If Banjo's theory is correct, which is a big stretch, then as I see it, the human animal is the only one capable of greed and therein lies our inherent problem as a species.

There are always those who feel the need to have more than their fair share; as they acquire excessive capital they also acquire power; the powerful feel the need to rule over others; power corrupts and we eventually end up with flawed systems that are not experienced in the beehive or ant hill.

If we could talk to the bees perhaps we'd gain a different perspective on what its like to live as a drone serving one ruler for life.

I think one should distinguish between the political and economic frames of reference.

On the political level, the opposite of “communist society” is “free society” (that is how we who lived there referred to the world behind the Iron Curtain, although true, the comrades called it pejoratovely “capitalist society”).

On the economic level, the opposite of “capitalism” is “controlled (or managed) economy”. E. g. the Nazis had a semi-managed economy and certainly were not a free society.

I am not an economist but I think a free society CAN function with both a capitalist economy or a managed economy (whether it DOES function in this or that particular case, is a different question). Only the extremes in both directions lead always to a less than free society (or worse). The Germans like to refer to their system as “soziale Marktwirtschaft” (social free market economy), perhaps a kind of a hybrid.

Dear George,

I lived in the US during most of the Cold War and found the term Free World completely objectionable. It gave the illusion that outside of the communist world everyone was free. There were non-communist dictatorships in much of Africa and South America, the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, Franco's dictatorship in Spain and other authoritarian governments. It was a locution designed to say that they were the bad and unfree world and, outside of THEM, everything was rosy. It was part of the strategy to paint US and everyone outside of the communist orbit as good and THEM as bad. The term Free World was only propaganda.

The comrades were accurate. The society outside of the communist world was capitalist and both free and not free. I regard neither capitalism nor communism as a pejorative term. In reality any society is both free and not free, and any society has both private and public ownership. There are only degrees of freedom and degrees of private ownership.

However, in regard to managed and non-managed economy, the industrial revolutions in England and Germany were different. In England the industrial revolution was effected largely by private capital with minimal government intervention. In Germany the government encouraged the industrial revolution, and the entrepreneurs were supported by government investment. Both were quite successful.

Dear David,

I did not want to defend the phrase “free society” only mentioned it as a term that expressed our admiration of - as we saw it - the West, in particular America (not e.g. South Africa - not many people dreamt of escaping to South Africa), in spite of all of its blemishes. I think it also reflected the fact that the refugees, (and many more would-be refugees) would keep on crossing the Iron Curtain in that, rather than the opposite, direction. After all, "free" here was always meant as "freer than".

Later I found out that many Americans and Australians found the description “free” for the world Americans brought also to Wesgtern Europe after WWII objectionable, as you put it. So the choice of the word to describe it (a world or society, that after all does not exist any more, the same as its opponent), is rather subjective, a matter of personal experience with the European world on both sides of the Iron Curtain a few decades ago.

Nevertheless I still think it is a good thing to keep apart the political/cultural and economical characterisations of a society, whatever names we prefer to give them.

I agree that ruthless capitalism, economic liberalism, as being now imported also to Germany, is being felt as alien; ther more so in Southern Europe.

Dear George,

Although I am not religious I think there is wisdom in the Bible.

Luke 6:42 How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?

One can fail to see the flaws in your own country or system when criticising the other side. I felt we were doing that during the Cold War when we encouraged the phrase, 'free world'

What on earth does a society have to do to be free in your opinion David. The only thing is you have to pay your dues, if you wish to be productive, & acquire property.

Here we are free to work or not work, & have everyone else provide for us if we can't be bothered.

Women are free to decide to bread, & have everyone else provide for them, or pay their own way.

WE are free to acquire an education, or remain a socialist.

We are free to leave the country, or return to it at will.

We are free to acquire any property we desire, provided only that we must acquire the money to pay for it.

About the only thing we are not free to do is get rid if the bludgers taking a free ride on the backs of the productive.