With the recent comments likening Obama's tax plan with socialism, I've been reading some crazy posts from people fearfully equating socialism with communism. Now, I know that North Korea, Vietnam, Nepal, Cuba, and (perhaps) China are examples of communism at work. And it is my understanding that much of Western Europe and all of Scandinavia operates under socialist principles. What means this word "socialism"? Could someone please explain the differences between socialism and communism? How is the socialism of the United Kingdom or India or Portugal or Sweden different from the national socialism of Czechoslovakia or the USSR or the GDR? And, if you're feeling extra articulate, how would our government need to change in order to be socialist too? I'm not really satisfied with these answers. They just raise new questions. How is the economic system distinct from the political system? Didn't Nepal elect the communists to parliament? Weren't the national socialists of Germany anti-communist -- and weren't they too elected to parliament? So socialists tax everything (including my TV) in order to provide social services like healthcare, education, child support, and social security to everyone -- regardless of income -- for a permanent welfare state.. with private businesses. Communists are extreme socialists who retain power through military force, own or have their hand in all the companies, and who also provide the aforementioned social benefits, but just not as well. ... And capitalists take tax money to secure their stake in foreign resources, provide limited social benefits expecting people to take care of themselves, and prop up giant failing corporations like mega-banks and car manufacturers. Please clarify.
Government - 16 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Just one 4-year term.
2 :
The level of state ownership.
3 :
if barrack obama gets into office, you will see what communism is.
4 :
socialists are black (barack obama) and communists are white (russians
5 :
According to the philosopher Karl Marx..... Socialism is the TRANSITIONAL STAGE to the ultimate goal of COMMUNISM.
6 :
exactly CHANGE that will do it CHANGE good luck smile
7 :
Well Commies are a bunch of control freaks who keep power by Military means.. They rule with force.. Socialists Govern through self beliefs, they have a narrow single minded vision of what there country should be like..One is as bad as the other..
8 :
Socialism gives people some freedom but communism completely controls you. Socialism is the stage between Capitalism and Communism, and Communism is the point where the state "withers away."
9 :
A common mistake is to confuse Socialism, the economic system, with Communism, the political system. Communists are "socialist" in the same way that others are "compassionate conservatives". That is, they give lip service to ideals they have no intention of practicing. Communism, or "scientific socialism", has very little to do with Marx. Communism was originally envisioned by Marx and Engels as the last stages of their socialist revolution. "The meaning of the word communism shifted after 1917, when Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik Party seized power in Russia. The Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party and installed a repressive, single-party regime devoted to the implementation of socialist policies."
10 :
Socialism is being forced to live for society, Communism is being forced to live for the state (government).
11 :
Both mean that you work so that someone else will reap the benefits of those labors. I believe communism is the extreme of socialism in the way that the government will own everything and your rights are stripped away to the fullest. Notice that Americans rights are gradually being stripped away one law, Act and or directive at a time. Its has never been so apparent as we have seen in this last administration. Unfortunately, Bush cannot be totally blamed for our rights being taken away -- we are just able to recognize those acts due to the availability of the internet.
12 :
Dearest Ingird, I will try, Socialism is an economic system. Basically the government decides what you need and how much. The money is provided through many sources. Taxes, tariffs, inflation, are possibilities. Hitler was known as the "little paper hanger" for printing out German marks to spend them on war material. It got his country going again. In England everything belongs to the government (The King or Queen). The citizen pays "rent" for what they have. Even the use of the tee-vee has a small tax. If you are using your tee-vee with out a tax stamp, you face a hefty fine. The tee-vee police come around and check out the neighborhood with electronic equipment to bee sure you are not using the box without paying the tax. England is a Kingdom. The Nazis were a dictatorship. Communism is a government system, a kingdom is a government system, a dictatorship, Democracy, Republic, or feudal state are all systems of government. Any of these may be a socialism, or maybe mot. Communism defines itself as a socialism, and in Europe operates that way. China is Communist, but is also operating as a free enterprise system. They make and sell things for a prophet. Kind of a "blended" system. The United States is a free enterprise system but has initiated many socialistic elements over the years. With many of our large businesses going "offshore" in recent years our system is breaking down. Many people want the government to take care of them (welfare state). Our nation is a Republic, government is through Representatives, These Representatives are elected by a Democratic vote. This makes the United States unique in history. To make our system into a socialism, would be simple. Our government, through Congress would initiate programs so that everyone is given everything that they need. Then fund it by taking away extra from those who have extra. No mater how hard you work, you get about the same. Those who don't work get about the same. Special skills for special jobs? Why bother. A partial socialism at state level may work, but on a national level it would be DISASTER!!!
13 :
The socialism of Sweden is completely different from the communism of the old USSR. Socialism allows businesses to exist, while in Communism it is state-controlled. Last time I checked, IKEA is not a branch of the Swedish Government. On a side note, most "communist" governments have very dictatorish elements to them. Kim Jong-Il and Fidel Castro have been "alive" for an incredibly long time.
14 :
What a load of hooey this lot have written! Why don't you go and see what socialists have to say for themselves about socialism and communism? Is it because you might agree with them? http://socialistparty.org.uk/FAQFrame.htm
15 :
Socialism is as you are seeing the State mandated control of certain infrastructure and services outside of the basic needs provided by Government. Public Education is actually a form of socialism. It is hinged on empowering workers against their employers and creating a "level playing field" (you'll see that term all over Obama's website unless he scrubbed it it was everywhere on there) Socialism is basically the precursor to communism at which point ( and we've seen it through out history over and over and over) an economic system fails under the socialized government and the Government steps in and buys up the free market thereby creating a socialized economy at which point it becoms communism.
16 :
For many supporters of socialism, "socialism" means that the workers control the means of production, while "capitalism" means another class controls the means of production. Historically, supporters of socialism have varied from opponents of the state (like Proudhon or Bakunin) to supporters of it (like Engels), as well as from supporters of completely free markets (like Proudhon or Tucker) to supporters of planned economies (like Marx) to supporters of free access to common means of production (like Kropotkin). Indeed, many socialists (e.g. most anarchists) regard markets where people own their own means of production (or have reasonable chances to do so) as forms of socialism, and states where the state owns the means of production (as in the Soviet Union) as capitalism, with the ruling party as the capitalists. For most socialists, communism (small-c) refers to those forms of socialism which do away with money and paired exchange in favor of free access to goods and unpaired exchange. Marxists expect to create communism during the "withering away of the state." Anarchocommunists propose to create voluntary communism (alongside voluntary collectivism, voluntary mutualism, etc.). Errico Malatesta wrote, in defense of anarchocommunism: "[I]nstead of running the risk of making a confusion in trying to distinguish what you and I each do, let us all work and put everything in common. In this way each will give to society all that his strength permits until enough is produced for every one; and each will take all that he needs, limiting his needs only in those things of which there is not yet plenty for every one." http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/malatesta/MalatestaATAC.html
