https://www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Socialism In a way, Communism is an extreme form of Socialism. Many countries have dominant socialist political parties but very few are truly communist. In fact, most countries - including staunch capitalist bastions like the U.S. and U.K. - have government programs that borrow from socialist principles. Socialism is sometimes used interchangeably with communism but the two philosophies have some stark differences. Most notably, while communism is a political system, socialism is primarily an economic system that can exist in various forms under a wide range of political systems. In this comparison we look at the differences between socialism and communism in detail. Comparison chart Communism Socialism Philosophy From each according to his ability, to From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Free- each according to his contribution. access to the articles of consumption is Emphasis on profit being distributed made possible by advances in among the society or workforce to technology that allow for super- complement individual wages/salaries. abundance. Key Elements Centralized government, planned Calculation in kind, Collective economy, dictatorship of the ownership, Cooperative common "proletariat", common ownership of ownership, Economic democracy the tools of production, no private Economic planning, Equal opportunity, property. equality between genders Free association, Industrial democracy, and all people, international focus. Input–output model, Internationalism, Usually anti-democratic with a 1-party Labour voucher, Material balancing. system. Political A communist society is stateless, Can coexist with different political System classless and governed directly by the systems. Most socialists advocate people. This, however, has never been participatory democracy, some (Social achieved. In practice, they have been Democrats) advocate parliamentary totalitarian in nature, with a central democracy, and Marxist-Leninists party governing society. advocate "Democratic centralism." Ideas All people are the same and therefore All individuals should have access to classes make no sense. The basic articles of consumption and public government should own all means of goods to allow for self-actualization. production and land and also Large-scale industries are collective everything else. People should work efforts and thus the returns from these Communism Socialism for the government and the collective industries must benefit society as a output should be redistributed equally. whole. Private Abolished. The concept of property is Two kinds of property: Personal Property negated and replaced with the concept property, such as houses, clothing, etc. of commons and ownership with owned by the individual. Public property "usership". includes factories, and means of production owned by the State but with worker control. Key Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Peter Charles Hall, François-Noël Babeuf, Proponents Kropotkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Henri de Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, Vladimir Lenin, Emma Goldman, Charles Fourier, Louis Auguste Blanqui, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Ho Chi William Thompson, Thomas Hodgskin, Minh, Mao Zedong, Josip Broz Tito, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Enver Hoxha, Che Guevara, Fidel Moses Hess, Karl Marx, Friedrich Castro. Engels, Mikhail Bukinin. Social All class distinctions are eliminated. A Class distinctions are diminished. Status Structure society in which everyone is both the derived more from political distinctions owners of the means of production and than class distinctions. Some mobility. their own employees. Religion Abolished - all religious and Freedom of religion, but usually metaphysics is rejected. Engels and promotes secularism. Lenin agreed that religion was a drug or “spiritual booze” and must be combated. To them, atheism put into practice meant a “forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Economic Economic planning coordinates all Planned-socialism relies principally on Coordination decisions regarding investment, planning to determine investment and production and resource allocation. production decisions. Planning may be Planning is done in terms of physical centralized or decentralized. Market- units instead of money. socialism relies on markets for allocating capital to different socially- owned enterprises. Free Choice Either the collective "vote" or the Religion, jobs, & marriage are up to the state's rulers make economic and individual. Compulsory education. Free, political decisions for everyone else. equal access to healthcare & education In practice, rallies, force, propaganda provided through a socialized system etc. are used by the rulers to control funded by taxation. Production decisions the populace. driven more by State decision than consumer demand. Definition International theory or system of A theory or system of social Communism Socialism social organization based on the organization based on the holding of holding of all property in common, most property in common, with actual with actual ownership ascribed to the ownership ascribed to the workers. community or state. Rejection of free markets and extreme distrust of Capitalism in any form. Ownership The means of production are The means of production are socially- Structure commonly-owned, meaning no entity owned with the surplus value produced or individual owns productive accruing to either all of society (in property. Importance is ascribed to Public-ownership models) or to all the "usership" over "ownership". employee-members of the enterprise (in Cooperative-ownership models). Discrimination In theory, all members of the state are The people are considered equal; laws considered equal to one another. are made when necessary to protect people from discrimination. Immigration is often tightly controlled. Way of Government in a Communist-state is Workers in a socialist state are the Change the agent of change rather than any nominal agent of change rather than any market or desire on the part of market or desire on the part of consumers. Change by government consumers. Change by the State on can be swift or slow, depending on behalf of workers can be swift or slow, change in ideology or even whim. depending on change in ideology or even whim. Political Marxist Communism, Leninism and Democratic socialism, communism, Movements Marxism–Leninism, Stalinism, libertarian socialism, social anarchism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Dengism, and syndicalism. Prachanda Path, Hoxhaism, Titoism, Eurocommunism, Luxemburgism, Council communism, Left- Communism. Economic The means of production are held in The means of production are owned by System common, negating the concept of public enterprises or cooperatives, and ownership in capital goods. individuals are compensated based on Production is organized to provide for the principle of individual contribution. human needs directly without any use Production may variously be for money. Communism is predicated coordinated through either economic upon a condition of material planning or markets. abundance. Variations Left Anarchism, Council Market socialism, communism, state Communism, European Communism, socialism, social anarchism. Juche Communism, Marxism, National Communism, Pre-Marxist Communism Socialism Communism, Primitive Communism, Religious Communism, International Communism. Examples Ideally, there is no leader; the people Union of Soviet Socialist Republics govern directly. This has never been (USSR): although the actual actually practiced, and has just used a categorization of the USSR's economic one-party system. Examples 0f system is in dispute, it is often Communist states are the erstwhile considered to be a form of centrally- Soviet Union, Cuba and North Korea. planned socialism. Means of Theoretically there is no state control. Usage of a government. control Earliest Theorized by Karl Marx and Frederick In 1516, Thomas More write in "Utopia" Remnants Engels in the mid-19th century as an about a society based around common alternative to capitalism and ownership of property. In 1776, Adam feudalism, communism was not tried Smith advocated the labor theory of out until after the revolution in Russia value, ignoring the previous Cantillonian in the early 1910s. view that prices are derived from supply and demand. Modern Recent far-left dictatorships include Modern examples of socialist countries Examples the USSR (1922-1991) and its sphere include China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam. throughout eastern Europe. Only five Countries like India, North Korea and nations presently have Communist Sri Lanka also refer to themselves as governments: China, North Korea, socialist in their constitution. Cuba, Laos and Russia. History Major Communist parties include the Historic socialist examples include the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Paris Commune, the Strandha (1912-91), the Communist Party of Commune, Hungary, Romania and China (1921-ON), the Workers' Party Bulgaria; none continue to have of Korea (1949-ON), and the Communist governments. Communist Party of Cuba (1965-ON). View of war Communists believe that war is good Opinions range from prowar (Charles for the economy by spurring Edward Russell, Allan L. Benson) to production, but should be avoided. antiwar (Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas). Socialists tend to agree with Keynesians that war is good for the economy by spurring production. View of the Communism is an international Socialism is a movement of both the world movement; Communists