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[Soviet sally]

Im new to this all, and i need help perceving the differnce between some of the ideolgies.

Socialism
Lennism
Stalinism
Maoism
Trotskiofism
Bourgeoisie socialism
Democratic socialism
Reactionary socialism

Please help me, and yes i know stalinism, maoism, lennism and trotskiofism are based on the people, but i dont know what theorys are behind them. Any help atall wiv be helpful thank you.

[redstar2000]

The difficulty is that these words don't have clear and brief definitions...you sort of have to read a lot of stuff before you get a "sense" of what they mean and how that meaning has changed over time.

For example, here's something I wrote on just one of the words you asked about...

What is Socialism? An Attempt at a Brief Definition (http://redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082900868&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

There's no getting around the fact that you have to do some brain work to "make sense" of it all.

Good luck.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[RevolverNo9]

As RedStar says its impossible to define them all but I'll try and give some very simple pointers. More to the point, you'll find that we all disagree with each other anyway!

Socialism is a society where all the people who work control production democratically. No-one is allowed to exploit or use another through economic means. So all goods and sevices are created to provide for society and not to make profit.

Leninism is the belief based on Lenin's interpretation of Marxism. Lenin said that a 'vanguard' of the most dedicated revolutionaries and socialists should coerce society into socialism, dictating the production to the workers. You may notice that this seems contradictory to the above, as the workers are not controlling themselves, but there are many who would beg to differ.

After Lenin died, Stalin took over in Russia. People debate whether he was a true extension of Leninist policy or a distortion of it. Either way he carried out his vision of Leninism ruthlessly and believed in the existence of socialism on one country, as opposed to international socialism.

In oppostion to Stalin was Trotsky, who hated the Stalinist regime and believed that it could only be improved through international revolution.

Mao had an interpreation of Leninism similar to Stalin. Maoists tend to come from third-world countries.

Social democracy or the like, is a capitalist country which adopts welfare policies which benefit the working classes but essentially remains capitalist.

That's probably very clear but I hope it helps somewhat.