Difference Between Communism and Socialism

February 2022 · 5 minute read

Main Difference

The difference between Communism vs. Socialism is that Communism is an economic and political system that aims to distribute resources to each person as per their needs, and Socialism is an economic system that aims to distribute resources to each person as per their deeds.

Communism vs. Socialism

The economy of the nation is directly associated with the political system. The people in power decide what type of economic system will be prevalent. Over the years, different economic systems are being observed across the globe. Capitalism, Socialism, Islamic and mix economic systems are some of the prominent examples of different economic systems. Here we’ll be differentiating between socialism and communism, which are closely alike as communism is the subset of the socialism. In other words, we can say that the highest degree of socialism that is affiliated with both the politics and economics is called the communism. Socialism is the economic system in which the community owns and regulates factors of production, distribution and other economic activities within the country. On the other hand, communism is the political and economic theory that asserts on founding the classless society where the community and people own all of the property are given money and other resources according to their needs and abilities.

Comparison Chart

CommunismSocialism
A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs is called communism.A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole is known as socialism.
Owning Personal Property
NoYes
Capitalism
The communism completely abolishes the capitalism.In socialism, communism somehow exists.
Aim
The main aim of communism is to build class-less society and abolish capitalism.The main idea of socialism is to promote fairness and equality among society members.
Management of Resources
As communism also has a strong affiliation with the political system, in it, the management of resources is done by elected people.In socialism, the management of resources is done by the different people of the society.

What is Communism?

Communism is the political and economic theory of the social organization in which the community owns all the property. The idea of communism is quite similar to that of socialism as both aimed to empower the community than the individuals. The real-time difference between both of them is that communism is the highest or extreme degree of socialism, which aims to build a classless society. It is more of the political system, and the people elected or opted have control of this whole economic system. Socialism can have a little touch of capitalism in it some cases as it relaxes individual to own their personal property, but the communism is exactly the antonym of the capitalism that promotes the classless society. The people are distributed wealth as per their needs. The word Communism belongs to Latin origin, which means ‘common.’ The word common here denotes that the common people own the resources, wealth, and property. In the 1980’s the Soviet Union adopted this concept when they were deep indulged in poverty.

What is Socialism?

Socialism is the economic and political system that first came into the mainstream in the 18th century in France. As we know that all of Europe, especially France witnessed several revolutions; the people were seeking a better economic system, which could benefit the society as a whole. The people got more know-how about the rights at this time, and rather than one’s individual rights, people were asking more for equal rights. The sole purpose of this economic system coming under practice was the strict vigilance of the economic activities by the government itself, and the distribution of market share among people in such a way that brings socioeconomic harmony among classes of all the people. In socialism, the government has ownership of different economic activities, and the government themselves regulates the factors like production and distribution. The prices and production values are decided by the government and the profit to individuals is lower in this case as more of the profit is socially owned in this case. The equal distribution o profits or income I this economic system was the remarkable step to bridge the differences between rich and poor living within the society.

Key Differences

  • A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs is called communism. On the other hand, a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole is known as socialism.
  • In communism, people aren’t allowed to own property, whereas in socialism people can own personal property.
  • The communism completely abolishes capitalism while in socialism the communism somehow exists.
  • The main aim of communism is to build class-less society and abolish capitalism. On the other hand, the main idea of socialism is to promote fairness and equality among society members.
  • As communism also has a strong affiliation with the political system, in it the management of resources is done by elected people. Contrary to this, in socialism, the management of resources is done by the different people of the society.
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