What Is the Difference Between Socialism and Communism?

There are many economic and political ideologies in practice in the world today. Those in the US are most familiar with capitalism. The United States' neighbor to the North is also capitalistic in nature but has a flavor of socialism sprinkled into their political system as Canada’s medical system is a socialistic one. As the U.S. government is in the middle of an overhaul of the American healthcare system, it is important to take a hard look at the reforms being suggested and decide how much socialism is a good idea and how much is too much. It is also important to understand the difference between socialsm and communism when evaluating political discourse and considering political theory.

Knowing the historical beginnings is a good starting point for examining the differences between socialism and communism. To start, socialism is primarily an economic system. The basic premise of socialism is that those that have the ability and means to give should give to the public funds and those funds should be distributed back based on the individuals needs of all members of society.

Communism however, modifies this process to require that everyone give to the public fund and then all of those funds should be distributed back to everyone on an as-needed basis determined by a ruling or cental body.

The socialistic ideal is easier to implement than the communistic distribution scheme. In order for the communistic scheme to work, production and availability of goods must be in surplus. Communism is both an economic and political system that attempts to control both the economy and the society through a centralized organization. The Russian Politburo is a fine example of this. The council members made the decisions as to distribution of wealth, goods, services and control of the army, as well as other governmental issues. This deviation from the socialistic ideal, where everyone has a say in the control of the economy and government, existed in Russian and still exists in China.

Purpose of Socialism and Communism

The efforts of both socialism and communism involved the desire to minimize the effects of capitalism on the masses. While socialism involves the highest numbers of people in the distribution of goods and services based on amount of work performed, communism tends to limit the number of people involved in the distribution of goods and services. While socialists believe that capitalism can co-exist in a socialistic society and may be a necessary part for the proper function of the economy, the communists believe that society must do away with capitalism and private-ownership of production ability and goods and services.

The ultimate goal of communism is to produce a truly classless society that is ruled and guided by a small group of people. The populace chooses the members that will serve as their representatives. While socialism has had a few trials that have tested the theory of a society governed by these principles, most societies who have attempted these political goals have begun as socialistic and then degraded to communism as control was taken over by a group of power hungry men. These societies then changed and came under repressive governing states.

History of Communism and Socialism

When the Cold War ended, the world saw one of the largest communistic countries in the world break apart - the USSR. Left in its wake, many republics entered the world markets in a capitalistic manner. As of 2010, China is now considered the largest communistic country in the world.

Communism and socialism first reared their heads into public thought during the late 1800’s. Marx and Engel were the first to bring socialism and communism to the public forum for discussion and advocacy. Their ideas were seized and shortly thereafter Lenin led the Russian Revolution in 1917. The monarchy was overthrown and the Communist party took power.

The communist party had very little to do with Marx and their ideology of a “scientific socialism”. The communists in control after the revolution formed a single party system that created a repressive environment to implement socialistic practices. In the beginnings of the new Russia, socialism was the guiding ideal; but, by 1921 Lenin threw out socialism and communism was instituted. During this shift, he purged about 260,000 people from party membership thus reducing the number of people involved in the decision-making processes.