Both communism and socialism are two of the most relevant concepts in the history of the last three centuries. In fact, many of the political, warlike and economic events that have taken place in this stage have to do with the frictions between socialism and capitalism.

On the other hand, both socialism and communism inform us about the social phenomena and ideologies in which a good part of the world’s population participates. That is why it is important to know well what they consist of.

In this article we will see what are the differences between socialism and communism .

Differences between communism and socialism

In many ways they are similar, but they are not synonymous and we must try not to confuse them. In any case, we must bear in mind that we will be talking about what is historically understood by socialism and communism, which does not mean that this coincides with the positions of parties that currently call themselves socialist.

Many of these are not socialists despite having the word in the name, since they have experienced a drift that has led them to keep their acronyms simply to appeal to an electoral base that used to support them. In part, the term “socialism” is used under a logic of marketing and image , simply because there are many people who feel socialist.

That said, in short, the differences between communism and socialism are as follows.

1. They belong to different moments in time

Socialism and communism can be understood as two stages of a political and production project: first comes socialism, and then comes communism. That is to say, in temporal terms they are mutually exclusive , although according to socialist theorists in order to reach communism it is necessary to first defend a socialist program. The reason for this will be discussed in the next point.

2. One has opposing classes, the other does not

In socialism the concept of social class is very important . A social class is a group of people that is defined by the relationship they have with the means of production. That is to say, it is not the same to have to earn money working for others as to possess resources that make it possible for others to work for oneself: factories, farmland, etc.

Thus, socialism creates a context in which opposing social classes continue to exist, but this time the party that dominates the other is the one that has originally been forced to sell its labor force without speculating.

In communism, on the other hand, social classes no longer exist, since there is no one who privately owns the means of production , since these have been collectivized. This makes it impossible to be in a situation of superiority by being able to exploit people who are forced to work for others.

3. They have different redistributive principles

Both socialism and communism can be understood as models of production and as a social and political movement. In this last aspect, both give much importance to the redistribution of goods, but do not propose the same thing.

While socialism works under the motto “from each according to his ability, to each according to his effort”, communism revolves around the motto “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” . That is to say, in communism it is assumed that one is already in a situation in which it is relatively simple to cover the needs of all people, while in socialism there are limitations that prevent this, so when it comes to prioritizing the way in which it is redistributed, much account is taken of the effort.

4. The role attributed to the state

Historically, socialism has been divided in its conception of the state. While socialists with Marxist roots defend that the state cannot disappear in a short period of time, others, associated with anarchism, defend the abolition of the state, so that it disappears with a single “movement”. However, both currents believe that the purpose of socialism is to make the State disappear .

Communism, on the other hand, is a situation in which the state does not exist. From the communists’ point of view, the state is simply a machine that concentrates the power to impose political and economic measures in favour of one social class and against the other, so it has to be absent from the goal being pursued by force.

5. One opens the possibility of a centralized economy, the other does not

In socialism it is possible to make everything that happens in the economy be regulated from a single instance, although there are also socialists who defend decentralization.

In communism, on the other hand, there is no entity strong enough to significantly alter the economy, since the state has disappeared.