Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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It might be a more useful distinction to draw to say that Socialism is an economic theory, and Communism is a political theory that evolved from certain implementations of Socialism. Socialism is liberal (in the sense that it broadens individual say over government--while you're contributing everything you can and taking what you need, you're also an equal stakeholder and voice in decisionmaking and policy-setting) and Communism is conservative (in the sense that governmental control is consolidated in the hands of a very few individuals--in some cases just one individual).
That's actually just a hint of what those terms actually mean. What similarity they have to the same words when used by, say, Glenn Beck, I'm entirely unclear.
It's worth noting that the
definition of Socialism doesn't mention anywhere that it's evil or scorn-worthy or un-Amurkin. That tone is added entirely by, say, Glenn Beck.