Communism and Socialism: Meaning and Differences Between Them

As per the classic definition prevalent, Communism is related to a community who own all the resources and in this system, every person works and gets as per his needs only but in Socialism, there is a discussion of societal problems and it is basically related to the functioning of the entire human society.

  • It is often said that communism is actually the extreme level of socialism which implies that socialism is the base level.
  • Moreover, there are many countries that have dominance of socialism but there are hardly any communist countries.
  • In a communist society, you will never see the dominance of central government as there is a prevalence of collective ownership whereas in socialism the centralized government is supposed to hold all the powers and controls the economy of that country.
  • For a capitalist country to turn into a communist country, it needs to have its production of necessary goods so high that everyone’s basic needs are satisfied however if it wants to turn itself into a socialist country it can easily do so by distributing the basic commodities as per the individual’s needs.
  • In a communist society, there is often poverty seen also there is low production at times and limited development which is completely opposite a socialist society
  • In a communist society, the workers own the wages and they can spend it as per their wish however the resources they buy are under the direct control of government which implies a socialist system.
  • In a classic view of communism, a communist society was the ultimate goal and destination for mankind which was not the case for the socialist system.
  • The workers in the communist society are believed to own everything and everyone there is working for a common goal which is not completely true for socialism.
  • A communist is believed to be both economic as well as political system as opposed to a socialist system which is only an economic system.
  • The communists distribute the resources and wealth on the basis of the needs of the individual but socialist distribute it on the sole basis of the person’s efforts to the gain the same.
  • It is not permissible in a communist society to hold any properties under their name while in a socialist system it is allowed to accommodate as many properties as possible under their hold.
  • In a communist society, knowledge is spread across as to how to get rid of the capitalism that is prevalent whereas, in sociologist system, capitalism is allowed in midst of the society.
  • When communist society manages society and the economy at large, the socialist tend to manage the economics and finance.
  • Communist system is not a liberal system but a socialist system is more or less a liberal system.
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