Commuinsm/Socialism
 

Ok, I'm not the the biggest political expert here, so I was having a discussion with a friend the other day about the differences between communism and socialism. Could someone who knows more than I do expound please? I think I know, but I dont want to post something and look like an idiot.

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/160/2989/320/Google.jpg

;) (j/k. I think it's a good question and I don't want to look dumb either :D)

from Wikipedia:

Communism refers to a theoretical system of social organization and a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production...

Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that a society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production...

In Marxist theory, it also refers to the society that would succeed capitalism, and in some cases develop further into communism. Marxism and communism are both branches of socialism.

(edited)

Socialism is an ideology and communism is just one of many branches that have the socialist label attached to it.

Cool. Thank you. Hopefully more people will respond.:thumbsup:

Be sure to check out those Wikipedia links, David, they provide a great overview of the topics. I had posted the "socialism" link a while back after Brandon babbled something along the lines of, "Duhhh, isn't socialism bad because it's liek communism?" Strangely, he never responded to the post in which I suggested he educate himself on the subject.

Thank you, I appriciate it. I just am trying to be a more informed person I guess. That's weird huh?:laugh:

Mysteriously, that has happened to me too in the few times I gave him some facts that refuted his position:laugh:

Incidentally, I'm actually related to Karl Marx distantly. My last name is also Marx, and I'm German.

My two cents:

The key difference between the two:

Communism doesn't work.

Socialism does, as evidenced by the large number of Socialist nations with happy citizens and productive economies.

I've always seen him as a great philosopher more than as a political ideologist. Communism is commonly only referred to him, but there's also the aristocratic communism by Plato or the communism of the Early Christianity.
Anyway, for Marx Socialism and Communism are two stages of the same revolutionary process. An enlightining read is Communist Manifesto, an extremely well written and powerful book, not cryptic at all. I learnt from it the reason why communism would never work in its original stage without autoritary deviances (Marx's concept of mankind is too high) but also got a clear view of how society works and on a personal level what I shouldn't forget relating with the people around me.

Romy