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SOCIALISM,COMMUNISM,MARXIM

EXPLAINED

By Peter WessongahPublished 12 months ago 3 min read
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SOCIALISM,COMMUNISM,MARXIM
Photo by Paul Weaver on Unsplash

The difference between Socialism, Communism and Marxism and a whole lot more

Explained:

There is a lot of confusion about these terms... Socialist, Communist...People are calling Obama a 'Socialist Communist'

Without really having any proper idea of what those things mean.

And this has pretty much always been a problem with Socialism and Communism

It even says so in the preamble to the Communist Manifesto, written in 1848

So I'm here to tell you what all the different terms actually mean

Most people in the western world, especially in America, have heard of Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders calls himself a Socialist, and talks a lot about Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Denmark ,Praising them for a social welfare system which provides things like free education, healthcare and other benefits or security nets

All paid for by the government.

Scandinavia is, wrongly, even by a lot of people within Scandinavia itself

I know because I lived there myself

Called "Socialist"

Bernie Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in the Democrat Primaries in 2016 He lost the Democratic nomination to Clinton

Who went on to run against Donald Trump

Donald Trump talks a lot about China

Specifically, the People's Republic of China

Which calls itself 'Socialist'

With Chinese characteristics, of course

Donald Trump won the Presidential Election, now making him the 45th President of the United States of America Replacing the man who came before him, Barack Obama

Obama talked on multiple occasions about Guantanamo Bay

Which is a military facility on the island of Cuba

But, belonging to nation of the USA ,Cuba says that the land where the Guantanamo Bay facility is located belongs to the Cuban State Which calls itself 'Socialist' Do you know who else called themselves 'Socialist'?

The Nazis.

'Nazi' is shorthand for

'Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

Which translates to 'The National-Socialist German Workers' Party' NSDAP So, what do Sweden, Bernie Sanders, China, Cuba and the Nazis have in common? Well...

In practice...Nothing! Sweden, not entirely unlike China Is a country with a mainly Capitalistic free-market system

But with some government intervention and social security

Paid for by the raising of taxes on those who earn more.

Cuba is what many in the world would call 'Communist'

Choosing not to rely on a private free market, but rather a public planned economy

Where elected representatives make decisions about the economy

That would otherwise be made by private business owners.

Like where to build new factories

What they should produce

What the wages should be

And so on.

And although many in the west call Cuba 'Communist',

Cuba calls itself 'Socialist'!

Yes, they are led by the Communist Party

But even THEY say that Cuba is Socialist

Not Communist

And Germany, when it was ruled by the Nazis, also called itself 'Socialist' And although the government was a totalitarian one which dictated many things about the private lives of citizens,

The economy was largely still Capitalistic and had a free market,Minus some Protectionism and sanctions or embargoes here and there So, what exactly does 'Socialism' mean?

Well, long story short, it's a pretty vague term.

It could mean pretty much whatever you want it to mean.The definition of 'Socialism' is: "A society in which the means of production, distribution and exchange are owned by the community as a whole, rather than private individuals." Of the examples that I brought up (Scandinavia, Bernie Sanders, Cuba and the Nazis)The only one that really fits this definition is Cuba.Because the means of production, that is

Factories and other workplaces, like farms for example

The means of distribution and the means of exchange are owned by the state.That is, the community as a whole.And the state is democratic, as in run by the people that live in the nationAnd so the people indirectly, through the democratic government,Control the means of production.

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