Socialism and Communism Compared

In one line

Communism and democratic socialism want a great deal of the same thing and disagree completely about how far to go and how to get there, and the disagreement about method is the one that has mattered.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: socialism and communism share the analysis that inequality is produced by the private ownership of the means of production and that production should be commonly owned or controlled, but they differ in the extent of common ownership sought, communism requiring the abolition of private ownership of production altogether while socialism in its democratic forms accepts a mixed economy; in method, communism holding that revolution is necessary because the owning class controls the state while democratic socialism works through elections and legislation; and in their attitude to the state, communism treating it as an instrument of class rule which will eventually wither away while democratic socialism treats it as a machine that can be captured and used.

First, which socialism

In Marxist usage socialism is the lower stage of communism, described at chapter 720: social ownership, classes abolished, distribution according to work contributed, the state withering. On that usage the comparison is between two stages of one process and the differences are of degree.

In ordinary political usage, and in this chapter unless otherwise stated, socialism means the wider family at chapter 690, most of whose branches reject revolution and accept a mixed economy. On that usage the comparison is between two ideologies, and the differences are fundamental.

An answer should open by saying this. It is the difference between a good answer and a confused one, and it takes two sentences.

What they agree about

The diagnosis. That the great inequalities of a market society are produced by its institutions and by private ownership of the means of production rather than by unequal natural talent.

That production should be commonly owned or socially controlled, though they disagree about how much and by whom.

That formal freedom without material means is empty.

That work should be a source of fulfilment rather than a commodity.

That the interests of the working population should be the object of policy, and both are movements that speak for it.

Where they differ

1. How far common ownership goes

Communism requires the abolition of private ownership of the means of production altogether.

Democratic socialism in practice has settled for a mixed economy: some sectors public, the rest private and regulated, with redistribution through taxation.

2. Method

The decisive difference.

Communism holds that the owning class controls the state, the law and the prevailing ideas, so it will not permit its own expropriation, and revolution is therefore necessary.