**Capitalism** is a way of organizing resources and people in order to
produce a profit for those who control property. It has three major
traits:

1.  [Privateownership](Private_Property "wikilink") controls the
    production of commodities
2.  [Commerce](Markets "wikilink") is used to [trade](trade "wikilink")
    resources
3.  Society is divided into [classes](Class "wikilink"), with most
    people working for others for [wages](Wage_Labour "wikilink")

## History

Capitalism evolved out of the early [market
economies](Markets "wikilink") which were common throughout the ancient
world, as

## Anti-Capitalism

Numerous criticisms of capitalism exist which argue capitalism is
detrimental to human [freedom](freedom "wikilink"), [the
environment](Ecocide "wikilink"), [mental
health](Mental_Health "wikilink") and is unable to effectively use the
resources it has to solve big issues like [poverty](poverty "wikilink")
or [hunger](hunger "wikilink"). Others have pointed out a link between
capitalism and authoritarianism, noting the methods to create capitalism
involved stealing [common land](Commons "wikilink") from
[indigenous](Indigenous_People "wikilink") groups via
[colonialism](colonialism "wikilink") and from medieval
[peasants](peasants "wikilink") via [enclosure](enclosure "wikilink").
Additionally, capitalism has had a strong association with
[fascism](fascism "wikilink") and the destruction of [social
democracy](Social_Democracy "wikilink") in the third world.
Anti-capitalism is a key part of [libertarian
socialism](Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink").