Mr. Niebergall HARRY S TRUMAN HIGH SCHOOL
GLOBAL STUDIES

WEBQUEST TOPIC: Capitalism
versus Communism

KEY DEFINITIONS:

Capitalism: Capitalism, economic system based on private ownership of the means of production, in which personal profit can be acquired through investment of capital and employment of labor. Capitalism is grounded in the concept of free enterprise, which argues that government intervention in the economy should be restricted and that a free market, based on supply and demand, will ultimately maximize consumer welfare.

Communism: In modern usage, the term Communism (written with a capital C) is applied to the movement that aims to overthrow the capitalist order by revolutionary means and to establish a classless society in which all goods will be socially owned. The theories of the movement come from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as modified by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the successful Communist revolution in Russia.

Introduction: Communism and Capitalism are two economic systems that attempt to solve the social problems faced by people. The social problems faced by people in many countries around the globe are many, poverty, crime, unemployment, human rights abuse, war, and lack of education. The problem of meeting the needs of the people requires an economic system that can solve these social problems. What problems do Communism and capitalism solve? What problems do Communism and capitalism fail to solve?

If you had a choice, which of the two types of governments would you rather live under and why?

(1) A government that would provide you with a guaranteed living, in other words the government would provide you with a job, a home, and free health care. The government would take care of you from the cradle to the grave. Under this system you can only make as much money as the government feels you need to live. The government will decide what will be produced according to a command economy. All of this in exchange for giving up a few individual rights you probably would not even miss much. Is this Communism or Capitalism?

(2) The other type of government allows you to make as much money as you can, of course you must pay the necessary taxes on whatever income you make. In addition the government leaves getting health care, getting a job and finding a home your responsibility. Your participation in the market economy decides what gets produced. The government is not responsible if you make it in life or not. However you do have a great deal of individual rights. Is this Communism or Capitalism?

Task: You are a public policy analyst from a country that seeks to use the economic system that you believe will best meet the needs of your people. You will produce a thematic essay that will incorporate all aspects of the public policy analyst. Through the use of the Global History Public Policy Analyst worksheets, you will define the social problems that Communism and Capitalism attempt to solve, gather evidence on the social problem that Communism and Capitalism attempt to solve, determine the causes of the social problem, evaluate the policy that Communism and Capitalism use to solve the social problem, and do a comparative analysis with another problem that plagues another developing nation. You will be graded on both the completed GHHPA worksheets and the thematic essay based on the GHHPA worksheets describing the problems of a developing nation and the public policy used by the government to deal with the problem. The final product of this research from your worksheets is a five paragraph thematic essay.

Process

I. You will be assigned to a group of four. Using a variety of resources (Internet websites, your textbook, handouts, etc.), each group will research the topic of the problems that Communism and Capitalism each attempt to solve. Each Public Policy worksheet will be collected and graded as part of your final grade. You will record your research on the Global History Public Policy Analyst worksheets (found at the following five links):

· Identify Problem

· Gather the Evidence

· Determine Causes

· Evaluate the Policy

· Do a Comparative Analysis

II. After the GHPPA worksheets are completed, then the independent creation of your thematic essay must begin. Your thematic essay must incorporate all elements of the GHPPA worksheets. In addition your thematic essay must incorporate all the elements of a New York State Regent thematic essay which includes an introduction, several body paragraphs and a conclusion.

RESOURCES

COMMUNISM RESEARCH SITES

How Communism Works

Marx Was Right, Capitalism is a failure

The Living Ideas of Karl Marx

A look at Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Communist Manifesto

Plan by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to solve society’s social problems

CAPITALISM RESEARCH SITES

How Capitalism solves social problems

Arguments for and against capitalism

What is capitalism good for?

Capitalism solutions to social problems

SEARCH ENGINES

EVALUATION:

NEW YORK STATE ELA AND SOCIAL
STUDIES STANDARDS

Harry S Truman High School

Problems after Decolonization

Name: ________________________

Teacher: Mr. Niebergall

Scoring Rubric A=20-17 B=16-13 C=12-9 D=Less than 9

Criteria

Points

	4	3	2	1
Introduction/ Topic	Student(s) properly generate questions and or problems around a topic.	Student(s) generate questions and or problems.	Student(s) require prompts to generate questions and or problems.	Questions or problems are teacher generated.	____
Conclusions Reached	Numerous detailed conclusions are reached from the evidence offered.	Several detailed conclusions are reached from the evidence offered.	Some detailed conclusions are reached from the evidence offered.	A conclusion is made from the evidence offered.	____
Information Gathering	Information is gathered from multiple electronic and non-electronic sources and cited properly.	Information is gathered from multiple electronic and non-electronic sources.	Information is gathered from limited electronic and non-electronic sources.	Information is gathered from non-electronic or electronic sources only.	____
Summary Paragraph	Well organized, demonstrates logical sequencing and sentence structure.	Well organized, but demonstrates illogical sequencing or sentence structure.	Well organized, but demonstrates illogical sequencing and sentence structure.	Weakly organized.	____
Punctuation, Capitalization, & Spelling	Punctuation and capitalization are correct.	There is one error in punctuation and/or capitalization.	There are two or three errors in punctuation and/or capitalization.	There are four or more errors in punctuation and/or capitalization.	____
				Total---->	____

Teacher Comments:

English Language Arts Performance Standards

E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a: Produce a report of information.

Standard 2: World History

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3:

The student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live- local, national, and global- including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

CONCLUSION:

The experience of this Webquest one should have learned how Communism and Capitalism attempt to meet the needs of the people. In addition you should have experienced gathering evidence of the social problems that both economic systems attempt to solve. You should have determined the causes of these social problems that Communism and capitalism attempt to solve. You should have evaluated the policies used by Communism and capitalism to solve social problems faced by the people. Finally you should have created a comparative analysis of both policies used by capitalism and Communism to solve the social problems faced by people around the globe.