Socialist, communist, the difference?

[norwegian commie]

In the past 6 months i have been moore and moore active in politics and attend study groups, confreanses and such regularly.

Then we came across the topic agout communism, and being a COMMUNIST. A had always thougt that it was as simple as you want communism; Communist. You want to stop at sosialism, sosialist.

And then i was told that i had it all wrong. Apparantly a socialist alsoe wants communism. But wants to attain power by entering the bourgiese state and then changing it to socialistic state, wich then will become a communist society. As opposed to a communist that wants to rip the state down and then rebuild it as a socialist one that will develop to communism.

Obviusly i became confused. And i am looking for some ansvers. I would appreciate if you could refer to some communist classics in the procces. Preferably some links.

The opinion my friend had about; socialist communist is quite widespread and i want to have some hard facts if i am going to say otherwise.

Thanks in advance

[Whitten]

Socialism a a broad term refering to a group of left wing ideologies which seek workers democracy, the collectivization of the means of production, and a classless (or as close to it as possible) society.

It comes in many varieties. One such variety is Communism. Communism a specific form of socialism, in which the state has been abolished and there are no differing social classes, and production works on a "to each according to his need, from each according to ability" principle. When refered to as an ideology, "Communist" usually refers to a marxist of some sort, who want to create a "Socialist" workers state, and use it to defeat the bourgeois class so that it can disolve in communism. There is also anarchist/libertarian communism which seeks to skip the workers-state phase.

Some groups of socialist, mainly "Democratic-Socialists", seek socialism (with a state) as a ends of its own, and intend to do this by reforming the Bourgeois state through reformism and parliamentarianism.

[Janus]

Socialism is quite a vague word and there have been many different definitions over the years as Whitten stated, but it's general definition is collective control of the means of production. Thus, communism seeks to achieve this through socialized distribution and the creation of a classless,stateless society. In the late 19th century, communist was favored by those who wanted to distinguish themselves from the older utopian socialists and it's usually used nowadays to distinguish from the democratic socialists.

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

Also, many people will call themselves revolutionary socialists rather than communists, because the word communism has been significantly marred in public conciousness.

[Janus]

Well yes, but serious communists are usually not afraid to use the term simply based on the social stigma that still exists. In the end, it really doesn't matter what term you apply to it whether communism or workerism or socialism,etc. but that you make people aware of the ideas behind it.

[norwegian commie]

Didnt quite get it.

So a revolutionary socialist is actually a communist.
Does then most socialists want communism?

And is this explaination correct?: A sosialist wants to change the state to socialism and then into communism. A communist will tear down the state and then build up a new socalist one and then create a communist society?

[Whitten]

Does then most socialists want communism? - That would be hard to answer without proper statistics. Internationally, that is mostly the case, though, yes.

And is this explaination correct?: A sosialist wants to change the state to socialism and then into communism. A communist will tear down the state and then build up a new socalist one and then create a communist society? - Mostly yes however its a "Democratic Socialist" who wants to change the state to socialism. Both "Democratic Socialism" and Communism are forms of socialism.

[norwegian commie]

Thank you

[Democratic Socialist]

Socialism actually means any economic system in which the means of production are communally owned. In this sense, you would be correct in saying that syndicalist, communists, left-anarchists, and democratic socialists all believe in a form of socialism. That, though, is about where the similarities end.

The modern day usage of the term socialism has taken to mean what I believe in, predominantly democratic socialism. Democratic socialists (for the most part) reject Marx's analysis of societal progression and instead wish to bring about a publicly-owned and operated economy.

Marx defined communism as a classless, stateless society.

Although this statement will come off as biased (which it is), the difference between the two is practicality. The former will eventually occur. The latter will never be seen on a large scale by humanity.

[Janus]

A sosialist wants to change the state to socialism and then into communism
Not necessarily but like I said, socialism is a pretty ambiguous word. Socialism is simply placing economic control in common ownership. This could be exercised through autonomous communes or it could be exercised through a state.