Musing on the battle of the 20th Century - Adam Smith v. Karl Marx

The twentieth century has lately been characterized as a battle between the free market capitalists who cite Adam Smith as their philosophical guru, and the socialist/communist devotee's who cite Karl Marx as their philosophical source.

The problem with both schools of thought is that neither is always the right approach or the wrong approach, both views represent tools in the toolbox of human nature, and both have their strengths and weaknesses.

In 1990 the capitalist's declared victory when the Soviet Union collapsed.  They believed the collectivist views of Marx were shown to be false by the economic weakness of communist regimes that caused many to implode and others to limp along while they gradually adopted a more free market approach.  They saw a future of permanent prosperity driven solely by the self interest of individuals striving to improve their lot, and in Britain and the United States, the flag bearers for western capitalism, collectivist notions that regulated the untrammeled freedom of the capitalist's to pursue their objectives were rejected. 

Twenty years later that triumphalism is gone.  The United States and Great Britain, the two most dedicated western capitalists nations, and the rest of the western world that followed their lead on the road toward more unfettered Capitalism, limp along with huge debts after a pretty predictable selfish and delusional boom led to a massive financial crash.  They now look with some fear at collectivist states like Vietnam or China who are grafting free market capitalism onto their collectivist state and experiencing the boom associated with the unfettered early stages of free market capitalism.

So now China is experiencing a bit of the triumphalism.  But Russia in the 1950's through 1970's was perceived to be a rising power, much as China is now.  Sooner or later China's form of grafted free market capitalism will stumble and their government will either have to crush all freedoms, or relinquish their ultimate control to democracy. 

In truth the great clash of the 20th century was always simply the newest incarnation of the struggle that has existed throughout human history between selfish interests and collectivist instincts.  Some of us are inclined by personality and/or upbringing to be more selfish, building our lives with little thought to its impact on others.  Others among us are by personality and/or upbringing prone to lean toward team building, to joint cooperative effort, to seeking paths that work for everyone.   

Capitalists sometimes speak of capitalism and democracy as one is the same.  Democracy is not a capitalist notion, it is a mechanism to allow all people to live the life they are comfortable with.  The Arab spring is not seeking to turn the middle east into a capitalist state, it is simply reacting to decades of selfish and ruthless people being allowed to dictate law to their own personal benefit. 

Perhaps the Arab spring is a harbinger of a 21st century where the self-interested finally lose control all over the world, and the self interested and the collectivists negotiate an accommodation that allows all people to follow their instincts and live the life they are comfortable with without doing so at the expense of others.