In response to Dominic Willott’s letter to the editor entitled ‘Socialism vs capitalism’ (St. Albert Gazette, Your Views, April 20), I have to say that Dominic appears to confuse worldviews with theoretical economic constructs.
There are very few, if any, real-life manifestations of these two constructs in the world today. China is perhaps the best example of a communist society that leads the world in economic growth; hence it is a direct refutation of his thoughts on the matter. And yet China could best be described as a communist country operating under state capitalism. But back to his point, arguably one of the greatest global tragedies in the 20th century was WWII which decimated countless countries and left them with the daunting task of rebuilding both their economies and social structures.
It is interesting to note that rather than re-elect the strong, more individualistic minded (pro capitalist) Winston Churchill immediately following the end of WWII, British citizens elected Clement Attlee, a more collectivist (socialist) minded politician, to lead the rebuilding process. As well, in 1944, 44 Allied nations got together to discuss structural economic changes in the post-war world. One of the primary goals of the Bretton-Woods agreement was to control runaway capital flows to afford rebuilding countries access to much-needed money.
Also, as a side bar, bankers were not invited to attend the conference. In both of the mentioned examples, one could make the point that human beings seem to accept a more ‘collectivist world view’ approach to solution-seeking when major disaster strikes, as opposed to relying on a more ‘individualistic,’ dare I say, Capitalistic worldview.
Denis Lapierre, St. Albert
