(March 3, 2013 at 1:32 pm)TaraJo Wrote: True, but in a practical sense, capitalism and feudalism are extremely similar. We like to talk about how anyone who works hard enough can make it with capitalism, but the reality is there has never been that much social mobility. If you're born on the top, you're likely to stay on top. If yo're born into povety, you're likely to stay in poverty. So the wealthy land owners just turn into wealthy corporations and the basic system stays the same.
Social mobility aside I was more just talking about the historical accuracy of the statement. The military coup in Russia wasn't against capitalists and certainly not because the people there were being crushed under the weight of capitalism. You have capitalist countries in the same time frame, ironically none of them have successful communist revolts, with the possible exception of Cuba, which was more or less what people today call capitalist. Most of the major overthrows were against imperial regimes. China is of course another good example of this.
I don't have a problem with critiques of Capitalism, I'm just a stickler for historical accuracy. Like you I support a mixture of centralize control, social programs and the free market. I suspect the degree is fairly different though.