Introduction
The world 2000 years ago vs. the world today has come so far through the evolution of many things, starting from a single material to people. Everything is changing nowadays, but some national characteristics, such as the political system and the way the nation or region is handled, remain constant. Years ago, in most parts of the newly discovered world, the communist way was most likely the best way to handle things. How the community owns everything as one and each individual contributes according to their ability and needs.
The Monarch ruled over the entire world. For the majority of their reign, the Queen and King of Britain would rule over their respective countries and even other countries. Later on, they had control over almost every nation, or rather some parts of it. But later on, it came to an end as one by one, they started challenging and defeating the British. After many sacrifices, revolutions, civil wars, and even world wars, the rule came to an end. The British empire, which was once known as "the empire on which the sun never sets", has finally fallen back from all the states in Asia, Africa, America and Russia.
After being seditious and communist, Britain is now a unionist government. India follows the same pattern. "The Union Government" means the government at the centre. The union of several states or regions forms the basis of the union government.
And many countries, after the end of World War II, changed their ways of handling nations. And they choose the way they like or rather were made to like by the community, defining whether the nation fell under democracy, communism, socialism, or absolute domination.
Here, we will see how the Democratic countries/regions are being ruled, held, and operated and how the Communist countries are being operated, ruled, and held.
Democracy Vs. Communism
The people living in the country are responsible for the way their nation is being handled, whether it be a democratic, communist, dictatorship, unionist, socialist, or many other variants as such. The Democratic nation is where people have the power to change the leading government party by voting or just bringing in sudden change by revolting against the same. In the case of communism, the people have very few options to change the way the government handles things. Only a change in ideology can be helpful to bring in some attainable change.
Most of the democratic countries right now in the world are Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ireland, South Korea, New Zealand, and Denmark. Some of which are fully democratic countries, and some are flawed democratic countries or semi-democratic countries. Flawed democracy means there is democracy but not at its best. The government lacks transparency, corruption takes place, an outdated voting system, restrictions and regulations on basic needs, and a lack of mobilisation of the populace at the local level.
The few that fall under communism could be said as follows: China (The Republic of China), North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Laos (Laos People's Democratic Republic), Cuba (Republic of Cuba), and Vietnam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam). The countries that are partly ruled by the communist party are Nepal, Moldova, and Guyana.
Communism lets the government take action against all the capital and industry in the country and diminish the concept of inequality. While in a democratic country the people have the right to buy their property and means of production. This is just the economic sphere of the comparison below we will see how deep each concept is different from one another.
Difference between Democracy and Communism in Tabular form
| Parameters | Democracy | Communism |
| Philosophy | In the country in which the majority rules, all citizens get equal rights to say in decisions. | The country in which the governing body holds the property diminishes the concept of inequality. |
| Ideology | The democratic country defined by Aristotle is deviant. As it is of the people, by the people and for the people. | Communism is an ideology where everything is commonly owned, concerning equality and fairness among people. |
| Ruling Nature | The citizen is the decision makers and has the equal say in following decisions. And wishes of the society are fulfilled. | The group of people ruling have the power to change of course of the nation's wellness. It is a form of oligarchy or even aristocracy. |
| Change of ruling | As the representatives of the nations are elected by the people, it is in the people's power to change the representatives if need be. Hence, voting is carried out by the common people. | The change in ruling in the communist nation can take time. It is a slow process as there is no possibility of even revolts. The change in ideology or big impact on nations' stand in the world might bring in the change. |
| Private property | Private property can be owned by people. The goods and production of any kind can be owned by the people. | The Republic of the Nation owns all property to protect the people from unfairness and to establish a class structure in the country. |
| Discrimination | To say every citizen is equal treated, but the majority rules the minority. | Theoretically, everyone in the nation is considered equal. |
| Religion | Religion is permitted in democratic countries. Hence, the people have the right to worship and praise their lords. | Religion of any kind is abolished, as it brings in the class structure and hierarchy. |
| Wars | The majority decides the step to take on war. | They believe wars are good for overall development but should be avoided. |
| Social Classes | The classes are formed such as religious, financial, politically and by class. This separation varies from state to state. | Any kind of religion is not permitted to be adopted, and no one has the authority to buy the property or land. There is less emphasis on the question of social class or status. |
| Freedom | The individuals can make the decisions for themselves so far as the political factions haven't restricted certain actions, which could limit the individual. | The factions control almost every day-to-day routine of the populace. And for every major and minor decision, a collective vote is taken by the state's rulers. |
| Economical operation | Individual has the right to earn and buy needful for themself. Like a free market economy, everything is available to buy. | The government provides limited sources for people to survive considering their needs. |
| Disadvantages | Majorities formed by class structure can abuse, and dominate the minorities. | Single party takes all the decisions. |
| Variations | Semi-democratic, Socialist Democracy, Direct Democracy, Representative Democracy, and Presidential Democracy. | Left Anarchism, International Communism, Religious Communism, Primitive Communism. |
What is Democracy?
People formed democracy to have equal rights for everyone in the state or region. In any democratic country or region, people have the right and authority to change or decide the legislation and even change the leading political party by revolting against them.
The people are free to speak, write, and buy means of production and land. Democracy over the period has evolved. The main form of democracy was direct democracy, and the most adapted form of democracy is a representative democracy. Representative democracy is a democracy where people elect the governing members to govern the country/region on the people's behalf as a presidential government.
As aforementioned, the ideology of democracy is quite clear i.e., the people have rights for almost everything unless some things are within restriction by the elected governing body. Well, people also have the right to revolt against the existing leading party and could bring in a sudden change in parliament to settle down with a government that satisfies people's needs unchallengingly.
Class, religion, economy, and politics all serve to distinguish people. The freedom of everything brings the downfall of class structure formation in society. And when the structures are formed, they are only divided into two categories: upper and lower. This is a major downfall for the people in the lower class, whether it be of any above parameter. The lower class is abused by the upper class.
But with the right government, everyone is severe almost with equal care and everyone has the equal right to say. But if the elected member is atrocious the region could undergo all the downfall mentioned above. And even sometimes such leadership could even lead to dictatorship.
So, as much as democracy gives out freedom it also holds the same weight downside. The government doesn't interfere in the private sectors but it does provide free education, means of transport, health services at low cost, etc.
What is Communism?
Communism also known as Marxism as "Karl Marx" is the first person to point out the term. His ideas revolved throwing private properties, production and economy to the ruling group of people. And diminish the concept of unfairness between majority and minority classes and treat everyone equally.
In Latin, communism is termed "common universe". A universe is a place where everyone is owned by one ruler, like an autocracy, or a group of people, like an oligarchy. Communism provides people with their daily needs like food, medical help and jobs. But the change in the environment is quite less. One leading party continues to lead for years, even decades. There is no such thing as voting out the candidate for ruling the nation. The change in the communist society is a slow process, only a major change in the region's economy or position of power could shake the thinking.
The owner of all the lands and properties is the ruler of the region. The ownership of any means of production is out of the question, but people have an abundance of supplies for their daily needs. The religion of any kind is abolished. Everyone is one and common. Due to common ownership and no religion, there are no such things as classes.
The people work wholly for the society's profit and maximise it more and more and further the profits are equally distributed. Hence, everyone is considered equal as there is nothing to compare between two people. The concept of class structure has deteriorated.
Most of the nation's nation-affecting decisions are taken by the ruling political party. The only freedom people have is to think. The book "1984" quite fascinatingly explains how in the dystopian world they (the ruling party) could take all the freedoms people have, but one thing they can't take is the freedom to think.
Wars in a communist society are considered the normal situation as they think it is healthily improvising the society. But they tend to avoid such conditions under some terms.
Main Difference between Democracy and Communism in Points
- The ideology of democracy is that people take the decisions or elected representatives take the decisions for the people's and nation's benefits. The ideology of communism is to have one common ruler for all the regions who decides the profits and their equal distribution among the people.
- The change of political parties in a democratic country is a simple process. If the leading party fails to fulfil people's needs, they are changed by voting or by bringing in sudden change by revolting. On the other hand, change in a communist society is not a common thing. The chances of having a change are low and slow. The change in thinking over generations and generations could take place.
- In a democratic society, properties and private lands can be owned by any individual, whilst in a communist society, all the lands and means of production are owned by the governing party.
- The communist countries have abolished the means of religion. Hence people are of no religion. In a democratic society-wide range of religious people could live and praise their religions and gods.
- People have nothing to compare to one another, as the land, properties, and religions are abolished in the communist nations. Hence, they are treated equally and in common. Considering the same in a democracy, it is impossible as people from different religions and financial statuses clash with being from the upper and lower classes.
- The people have the right to earn as much as they want within the government's restricted policy of the working class in a democratic country. The people are equally distributed profits of the means they produce.
- Every major decision in a democratic society is taken by the people or the government they have elected. Even the majority of democratic society takes the lead on some decisions regarding the nation's wellness. But in a communist society, only the ruler or ruling group takes on all the decisions, whether they be major or minor.
- Wars are considered obsolete in democratic countries, and in communist countries, having a war is a normal situation, which they probably think helps them improvise society.
Conclusion
The above-all-mentioned information states how both ruling natures have their ups and downs. The ideology differs completely but both ideologies don't quite sit well perfectly with the world. There are variations and many different stories of one single turn of events.
The nature of both ideologies in today's world is different from what it was when they originated. The changes like this would be one coming in further years. Hope is the change that should come for the greater good rather than dystopia. Both ideologies, even though they seem difficult in some ways, both help countries maximise their profit and run well. And people should accept the ruling nature of their country or bring in the change that seems to be plausible.
References
- democracy vs communism - Bing images
- Communism - Wikipedia
- Democracy - Wikipedia
