Oppose Rampant Individualism
I'm a lefty as my username makes painfully obvious. I used to be a commy. I still believe thee is an important truth to the old adage that if you're not a commy when you're 20, you don't have a heart. Uni students should always try to be as left as they can personally manage and get active in demonstrations.
But I digress. I am not a commy (at the age of 24 :> ) . I am not a commy for the same reasons I was a commy. I always maintained that it was not communism that was flawed, but the people who had tried to implement it so far. I maintained that it would work well if it was done properly. Even many right wingers acknowledge that communism is great in theory.
It was when I was looking a bit more deeply into the French Revolution, and by extension Adam Smith that I noticed a similarity between capitalism and communism. Those who favoured liberal capitalist democracies were full of the same idealistic fervour that last century's communists had. They were revolutionary, anti-establishment youths. Why? Because they had a great new theory of economics that was going to bring about justice and equality. Liberte Egalite Fraternite.
And really, Smith's theories were pretty crazy. There are elements of his theory that are quite laughable, in the sme way that Marx's are. Guided by a certain naive belief in things magically working themselves out because people are just generally good underneath it all. I mean, all that invisible hand stuff, it's pretty blind faith.
Yet capitalism really has been an improvement. It has delivered for many people. And it was then that I realised that capitalism is just as good as communism. There are many ways of implementing it. Some better than others. There is still scope for progress through cooperation, still scope for social institutions, still scope for equality within capitalism.
All in all, capitalism just hasn't been implemented by the right people yet. But it's a great theory.
So on a practical level, it makes more sense to embrace capitalism and to try to improve it bit by bit. Support organisations like The Big Issue, which seek to help homeless people empower themselves. Support Oxfam's Fair Trade campaigns, which seek to give impoverished people the ability to work for a decent living standard. Go on bush tucker tours that are actually led by Aboriginal tour guides to support a practical use of their cultural knowlege. These are ideas where capitalism can work well.
So comrades, my message to you is simple:
Embrace Capitalism for a Just Society!