Marxist fallacies

John McTernan (Perspective, 7 November) is wrong to say that capitalism had to accept a “social democratic welfare state” as a compromise in order to survive.

What this really means is that capitalism had to accept the interventionist measures proposed in the Communist Manifesto to prevent the events predicted in Das Kapital taking place and this is absurd.

The simple fact is that Comm­unism is not an alternative system to capitalism, is totalitarian and cannot be made to work.

Communism only survived as long as it did because of appeasement from the West and has enjoyed an undeserved rehabilitation due to the repetition of Marxist fallacies by the political left.

Bruce Crichton

Victoria Street

Falkirk