[Insert Socialist Myth here]

Any talk around Socialism is always going to get push back no matter what you do, So I know for some Nationalities and Political leanings I'm digging myself a hole by de-bunking talking points that are often just Propaganda and misinformation to further perpetuate a McCarthy-Era Red Scare. But let's start on Definitions...

Socialism VS Communism

The Contemporary Definition, aka the Definition observed by those whom call themselves Socialist derives from Marx. Socialism is a State society in which the over-riding majority of Business is run either Publicly (via the state or local government) or by those who work in the business via Co-operatives and other Worker Self-Managed businesses.

What does Worker Self-managed or Co-operative mean? A Co-operative is a business in which all employees (called Members) have an equal share in the business and thus have voting rights on what the business does, same kind of shares that a Shareholder would have.

Worker Self-Managed businesses work similarly to that but still have boards of directors. In Worker Self-Managed businesses, the bottom-rate employees (aka not corporate) have a vote every month on the performance of the Board, the results of which can influence the board via sanctions on the boards dividends or completely freezing dividends forcing them to listen to the employee base. To put it simply, Corporate-run but Employee Managed via bottom-up workplace Democracy.

Communism on the other hand, again going from the Marxian definition is a "Stateless, Cashless, Classless Society in which the means of production (any property used to turn profit) is run by the community and its members". Now, The Americans reading this have probably already twigged at an inconsistency with what they've been told versus the truth of the matter.

If Communism is Stateless, then what about China... Vietnam, etc?

Good question that I just asked pretending to be you. China, Vietnam, Cuba and even the USSR NEVER Pro-claimed themselves to be Communist. The United Soviet Socialist Republics always proclaimed to be Socialist, never Communist. The only countries that called themselves Communist were Capitalist countries in the west, most notably Britain and The United States of America.

Not even North Korea proclaims itself to be Communist, it is a "Independent Socialist State". The North Korean Constitution outlines that all Means of Production will be run via the State and Co-operatives. As Communism doesn't have a state, it cannot be Communist, it has to be Socialist by its very definition.

Why does the west call them Communist?

It is a classic troupe made up by Joseph McCarthy, McCarthy knew that Communism and Socialism was never, if not rarely mentioned in Schools. So when it came to Socialism and Communism, the truth of the matter, never mattered at all. The Capitalist War Machine driving the United States and Britain could never allow Socialism or Communism in any of its forms to take hold because that would take money away from the Elites who were running the Governments via the backdoor.

If Communism in the Marxian Definition were to take hold of the United States, then money would be abolished, making the assets of the wealthy no longer Monetarily valuable. Taking Millionaires and Billionaire back to ground zero. Lets be honest, Most Billionaires have never been at ground zero and wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

The Swedish Lie

Many Left of Centre Politicians in the United States like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, etc often refer to Sweden as Socialist. Spoiler, they're not Socialist and most of the Nordic countries have never been Socialist.

Well, what are they? They are Socially-Democratic Mixed Economies. Mixed Economies are economies in which some things are run via the state, or funded by the state and regulated as such and other things are kept private. Sweden, Norway, Finland all have a lot of State Ownership, but they also have Spotify, Facebook, Google, and various other Privately owned Corporations. The difference is, the Scandinavian countries actually look after their people via State owned Healthcare, massive welfare states, Public schools, free tuition and other things.

Social Democracy is a Left of Centre ideology in which there continues to be Private Ownership but the state takes a more benevolent role in regulating and managing some areas of business. Taxes are high, but rather than buying a Military force 3 times larger than China, the Swedes, Norwegians, Finns and Danes give it back to their people via Free Healthcare, Welfare for the down trodden, Homes and Free schooling.

Given that Bernie points to those Policies as his platform, I will also go as far to say that he isn't a Socialist, he doesn't run on a Socialist platform. He run's on a Socially-Democratic Platform. Like I said before, Social Democracy is Left of Centre in most of the world bar America, Yet in America he is Far-Left. Which sets a weird paradigm for the United States where the Political landscape is soo far to the Right that a normal, Mediocre Social Democrat is seen as a Communist.

This is where I bid you farewell... for another time