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whocarz · 09-17-2004, 10:30 PM

Quote:

\Com"mu*nism\, n. [F. communisme, fr. commun common.]
A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life;
specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of
inequalities in the possession of property, as by
distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all
wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.

Note: At different times, and in different countries, various
schemes pertaining to socialism in government and the
conditions of domestic life, as well as in the
distribution of wealth, have been called communism.

\So"cial*ism\, n. [Cf. F. socialisme.]
A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular
usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless,
revolutionary social scheme. See {Communism}, {Fourierism},
{Saint-Simonianism}, forms of socialism.

[Socialism] was first applied in England to Owen's
theory of social reconstruction, and in France to those
also of St. Simon and Fourier . . . The word, however,
is used with a great variety of meaning, . . . even by
economists and learned critics. The general tendency is
to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by
society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social
reform which disturbs the present system of private
property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is
more and more to ally itself with the most advanced
democracy. --Encyc. Brit.

We certainly want a true history of socialism, meaning
by that a history of every systematic attempt to
provide a new social existence for the mass of the
workers. --F. Harrison.

I understand that what you call "real" communism is different from Soviet Russia and the People's Republic of China. I would actually call those systems real communism, and the idea of communism as pure or ideal communism. Both pure socialism and pure communism are pretty much impossible thanks to human nature. Point out to me any nation that has succeded with either at any point in time. Note I say pure. Socialism either becomes a socialist democracy/republic (Europe), or a socialist dictatorship/totalitarian regime (China/Russia/Cuba etc.). The socialist dictatorships simply call themselves communist.