What do communism and socialism really mean?

Communism and socialism are umbrella terms referring to left-wing schools of economic thought that oppose capitalism. ... Following the communist revolution, Marx argued, workers (the proletariat) would take control of the means of production. read more

A communist society is one in which there is no private property and no government as such. All resources and means of production are "unowned" collectively for the benefit of the people, and everyone shares nicely. It is a utopian view. Marx considers socialism to be an intermediate step on the way to communism. read more

"Socialism" is sometimes used interchangeably with "communism" but the two philosophies have some stark differences. Most notably, while communism is a political system, socialism is primarily an economic system that can exist in various forms under a wide range of political systems. read more