The Ism Comparison Paper for Civics

Ism: Communism
Origin: Got started in the ancient world when scholars tried to think of an ideal society.
Got it’s start in the 19th century when Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto.
Main Ideology:Communism is a branch of socialism, characterized by its lack of private property. The community owns the means of production and there are no rulers of any kind.
Comparison:Communism vs. Democracy
-Communism is based off the fact that everyone carries out laws and policies all have agreed upon together while democracy is based off the idea of voting on different laws and policies and then sending out a chosen leader to execute those laws and policies.

Communism vs. Socialism
-Communism is based off everyone taking care of the land together and reaping the benefits equally while socialism is based off the government owning all the land and the citizens taking care of it to receive the share the government says they need.

Communism vs. Fascism
-Communism and Fascism are on the opposite ends of the spectrum; communism is based off equality and the lack of rulers while fascism is based off the subordination and absorption of the citizens into the nation and elitism.


Ism:Democracy

Origin:The first recorded democracy is Athenian Democracy where citizenship was granted to every man who had been born free. Since then liberal democratic states stand at an all time high.

Main Idelogy:There are many different types of democracy the most being representative democracy where citizens elect their political leaders and vote on different laws.

Comparison:Democracy vs. Communism-
Democracy is based off the idea of voting on different laws and policies and then sending out a chosen leader to execute those laws and policies while Communism is based off the fact that everyone carries out laws and policies all have agreed upon together.

Democracy vs. Socialism
- Democracy is based off equality and voting while socialism is based off more intelligent citizens ruling over and deciding what the less intelligent citizens can or can’t do.

Democracy vs. Fascism
- Democracy is the idea that all citizens have a say in the matters put up to discuss while fascism is the idea that only a select few have the right to say anything on the matter.

Ism: Socialism
Origin:The term socialism was used in the concept of early 19th century western European social critics. These social critics saw themselves are reacting to excesses of poverty and inequality in the period.

Main Ideology:Socialism is the support of government ownership of the means of production and the idea that humans are inherently stupid animals that can’t be allowed to roam free for risk that some might achieve more than others.

Comparison:Socialism vs. Communism
- Socialism is based off the government owning all the land and the citizens taking care of it to receive the share the government says they need while communism is based off everyone taking care of the land together and reaping the benefits equally.

Socialism vs. Democracy
- Socialism is based off more intelligent citizens ruling over and deciding what the less intelligent citizens can or can’t do while democracy is based off equality and voting.

Socialism vs. Fascism
- Socialism is the idea that the more intelligent people need to control the less intelligent people while fascism says that all citizens need to be controlled by the person who embodies the idea of the nation.

Ism: Fascism
Origin: Introduced as the negative and opposite of socialism and democratic egalitarianism. Forerunners of fascism played on peoples fears of revolution with the ensuing chaos, anarchy and general insecurity

Main Ideology: The three most important touchstones of fascism is 1) the glorification of the state and subordination of the individual. 2) The doctrine survival of the fittest, and 3) Elitism; salvation from the mob by the embodiment of the highest ideals of the nation

Comparison: Fascism vs. Communism
- Fascism is based off the subordination and absorption of the citizens into the nation and elitism while communism is based off equality and the lack of rulers.

Fascism vs. Democracy
- Fascism is the idea that only a select few have the right to say anything on the matter while democracy is the idea that all citizens have a say in the matters put up to discuss.

Fascism vs. Socialism
- Fascism says that all citizens need to be controlled by the person who embodies the idea of the nation while socialism is the idea that the more intelligent people need to control the less intelligent people.

Details on Communism, Democracy, Socialism, and Fascism

Communism
Communism got its start in Ancient Greece in Plato’s The Republic which argues that in the best state of society, the ruling class of philosophically trained ‘guardians’ would live together communally, sharing land, wives and children.
Nearly one thousand years later an English humanist scholar Thomas More described an imaginary communist city state called Utopia in which money was abolished and citizens shared all property.
Early Christians practiced a simple form of communism to express their contempt of material possession and later orders of the Roman Catholic Church required their members to take a vow of poverty and share their meager possessions with each other.
In 1534 the Radical Anabaptists established a communist government in the German city of Munster.
In 1649 a group known as the Diggers founded a short-lived communist agricultural community on an unoccupied hillside in the southern England.
Communists or Socialist colonies were established in the United States when the colonists first landed. The two best known colonies were New Harmony in Indiana and Brook Farm in Massachusetts.

In theory communism is characterized by the lack of private property; the community, as a whole, owns the land and labor would be divided among citizens according to ability and interest while resources would be distributed according to need. In the pure form, Communist societies, would not have any form of government or regent to dictate their lives.
Communism is supposed to be a classless society in which everyone is truly equal and the social problems of racism, sexism and oppression would be completely abolished.

Democracy

Once again getting its start in ancient Greece, Athenian Democracy is the earliest well-documented democratic system. In Athenian Democracy only citizens could vote… Citizens could not be women, slaves or metics (resident aliens of former slaves) but those few who could vote were free to do so on the creation of laws and a segment of the population could vote on whether or not to go to war.
At assemblies any citizen had the right to speak up; this sort of democracy was called Direct Democracy and criticized by Plato.
Direct Democracy, however, was just one of a multitude of different democratic ideas, most being Representative Democracies, which were started in the Roman Senate.
Later in history there were various types of Democracies, many during the Medieval ages; varying from very general Oligarchies to attempts at all out democracy.
Democratic principles have also been claimed for societies ranging from the Early Indian republics in 500 BC to the Iroquois Confederance in North America, started in the second millennium CE to present day.
English Parliament was the first major step towards a completely democratic system.
Parliament was originally elected by a small percent of the population and the power of Parliament was at the pleasure of the regent, usually when he or she needed financial backing.
After the Glorious Revolution, England became a constitutional monarchy with regular sittings of Parliament, although Parliament was still at the pleasure of the ruler. It was only during Queen Victoria’s time that Parliament obtained true power and the regent essentially became a figurehead.
The United States can bee seen as the first liberal democracy with a relatively wide franchise, although initially limited by property and gender restrictions and the existence of slavery.
A few years after the United States became a liberal democracy Revolutionary France adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
After the 20th century waves of democracy, liberal democracies now stand at an all time high and have been growing without interruption for some time. It is speculated that this trend may continue to the point where liberal democratic nation-states become the universal standard form of human society.

There are quite a few types of Democracy, all differing in their ideologies so instead of picking one to describe and illuminate upon I decided to name them all with brief summaries of their conceptions and policies.
Minimalism Democracy is a system of government in which citizens give teams of political leader the right to rule in periodic election. According to this conception cannot and should not be allowed to rule because on most issues, most of the time, they have no clear views or their views are not very intelligent.
Aggregative Democracy holds that governments should produce laws and policies that are close to the median vote.
Deliberative Democracy is based on the notion that Democracy is a government by discussion.
The three types of democracy above are all representative democracy but direct democracy holds that citizens should participate directly, and not through representation, in making laws and policies.

Socialism

Socialism is the support of government ownership of the means of production but associated with collective ownership among the people. This control, according to socialists, may either be direct –exercised through popular collectives such as workers councils- or it may be indirect, exercised on behalf of the people of the state.
The term socialism was coined in the context of social experiments of Brittish and French thinkers such as Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Louis Blane and Saint-Simon.
These social critics saw themselves as reacting to the excesses of poverty and inequality in their periods and supported reforms.
They believed in Egalitarianism distribution of wealth, the transformation of civilization into small communities in which private property was to be abolished.
However early socialists differed sharply on key issues, such as centralized versus decentralized control, the role of private property, the degree of equal rights and the organization of family and community life.
The main idea of socialism is that humans are inherently stupid creatures which cannot be allowed to roam free, for risk that some may achieve more than others.
Socialists think that capitalism is an illegitimate economic system that allows too much human freedom and serves the interest of the wealthy while exploiting the laborers.
They think a more just society would enforce hard work, guaranteed, a certain basic standard of living, extend mediocrity and uniform outcome and success for all.

Fascism

When fascism was introduced it had no systematic exposition of its ideology or purpose other than the negative reaction against socialist and democratic equality and distribution of wealth.
The growth of democratic ideas and popular participation in politics in the 19th century was terrifying to some conservative elements in European society.
Fascism grew out of the attempt to counter the democratic ideology by forming mass parties based primarily upon the middle class and the petty bourgeoisie, exploiting both classes fear of revolution and the chaos, anarchy and basic insecurity that followed.
Fascism was the original terrorism.
Fascism also appealed to nationalist sentiments and prejudices; exploiting anti-Semitism. Leaders of Fascism portrayed themselves as champions of law, order and Christian morality and the sanctity of private property.
The Russian Revolution in 1917, the collapse of central powers in 1918, and the disorders caused by communist attempts to seize power in Germany, Italy, Hungary, and other countries greatly increased fascism’s appeal to many section of Europe. In Italy particularly, social unrest was combined with Nationalists dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to reap the promised fruits of victory after World War I.
In 1922 a lack of governmental reaction enabled Mussolini to step into the spot light through show of force. As leader of his National Fascist Part, he presented himself as the strong-armed savior of Italy form anarchy and communism. He also made use of an elite party militia known as the Black Shirts to crush opposition and maintain his power.
At about the same time a fascist movement steadily gathered strength in Germany. It called itself the National Socialist German Workers Party or, the Nazi part.
Its leader, Adolf Hitler, won support for the middle class and from discontented war veterans; he also gained the backing of powerful financial interests, to whom he symbolized stability and order.

In the ideology of fascism the first and most important ideal is the glorification of the state and the total subordination of the civilians to it. The state is defined as an organic whole into which all individuals must be absorbed for their own, and the states, benefit.
This ‘total state’ is absolute in its methods and unlimited by law in its control and directions of the citizens.
The second ruling concept of fascism is personified in the hypothesis of social Darwinism; the principle of survival of the fittest and the necessity of the struggle for life.
Peaceful, complacent nations, fascism says, are doomed to fall before more dynamic ones; making struggle and aggressive militarism leading characteristics of the fascist state.
Another very important element of fascism is elitism. Salvation from the rule of the mob and the desertion of social order through an authoritarian leader who embodies the highest ideals of the nation.
This idea of the leader of the fascist state as a hero or a superhuman is closely linked with the fascist rejection of reason, logic and intelligence and its importance on vision, creativeness and the will.



Citations

-http://wi.essortment.com/communismhistorrdec.htm
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/democracy
-http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A08580.html
-http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0858078.html