I had to deal with a really poor education during my school years, so, for that matter, I have for a long time been (re)teaching myself some of the subjects I (didn’t) learn at school. One of those involves economic ideologies/systems like communism or capitalism.
I have a vague idea of what each one is about thanks to common sense, but it is kind of a shame being an adult and not knowing much about them.
So… where do I start from?
Wikipedia defines capitalism as an ‘economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit’. In contrast, communism involves ‘common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products … based on need’. The ‘means of production’ here refer to property that can be used to produce goods, and ultimately, wealth. Factories are the usual example.
I must point out, however, that the meanings of these words change over time and place. Also note that it was the Marxists who popularised these two terms; to quote Wikipedia, ‘scholars who are uncritical of capitalism rarely actually use the term capitalism’.