in which most of us have grown up and in which we have been accustomed to regarding freedom as our natural heritage.

Again, look at the question of equality. Where is there the greatest degree of inequality? In the socialist sates of the world. I remember about 15 years ago my wife and I were in Russia for a couple of weeks. We were in Moscow with our tourist guide and I happened to see some of the fancy Russian limousines, the Zivs that were sort of a take-off of the 1938 American Packar. I asked our tourist guide out of amusement how much those sell for. “Oh”, she said, “Those aren’t for sale. Those are only for the members of the Politburo.”

In a country like the Soviet Union there is an enormous inequality in the immediate literal sense that a small select group has all of the services and amenities of life, and large masses have a very low standard of living. Indeed, more directly, the wage rate of foremen is much higher relative to the wage rate of ordinary workers in the Soviet Union than it is in the United States.

Capitalism, on the other hand, is a system of organization that relies on private property and voluntary exchange. It has repelled people, it has driven them away from supporting it, because they have thought it emphasized self-interest in a narrow way. They were repelled by the idea of people pursuing their own interests rather than some broader interest. Yet it is clear that the results go the other way around. Only those countries in which capitalism has prevailed over long periods have experienced both freedom and prosperity. Of course, there is not perfect freedom-we all have our defects. Yet, in those mostly Western countries that have had capitalism, there has been far more freedom, far more social justice, and less inequality than in the centrally controlled countries.

The question that you have to ask is, has socialism failed because its good qualities were perverted by evil men who were in charge? Was it simply because Stalin took over from Lenin that communism went the way it did? Has capitalism succeeded despite the immoral values that pervade it? I believe that the answers to both questions are in the negative. The results have occurred because each system has been true to the values it encourages, supports and develops in the people who live under that system.

In discussing moral values here, we are concerned with those that have to do with the relations between people. In judging relations between people. I do not believe that the fundamental value is to do good to other whether they want you to or not. The fundamental value is not to do good to others as you see their good. Neither is it to force them to do good.

I believe that the fundamental values in relations among people is to respect the dignity and the individuality of fellow men, to treat them not a objects to be manipulated for our purposes or in accordance with our values but as persons with their own rights and their own values-as persons to be persuaded not coerced, not forced, not bulldozed, not brainwashed. That seems to me to be the fundamental value in social relations.

Solved Precis

“Capitalism versus Socialism”

Capitalism, socialism and central planning are not ends in themselves; these are the means to achieve certain cherished goals. The supposed objectives of socialism are equality and social justice, but no socialist country has been able to achieve these goals so far, despite government ownership and central control. Even in the Soviet Union, a socialist champion, there is an enormous inequality between the elites and the masses. Capitalism which depends on private property and voluntary exchange has been disliked by people on the presumption that it serves narrow and vested interests only, but the experience has shown that countries following capitalism have enjoyed both freedom and prosperity and have experienced less injustice and inequality. Capitalism or any other political system cannot succeed unless its good and moral qualities are maintained. No system, howsoever idealistic, can be upheld unless it ensures individual’s dignity, respects his rights and values, and guarantees his personal freedom.