From Glasgow to Beijing

Lesson 4Capitalism and Communism

Learning Intentions

• Academic Goal– To learn what the words ideology, capitalism and

communism mean

• Social Goal– To listen carefully to information given

Success Criteria

• I can explain the terms ideology, capitalism and communism

• I can give key features of each ideology

Ideology

• An ideology is a set of ideas or beliefs about how a country should be run

• Two main ideologies are – Capitalism– Communism

• The following slides will start to explain the difference between capitalism and communism

• You need to listen carefully to your teacher’s explanation and look at the information and pictures on the slide.

• At the end you are going to explain in your own words what you have seen.

• It will help if you take some notes as your teacher is explaining the information to you.

• In the middle of your page put communism and make a mindmap of the main points from the slides

Communism

Communism

• There are many different kinds of Communists but they all have one thing in common. They base their ideas on the writings of a 19th century thinker called Karl Marx .

• Marx believed that all human history was a struggle for power between 2 classes of people, the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.

‘Haves’

• Capitalists who owned all the money (capital) needed for building factories, mills, mines, railways and other such ‘means of production’

‘Have nots’

• The ‘have nots’ were employed by the capitalists to work in their factories. The ‘have nots’ were the working class or the ‘proletariat’.

• Marx believed that one day the working class would rebel against the capitalists. They would do this because the capitalists were paying their workers low wages and keeping all the profits for themselves. As the capitalists got richer, the working class got poorer.

• Marx believed that the working class would start a revolution and take away the money, factories and ‘means of production’ from the capitalists. The workers would then take over all land, factories, banks etc and share all the profits amongst themselves.

• People would work together for the good of everyone, not just themselves. People would receive better housing, medical care and education. Eventually, when everyone had learned to work for the good of each other, there would not be a need for a strict government.

Capitalism

• In a capitalist society people are allowed to own their own business and keep their profits for themselves.

• Although they pay taxes, they do not have to share their profits with others.

Task

• You have to write down what you now know about capitalism and communism.

• Below is a list of words that you should use to help you explain it fully– Karl Marx - rebel– ‘Haves’ - richer– ‘Have nots’ - poorer– Capital (money)– Means of production

Key features of capitalism and communism

• On the next slide is a table showing two key features of capitalism and communism. Copy it into your jotter and put a heading for which side you think is capitalism and which you think is communism.

• As a group, think back to the information you had on China and Scotland at the start of this unit – Can you think of one other feature for each column?

Private business State owned business

Individuals able to make profits

All profits shared equally amongst everyone

Lesson Recap

• You should now be able to explain the following terms– Ideology– Capitalism– Communism

Can you? As a group you have two minutes to check everyone’s understanding. Once every member of your group is confident then stand behind your chairs.

Key Question

• Why do some people oppose communist countries and describe their governments as being too controlling?