Question

Examine communism and socialism.

• We hear so often today that socialism and communism are the same thing. Examine the similarities and differences between the two.
• Why do so many Americans seem to hate even the word "socialism"?
• We already employ some socialism in this country today (and for the past several decades). Examples include libraries, police departments, public education, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, public parks, roads/highways, and so on. How do these services factor into arguments for or against socialism?

Answer 1

Socialism is the base for Communism. Both systems require government control that ensures the people have little say.

Some say they are the same but they aren't

Ideology

Communism: All people are equal, that is why social classes do not make sense. The government must own all means of production (including land). People must work for the government, and the collective results need to be equitably distributed.

Socialism: All individuals must have access to basic consumer products and public services to enable people's fulfillment. Large industries are the result of a collective effort. It is for this reason that the resulting benefits must be beneficiaries of society in general.

Social structure

Communism: There are no social classes, that is, there are no distinctions between people.

Socialism: Social differences are reduced to almost disappear. Status comes more from political distinctions. There may be some mobility.

Role of the state:

For socialism, the State is a regulating entity of the political and economic system, including the means of production. For communism, it is the state that has political control through the single party and economic control by taking over the means of production.

Private property:

Socialism promotes the idea of ​​a State that regulates strategic means of production, while the rest may fall to private companies. Communism, for its part, proposes total control of the economic system.

Why do so many Americans seem to hate even the word "socialism"?

"Socialism" makes men lose a sense of responsibility, that someone tells them what to do with their life (inadmissible), that the government takes money from them for things that they alone must worry about (health, education, etc.). I consider that morally, there is nothing reprehensible to think like this, although at the level of economy of scale, morality comes to the background.For many Americans, "socialism" is a word that evokes a weakened work ethic, stifled innovation and excessive reliance on the government. For others, it represents a fairer, more generous society. Critics of socialism point to Venezuela as an example of a country where it has failed. People with positive views of socialism cite different countries, such as Finland and Denmark, as places where it has succeeded.

We already employ some socialism in this country today (and for the past several decades). Examples include libraries, police departments, public education, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, public parks, roads/highways, and so on. How do these services factor into arguments for or against socialism?

These services put socialism in a good place. Look, we live in a hybrid society, along with every other society in the world to their own varying degrees. Any country in the world exists without, at the bare minimum, police, firefighters, libraries, and public roads. Socialism essentially boils down to the things that the citizens demand and the leaders must deliver lest they be deposed. These deliveries can only be done through taxation, hence socialism is when everyone puts capital in the pool for the benefit of all.