Isn’t capitalism more efficient than socialism?

No, it’s not. Capitalism smashed the old feudal society that limited development when modern, large-scale manufacturing arrived but now places constraints on further development. It syphons off huge fortunes produced on a global scale and converts it to private wealth. Many people’s needs are neglected while a tiny minority live in unjustifiable luxury. This is irrational and inefficient.

Capitalism and its need for maximum profit are behind the drive to war for resources, markets and strategic advantage. This has caused countless deaths and the trampling of national sovereignty. This causes many to be sacrificed in conflicts and to suffer super-exploitation and poverty. If the test is human happiness and development, capitalism is not efficient. Socialism needs to defeat capitalism to ensure the peaceful development of society and the most efficient delivery of necessities for people.

People’s experience of privatised enterprises that were once publicly owned makes for a useful comparison. Privatised utilities have been hugely expensive for governments to maintain. They are forced to guarantee profitability and the monopolies have raised prices causing greater hardship and lower quality services. Workers are always worse off under private owners. Capitalism is efficient at producing private profit, nothing else.

Socialist is even more responsive to people’s needs. It harnesses people’s enthusiasm for their own and the common good. The USSR became an industrial giant at a much faster rate than capitalist countries and did so while maintaining full employment, free health care and education and many cultural benefits. It promoted innovation. It was the first country to send a human into space and its advances forced the US imperialists to respond with mountains of public money to maintain credibility as a technological innovator.