Do you know the difference between Socialism and Communism?

socialism is a transitional phase of the revolution in this stage the means of production are in the hands of the state and the state is ruled by the Proletariat or by the vanguard party in representation of the proletariat

communism is the final stage of the revolution where private property including land have been abolished, there are no classes and the state has withered to nothing creating the Classless and stateless society of Communism

you being a Marxist when you said socialism i assume you meant revolutionary socialism
as opposed to reformist socialism

on another note what are your thoughts on Tony Cliff

Sorry, but to someone on the right, where individual liberty and limited government is a necessity, there's too little of a difference. I get what you're saying. But they're all pretty totalitarian. Even "democratic" socialism. Our Founding Fathers hated "democracy" as a form of government. All you need is a majority to take away the natural rights of others. Just leads to tyranny.

Democratic socialism is just a name. Socialism in Europe is used to describe their governments, which are actually Republics or Parliamentary systems.

But is not much difference and NO, I shall not do your term paper for you.

Socialism can be and is used with capitalism and free trade. Whether people want to accept it or not, every single country including the US is a quasi socialist country, and the US has been one for the longest (1930's-1940's, but the movement started in 1900). Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, public roads, public water, public education, Unions, all socialist concepts that happen to work well in a society.

If you look back in history, the Democratic and Republican parties both took ideas from the Socialist party in 1900 and added them to their arsenal. Granted, the majority of the arsenal went to the Democrats, but Teddy Roosevelt was certainly not 100% against socialism. Hell, the majority of the 20th century presidents implemented socialist programs, and most worked!

Communism, on the other hand, is much different. There is no democracy, no debating, no clashing of ideas or ideals, no distinction between people who work and peopel who don't, no free trade, no capitalism.

Teddy Roosevelt was a "progressive republican."

Yes he was, but the progressive movement was started by the Socialists. Look at Debs. He got almost a million votes in 1912.

Also, Roosevelt was a trust-buster who didn't automatically side with the business in labor disputes. He put regulations on food and drugs, and even campaigned on Universal Healthcare in 1912. Correct me if I'm wrong, but at the time, those were very socialist standpoints, even if today we view them as liberal.

Thank you, actually. I just mean that he was called a "progressive republican." Everyone ignores that today, calling him a republican, dropping the progressive part. The "progressive" part matters. If I recall correctly, "progressive" was the blue collar term used for socialist. Yes, it's left wing.

Communism was actually originally defined by Karl Marx as being directly democratic.

That's still a problem, then. By democratic socialism, I mean parliamentary or republican systems.

Marx also said that the final stage of Communism was anarchy, which doesn't work either.

While communism is a(n extreme) form of socialism, socialism is not communism. Socialism is compatible with a democratic government and a high degree of free trade / capitalism, whereas practical communism is a centrally planned economy under an authoritarian one-party government.

Point in case: All Western European democracies are social democracies with universal health care, welfare / unemployment pay, minimum wages, and market regulations. But they are nonetheless democratic countries with a capitalist economy. None of these countries have a communist economy or government.

Communism is not an extreeme form of socialism

Ok, let me rephrase that: Communism is an uncompromising implementation of socialism that is considered a political extreme in the Western World. Probably because communism has, when reduced to practice, always resulted in an oppressive, totalitarian regime. Unlike social democracy and other partial implementations of socialist philosophy that are needlessly demonized in the USA.

No. Socialism in practice has always led to an oppresive regime. Socialism is a system of a large and powerful police state governed by the proleteriat or a vanguard party. Communism has never been put to practice as it has no government, it is a Classless STATELESS society in which the means of production are used by those in the community and allocated by the community. In essence it is smaller communitys with a system of "organized anarchy".

Like you said, the theoretical communism that you describe has never existed in practice. Unlike Stalin's and Mao's communism, which is what people are usually referring to when they're using the term. It's pointless to try and reclaim the label, because people like Stalin have forever redefined and ruined it.

It also makes little sense to try and redefine USSR-style communism as socialism. While it technically was a form of socialism, that only adds to the general confusion and paranoia. We all live in partially socialist countries, but the American public still freaks out when they hear the term and think of universal health care or unions as a stepping stone to collectives and gulags.

Socialism can mean one of two things. The socialising of a government. or The government known as socialism. All governments that have been deemed "Communist" are actualy socialist. The term Communism must be salvaged from what those rats did to it in order for people to not be misinformed, and confused.

The first one, Socialism, is Obama.
The second one, Communism, is Obama.

In reality, Obama is very conservative.
http://www.politicalcompass.o...

Like this man?

He was actually central ground. On one hand, he had successful left economic policies, but far right nationalist views on social issues.

Yes, the difference is....not enough to matter.

Yes,.... Socialism is the stepping stone, steeped in Marxist theory that lies between Capitalism and Communism.

Otherwise they wouldn't have different names.