What is the Difference Between Socialism and Communism?

The young socialists of today call themselves Democratic Socialists. They are "green" on the outside and "red" on the inside. They truly believe that they can do socialism in America much better than it was done in the twentieth century in the Soviet satellite countries which called themselves democratic socialist republics.

These countries were not democratic; they were tyrannies controlled by the Communist Party. The Communist Party represented about ten percent of the population while the other ninety percent were subjugated by the total control of the top Communist Party executive leaders.

The Communist Party leaders had a huge standing army, a huge street police apparatus, and a large security police controlled by the Dear Leader. The ultimate power resided with the tyrant and his wife.

What is Socialism?

Socialism is a societal form where the central government [the Communist Party] controls all the means of production, the centrally planned economy, government banking, all press, education, travel, health care, all churches, arts, publishing, and all media.

When asked what socialism is, people on the street answered this way:

-           Socialism is a political party that takes care of people; you Americans are not taking care of your people

-           Socialism is being friendly and sociable with others

-           Socialism is compassion, fairness, and equality  

-           Socialism is the other word for communism, and it was horrible, it killed a lot of people

-           I don’t know and I don’t care

-           Socialism is like a worm which destroys its host nation

-           Free stuff like the Nordic people get

Twenty-first century American socialists or Democratic Socialists as they call themselves believe that they can dispense with the political tyranny of socialism and keep the economic programs and thus do socialism the right way, never explaining what the right way is.

The elephant in the room is that under socialism, economic programs did not exist, you had to work hard for a meager salary. There was no incentive to work harder since everybody was paid about the same. This gave rise to the performance motto: “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.”

Under socialism, land and farms were confiscated, private real estate like nicer homes and hotels were confiscated. Any criticism of the government’s decisions landed one in prison for years and worse.

Shouldn’t rational human beings be able to learn from the experience of millions of people who suffered and died under socialism in the twentieth century, without having to live it personally in the twenty-first century?

The most obvious case against socialism is that it creates abject poverty, loss of all freedoms, and no prosperity because no human is so altruistic that would be willing to share all personal wealth and hard work with the lazy.

Socialism is propaganda, deceit, lies, and false promises. The Government uses force to control and change society. It is a tyrannical society of thieves. The main goal of socialism is communism. Vladimir Lenin wrote, “what is usually called socialism was termed by Marx the ‘first,’ or lower, phase of communist society.”

According to Paul B. Skousen, socialism has seven pillars. (Paul B. Skousen, The Naked Socialist, Ensign Publishing Co., 2014)

1.      All powerful RULERS

2.      Society divided into CASTES (see India) and CLASSES

3.     All things in COMMON

4.     All things REGULATED

5.      Compliance is FORCED

6.      Control of INFORMATION

7.      No UNALIENABLE RIGHTS

Skousen also wrote that there are 46 goals of modern socialists:

1.      Promote Socialism

2.      Demean capitalism

3.      No national boundaries

4.      Install Environmental Rulers (green energy)

5.      One-world currency

6.      Control the Internet

7.      Establish economic rulers

8.      Economic equality

9.      Ruler’s Law (bypass national law)

10.                             Render Congress irrelevant

11.                             Subordinate local government

12.                             Destroy representation (no free elections)

13.                             Deflate constitutional convention

14.                             Uphold 17^th Amendment

15.                             Regulate all transportation

16.                             Regulate all energy

17.                             Eliminate private property

18.                             Destroy family culture

19.                             Redefine normal and healthy

20.                             Destroy the sacrament of marriage

21.                             Discredit the traditional family

22.                             Destroy gender distinctions

23.                             Universal access to abortion

24.                             Limit family size

25.                             Replace God-centered religion with Humanist religion

26.                             Destroy church economies (tax exempt status)

27.                             Eliminate cash in the marketplace

28.                             Nationalize health care

29.                             Supreme World Court

30.                             One-World Super-Legislature

31.                             Environmental rights supersede Human rights

32.                             Nationalize all natural resources

33.                             Destroy nuclear weapons unilaterally

34.                             Neutralize Israel

35.                             Nationalize all industry

36.                             Synch animal rights with Human rights

37.                             Infiltrate and regulate all education

38.                             Control all information

39.                             Infiltrate and regulate labor

40.                             Uphold all labor as Optional

41.                             Discredit the U.S. Constitution

42.                             Discredit all Freedom Heroes and Founding Fathers,

43.                             Rewrite history to discredit American culture.

(The Naked Socialist, Paul B. Skousen, 2014, pp. 493-500)

What is communism?

Communism is a classless, stateless society. Communism promises that a communist society, even in the absence of work incentives, will produce greater quantities of goods than any other economic and political system in existence and each person will be provided according to his/her needs.

In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote that property is to be eliminated and used for public purposes, income tax must be progressive or graduated, property of all emigrants and rebels should be confiscated, credit, transportation, and communication should be centralized in the hands of the state, a common plan for all production and agriculture must exist, all must labor in industrial armies, town and country must be abolished, agriculture and manufacture must be combined,  and education must be free.

“Communist production will produce a state of absolute saturation where all human needs will be satisfied. Supplies are to be stockpiled and distributed according to the needs of every person. Services are also to be made available at central depots and are to be available in such quantity that all elements of competition among consumers will be eliminated.” (W. Cleon Skousen, 2014, The Naked Communist, p. 87)

So, greed, selfishness, jealousy, coveting, markets, money, and prices will disappear? And who decides the needs of each person and by what metrics? You will own nothing and be happy about it? Who will measure your happiness quotient? Who will suppress dissention and dissatisfaction? How would selfishness be eliminated, which, according to communists, leads to class struggle?