What is the difference between socialism and communism?
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Socialism is an economic system whereby the wealth created by the whole of society is redistributed evenly amongst the populace, ensuring that all are equally rewarded for the work everyone does.\n\nCommunism is a political contruct by which socialism is the main economic form.  In a communist society, a single political party controls the government, there are no real elections, and the populace is kept complacent by a bloated government machine that provides for all of the people.  Socialism is the dominant economic form to ensure the people are deluded into theinking they are taken care of.  \n\nExamples of socialist societies - France, Sweden, England\n\nExamples of Communist societies - Former USSR, China, Cuba
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Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production.\n\nNational Socialism refers to the 'beleifs' of the nazi party. Socialism was added to the end of nationalist party to make it sound more appealing to voters in the days of the Weimar republic, Germany.
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socialism deals with collective ownership  for example every worker in a restaurant owns the restaurant and split the profit\n\ncapitalism deals with private ownership for example only one person owns a restaurant
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The Socialist Party tends to be leaning towards a more controlling government (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism ), while the Democrats are simply leaning towards more personal freedom (gay marriage, abortion, etc.) and less economic freedom (welfare, public Social Security, higher taxes). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29 for more information on the Democratic Party in the U.S. (if you don't live in the U.S., simply type in "Democratic Party" in Wikipedia and select your country)
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Stalinism is referring to a specific style of government (the Stalin USSR era), whereas Communism is the political ideology behind it. Check out this site: \n\nhttp://www.marxists.org/glossary/index.htm\n\n(wikipedia is also helpful)
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Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. This control may be either direct, exercised through popular collectives such as workers' councils, or it may be indirect, exercised through a State. In the latter case, the issue of who controls the state is crucial. A primary concern of socialism (and, according to some, its defining feature) is social equality and an equitable distribution of wealth that would serve the interests of society as a whole.[1][2]\n\nHistorically, the ideology of socialism arose with the rise of organized labor, and the socialist political movement has found most of its support among the urban working class and, to a lesser extent, the peasantry. This has led to socialism being strongly associated with the working class and often identifying itself with the interests of workers and the "common people". In many parts of the world, the two are still strongly associated with one another; in other parts, they have become two distinct movements.\n\nPure socialists hold that capitalism is an illegitimate economic system that serves the interests of the wealthy and exploits the majority of the population. As such, they wish to replace it completely or at least make substantial modifications to it, in order to create a more just society that would reward hard work, guarantee a certain basic standard of living, and extend economic and cultural opportunities to all.[3]\n\nSocialist theory is diverse, and there is no single body of thought that is universally shared by all socialists. Rather, different socialist ideologies have arrived at similar conclusions by different paths. There are some common themes, however. One such theme is the idea that humans are inherently social beings that require social interaction and the companionship of others in order to survive and develop both physically and mentally[4]. Individuals cannot maintain their humanity if they are separated from the rest of society for too long. Thus, socialists believe that the individual and society are inseparable, and they reject individualistic schools of thought which assert that society is the voluntary creation of individuals who chose to interact with each other.[5]\n\nMarxism is an ideology which has had a powerful influence on socialist thought. For over 50 years, from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the 1970s, the majority of socialists were Marxists of one kind or another. This has not been the case for several decades, but Marxist ideas - particularly notions of class struggle - are common themes across a broad range of modern socialist groups. Marxism itself continues to be a strong current in the broader socialist movement.\n\nMany Marxists, past and present, use the term socialism to refer to the form of society that is supposed to replace capitalism and later develop into communism.\n\nWithin the socialist movement, there are several different ideas on how to create a socialist society and economic system, and what form this society will take. As a result, the movement has split into several different and sometimes opposing branches, which are discussed further below.
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Communism is a political ideology that seeks to establish a future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production. It can be classified as a branch of the broader socialist movement. Communism also refers to a variety of political movements which claim the establishment of such a social organization as their ultimate goal.\n\nAmerica is scared becuase golbally capitalism is on the decline and they see Latin america becoming more and more close to Communist values.
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The Soviet Union was not true communism, it was a dictatorship with classes like rich and poor, I don't really see much difference then what we have here in America other then we get to vote our own poison.
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COMMUNISM IS A MUCH BETTER CHOICE IF HUMANS WERE NOT GREEDY. THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNISM IS EVERYBODY IS EQUAL . THE PROBLEM WITH COMMUNISM IS THERE  ARE LIMITED  ECONOMIC RECOURSE , FOOD WATER CLOTHING OIL NOT ENOUGH TO GO AROUND, IF EVERYBODY IS EQUAL THEN WHO GOES WITHOUT?  CAPITALISM ON THE OTHER HANDS SAID THE MARKET SHOULD SET THE PRICE FOR THESE GOODS AND SERVICE ,  THE TOUGH IS IF YOU CHARGE TOO MUCH FOR AN ITEM THEM YOUR COMPETITION  WILL COME IN AND TAKE ALL YOUR BUSINESS AWAY, THE PROBLEM WITH  CAPITALISM IS THE MARKET HAS NO HEART,  HOW MUCH WILL A DIABETIC PAY FOR INSULIN?  THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT PRACTICE EITHER  ONE IN ITS PURE FORM, SO THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS A HYBRID BETWEEN THE TWO.
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China's communism is much deeper rooted than the Soviet System.  One thing you can say for the Chinese is that they do evolve to new systems when they are better.  You can see this slow change over the thousands of years that China has existed.  Kinda makes you feel like a baby country when you think the US has only been around for 200 years.
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Capitalism and individualism have improved more peoples' lives than communism ever did.\n\nCapitalism and free markets are not a complete dog-eat-dog competition, and does not make people less inclined towards their fellows. In fact, because free societies also allow for free religious expression, there is also more money donated to charities, more charities and more care for fellow man than seen in any communist country.\n\nIn a free society, free people gladly choose to sacrifice for others. They are individually free to do so.\n\nIn communism, other people decide to sacrifice you for the common good, and because communism is against the concept of individualism, your loss doesn't matter.\n\nI still do not understand the attraction of becoming some slave to the collectivist will, like some expendable worker bee in a hive, like an ant in a nest, like a termite in a colony.\n\nI am an individual. I have worth apart from society. Communism does not recognize that, and that alone makes it evil.
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Communism is a society where the Government controls and distributes everything, usually by inspiring fear in the populice.  \n\nThe above answer better describes socialism then communism, though both are remarkably similar.
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Look at George Keennan article on the soviet union, \n\nBasicly \n\nthought communism was in the long run gonna die, \n\nDidn't want to start a world war, as communism thought would go carzy if near death\n\nTHought in long run us, stronger than soviets,
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Socialism is completely unrelated to totalitarianism. The same goes for communism. The terms socialist and communist refer primary to economic systems, not political systems.\n\nSo you could have a "totalitarian communist state" (like the USSR) or a "totalitarian capitalist state" (like Mussolini's Italy).\n\nYou definitely CAN implement socialism under a free, democratic government. Most countries in Europe are at least semi-socialistic. In Canada there is "socialized medicine." In fact, the US embraces a lot of aspects of socialism. Entitlement programs like welfare, unemployment, Medicare/Medicaid, and social security are all socialist policies.\n\nA truly socialist government gauruntees its citizens basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and health care, are met.
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Theoretically, in Socialism ,all the means of production are owned by the State while the State withers away in Communism.The principle of compensation by the emploer State to Labour in  Socialism is :_"From each according to his ability; To each according to his work " while in Communism  it is "From each according to his ability, To each according to his need"\nPractically  ,in China or in Soviet Union the State did not show any sign of withering  away,\nBoth Socialism and Communism are converging into a modified variety of Welfare oriented State Capitalism\nConfusion-Master
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If you believe that "communism is as communism does," and you use those shoddy tyrannies as the only possible socialist models, than the answer is no. On the other hand, if you consider the basic proposals of communism (actually socialism), then it gets more interesting. \n\nFirst let's get rid of the sillyness that equates socialism with tyranny. That's a little like saying that because Pinochet was dictatorial and pro-capitalist, then capitalism is dictatorial. And even though it's true that the democratic socialist movements were invariably short-lived, it's also true that their lives were most often cut short by their opponents - e.g., from Allende to Pinochet,  from Arbenz to a succesion of military dictators, etc. In short, there is nothing in socialist theory that prohibits democracy - in fact, many of its proponents have made the case that democracy is necessary in order to have the deliberation necessary to create a productive society. And capitalism, the real opposition to socialism, has done very well under a plethora of dictatorial forms, thank you very much.  \n\nThat being said, I do agree with the writer who implies that perhaps our species is not ready to deliberate on its own economic future. As a whole, we may not be intellectually or ethically equipped to get much past our present dismal state of quasi-anarchy. There's the "rub." Just as the population of the Soviet Union was told, "don't worry about the economy ... the party will look after it," capitalist regimes say, "don't worry about the economy, the 'invisible hand' and the captains of industry will look after it."
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Fascists are extremely right wing. They are extremely, radically conservative.\n\nCommunists are extremely left wing. They are extremely, radically liberal.\n\nAlthough both groups are avowed enemies of each other, their methods are markedly similar. In fact, Hitler (fascist) and Stalin (Communist) made an alliance in WWII.