On May 4, 1979, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of Great Britain. Although she was the leader of a foreign country, her comments on socialism — and the contradictory hypocrisy of Communists boasting about a failed system while capitalists apologize for a successful one — are still applicable to modern America and its international relations.
The interesting contrast between media in a free, capitalist society and media in a Communist country is that the former will often perpetually bash the system that creates prosperity for their country, while the latter will continually brag about how great its system is, even amid complete economic, social, and political crisis. Capitalist countries should be more proud of their achievements instead of always letting socialists be the braggarts, Margaret Thatcher declared in 1975 at the Conservative Party Conference.
Thatcher gave a contemporaneous example of the Soviet Union having to buy wheat from the U.S. despite boasting endlessly about the wonders of state-run, collectivist farming. Unfortunately, Commies are much more dedicated to inventing successes than capitalists are to highlighting real wins. "Whenever I visit Communist countries, their politicians never hesitate to boast about their achievements," Thatcher said. She went on:
They know them all by heart and reel off the facts and figures, claiming that this is the rich harvest of the Communist system.
Yet they are not prosperous as we in the West are prosperous, and they are not free as we in the West are free.
Our capitalist system produces a far higher standard of prosperity and happiness because it believes in incentive and opportunity, and because it is founded on human dignity and freedom.
In light of the fact that capitalism has brought more prosperity to more people than any other system in history, and socialism has caused the deaths of more people than any other system in history, it makes no sense that the bloodier ideology has much better propaganda.
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Communists, Thatcher exclaimed, “boast incessantly while we, who have so much more to boast about, forever criticise [sic] and decry. Isn't it time we spoke up for our way of life? After all, no Western nation has to build a wall round itself to keep its people in,” as the Soviets did. In fact, in the case of America, we have to expend a huge amount of time and resources on closing our borders to the unending flow of immigrants desperate for a share in the American dream. Even the illegal aliens who vocally criticize America know in their heart of hearts that it is much, much better to live here than in their Communist or Muslim countries of origin. Commies build walls to keep people in, but capitalists sometimes have to build walls to keep people out. That encapsulates the difference in their policies' effectiveness.
Part of the reason that Communism has such effective propaganda, however, is because it totally controls the media in many countries and has brainwashed a significant portion of the media in Western nations. And between grants, bribes, and offers of cheap labor, Commie countries (most especially China) have pretty well infiltrated many U.S. government entities and universities. In other words, Communists are more hell-bent on lying than their opponents are on exposing their lies.
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But the reality is that patriotic free market advocates have not taken the war of words as seriously as they should have. I think conservatives, whether in Britain or America, whether in the 1970s or the 2020s, have a tendency to believe that their own policies will speak for themselves, or that a little compromise with socialism (as for instance with welfare) will make them more popular. This is all nonsense. As of 2025, Gallup found that only 54% of Americans have a favorable view of capitalism, down six points from 2021, and that 39% of Americans — more than a third — have a positive view of socialism.
If capitalism is to win politically and psychologically, then free market advocates must follow Thatcher's advice and become much more dedicated to reminding citizens exactly what the everyday differences are between capitalism and Communism.
