dippin

Originally the words were used interchangeably. But in the communist manifesto Marx talked about various forms of socialism (utopian socialism, i.e. anarchism, etc), and carved communism as a distinct form. Later Marxists started talking about the statist phase as socialism, with the end stage being communism proper.


Proudhon and others were anarchists who were completely against the state, but were socialists. They believed that communal property would come not through taking over the state, but through abolishing the state and private property. People would organize themselves in associations and local communities in a radical form of direct democracy. It is about as decentralized as it gets, but still all about social ownership of the means of production.