Communism/Socialism

[Red_Morg98]

Can some explain to me the core fundamental differences and similarities between Communism and Socialism. Also, what ideology do you follow and what is better and worse about each one?

[Q]

I recommend searching for this question. It is asked several times a month.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

To summarize, it depends on tendency. Some see them as the same thing, some see them as separate stages, and some see them as different things.

[Црвена]

Authoritarian socialists use "socialism," to describe the phase between capitalism and communism, during which the proletariat is the ruling class, before true communism which constitutes a stateless, classless and moneyless society. As an anarchist I personally oppose this phase of the social structure being an inverted triangle and want to abolish the state immediately, so I just use socialism as a broad term to describe any movement that wants to create a stateless, classless and moneyless society where property is collectively owned at some point, whether by revolution or through reformist methods.

[Brotto Rühle]

Outside of tendency, Marx himself used the terms interchangeably.

[tuwix]

Authoritarian socialists use "socialism," to describe the phase between capitalism and communism, during which the proletariat is the ruling class, before true communism which constitutes a stateless, classless and moneyless society.

Many anarchists do it as well. For example, Bakunin's anarcho-colectivism is socialism before anarcho-communism.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

You should be wary of people who insist on the difference between socialism and communism; they're either trying to sell you stagism or (which is much, much worse) some form of regimented capitalism as "socialist but not communist".