Please take a few minutes to read this before posting on this forum.

Since quite many people don't know the difference between socialism and communism, here it is:

SOCIALISM is a socio-economic system, the goal of which is to make all people equal. Equal doesn't mean that all people will be the same, but it means that we all will have equal rights and opportunities, not matter what gender they have, what class they are in, what religion they believe in, or what nationality they have.

SOCIALIST COUNTRY:
A socialist country is such, that promotes socialism and builds socialism in its own country. A socialist country can be either a democracy (Second Spanish Republic, Chile under Allende), or a dictatorship (USSR, Cuba, Vietnam).

Many socialists argue that a country which is not democratic, is not socialist. Trotzky once said: "Socialism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen." I fully agree with this, however I say that after Stalin's era (Stalinism was a state capitalism, because the industrialisation has been achieved on the bones of millions of soviet citizens), USSR was socialist once again. Of course it had it's flaws and was not perfect, socialism gave all people a decent living standard. People who married were granted a free appartment by the state (after waiting for a few years), gender equality arrived much sooner in Russia than in other European countries. Lenin gave women the right to divorce, kindergardens were built all over USSR, so that women are not tied up to stay in home for many years.

SOCIALIST CHARACTERISTICS:
Socialist countries have in history been characterised with the following socialist elements they have implemented:
-Free health care
-Free education (including university education)
-The right to have a job (guaranteed by the constitution)
-The right to have a home (guaranteed by the constitution)
-Free Kindergardens
-Pioneer organisations which organise events for children
-Key industries are in the hands of the state, many companies are in common ownership or state owned.

COMMUNISM is a social system, which can only come after Socialism has been achieved. (Many people argue that communism on a country wide scale can only be achieved, once the whole world has become socialist and a few generations have lived in them and became used to the ideas of EQUALITY, EMPATHY, SOLIDARITY, INTERNATIONALISM, DEMOCRACY and PEACE).

The main idea of communism is the following:
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need!

The perfect example of a communist society is the family. The parents, who have the highest skill work the most and share their income with their family members. They might have a baby, who has needs, but no skills. Therefore the baby doesnt work at all, but gets all it needs from its family. They might have a teenager who goes to school, but is still too young to work. Since he/she is older, this person might wash the dishes or clean its room from time to time. If there would be also a student in the family, he/she would have more skills and help more, maybe drive to a shopping mall to buy food or more complex tasks.

Some people argue communism is not human nature, but in reality it is very deep in us all.

If the family would be a capitalist society, and not a communist one, the babies would die and the humanity would become extinct.


Now imagine this would happen on a large scale. Do you think people would get lazy and let others work? I dont think so. Imagine someone would be lazy one and would decide not to work for the society at all. The society would still feed him, but the people who would know him would be very dissapointed of him, maybe even hate him. He might loose all his friends and would never be invited to a birthday party or any celebration. No one likes to be hated, that's why everyone would have the incentive to work, at least a little. In the future when our technology will become more sophisticated, we wont need to work 8 hours a day anymore. Maybe 2 hours per day will be enough.



FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What communist countries have ever existed?
-None. No country was ever communist. "Communist state" is a term coined by US anti-communists.



What about USSR, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Venezuela and Sweden?
-USSR was a socialist dictatorship.

-North Korea calls itself democratic and socialist, but it is neither democratic nor socialist, because all the wealth is used to build up the military and research nuclear weapons.

-Yugoslavia was the best socialist country in the world, and the best country of the 20th century, in my humble opinion, because it combined planned economy and free market under socialism, gave their people the freedom to travel freely, to open businesses with up to 10 employees and at the same time guaranteeing basic socialist rights like free education and free health care for everyone!

-Venezuela is a country building socialism. Wheter this country should be considered socialist at this point is up to you. I believe it will become truly socialist within 10 years.

-Sweden is a SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC country. The goal of social democracy is to achieve socialism through reforms, not through a revolution. The transition is peaceful, but at the same time very slow. Social democratic parties are left-wing parties. They oppose privatisation and promote key industries to be in the hands of the state, free health care and free education, while at the same time they promote a mixed economy; that's an economy which uses planned economy and free market to the greatest efficiency, while keeping a low income disparity between the rich and the poor. Social democratic governments are strongly interventionist and regulate the market heavily with safety standards for workers, minimum wage regulations, regulations for a short working day and a long paid holiday. Most, if not all countries in Europe are social democratic countries.



Was Stalin a communist?
No, he was not a communist, but he was the member of the communist party of USSR. If you join a communist party, this doesnt automatically make you a communist. To be a communist, you have to believe in communist ideals and you have to act like a communist! You have always to strive for the happiness of ALL people, even if this means that you vote for parties which want to raise taxes to use this money for the poor.

A true communist knows that all people are different and that all people are equal!



What is better, communism or socialism?
Communism is better, but socialism can be much easier achieved. Without socialism there cannot be communism.

Do communists eat babies?
No, that's only right wing propaganda.

Are all socialists and communists atheist?
No. Many socialists and communists are christian, especially in Latin America, where many socialist parties are led by christian socialists. There are also buddhist, islamic, jewish, hindu socialists and communists. Believers of each major religion have many supporters of socialism. Many religions support socialist principles: They teach you to share your wealth with others and help people in need.

How can I know if I am a socialist?
If you believe that all people deserve the same rights and the same opportunities. If you believe that everyone has the right to have a home, a job, access to free health care and education then you are a socialist.

How can I know if I am a communist?
If you are a socialist and but you believe in a society where there is no state, where there is no one, who can force anyone to do anything, while at the same time the people will help each other and work together, then you are a communist.

"All communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists."

That was very informative. thank you

You are welcome! I wrote it for hours.

i am going to make my dad read this...maybe he will finally understand, but probally not.

This is good, its very frustrating to debate something with someone who refuses to learn the definition of the subject you are debating.

Thanks Kenzu, I'll maybe bald to ask, but also place a Descryption of a Aythoritarian left-wing state, becous I still think the best way to disarm the nabs spewing memes about how were Evil Staling lovers, by Slaping them with a " read FAQ dumbass"

and anotehr thing - USSR was a Authoritarian left-wing Police state

Kenzu? Premission to make you my idol? :3

I absolutely LOVED the family comparision. Speaks for itself.

If you want a job, and you can get one, you are free. You have the ability to do what you want.

Freedom is proportional to the capability we have to satisfy our needs in different levels of priority, from basic such as water, food, rest, health and shelter to secondary such as electricity (arguably basic for a modern life standard), telecommunications, education, information, etc to some luxuries like having diversity in satisfying those needs.

Most of that is more effectively provided by other people than ourselves so the level of social organisation will increase the effectiveness with which these are provided among individuals.

In capitalism its proportional to the ammount of capital once has since nearly everything can be traded for money, which is in theory an abstract representation of the value of our work and materials. There exist different forms of capitalism determined both by the laws and by the way capital is managed.

In communism, freedom would be proportional to how well organised is society within an egalitarian framework since communism does not rely on trade but on production's management.


Work provides all we need so work is a need. In an organised society a job is a need. And that job to contribute to society is a need in a communist framework.