Capitalism, communism and India

In the last century two ideological schools dominated the intellectual landscape and served as a framework for social and economic organizations- one was communism and the other one was capitalism. While the first aimed at equality through a classless society, the other promised freedom, free market and free trade. By the end of 20^th century, communism had failed politically. Now is the era, when the world is witnessing capitalism going terribly wrong. Under such conditions, I wonder if communism the only alternative to capitalism?

If 21^st century is Asia’s century, shouldn’t we at least consider the values of this land? India is the land of Sanatana dharma, which defines any act under one of the 4 categories-

1. Dharma
2. Artha
3. Kama
4. Moksha

So basically, any task we do essentially fall into one of these four categories. And tasks together become processes. Processes combine to become systems. Systems make organizations. In a capitalistic set-up, Artha and Kama are predominant. Ideologically, I would argue otherwise, but the way we have seen practically in USSR and Cuba, that in a Communist society, since a greater good is targeted, and liberty of individuals is jeopardized, Dharma and Moksha seem to be predominant.

None of the two systems take into account all the four. They act on any two and aim for the other two. Is there no alternative possible to the current economic and social systems? I believe there is. There has to be a systematic way, where all four acts can be balanced. Our society in the past has proved it time and again that this is possible. The interesting thing to see will be, if at all we go for it, how do we achieve it, and how does the world react to such a change.