|
Communism |
Socialism |
Definition |
A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, with actual ownership ascribed to the community or state. |
A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of most property in common, with actual ownership ascribed to the workers. |
Philosophy |
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Free-access to the articles of consumption is made possible by advances in technology that allow for super-abundance. |
From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution. Emphasis on profit being distributed among the society or workforce to complement individual wages/salaries. |
Economic System |
The means of production are held in common, negating the concept of ownership in capital goods. Production is organized to provide for human needs directly without any use for money. Communism is predicated upon a condition of material abundance. |
The means of production are owned by public enterprises or cooperatives, and individuals are compensated based on the principle of individual contribution. Production may variously be coordinated through either economic planning or markets. |
Key Proponents |
Karl Marx, Fredrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky. |
Robert Owen, Pierre Leroux, Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels, John Stuart Mill, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw, Thorstein Veblen, Emma Goldman. |
Religion |
Abolished – all religious and metaphysics is rejected. |
Freedom of religion, but usually promotes secularism. |
Economic Coordination |
Economic planning coordinates all decisions regarding investment, production and resource allocation. Planning is done in terms of physical units instead of money. |
Planned-Socialism relies principally on planning to determine investment and production decisions. Planning may be centralized or decentralized. Market-socialism relies on markets for allocating capital to different socially-owned enterprises. |
Political System |
No leader, directed directly by the people. This has never been actually practiced, and has just used a one-party system. |
Can coexist with different political systems. Most socialists advocate participatory democracy, some (Social Democrats) advocate parliamentary democracy, and Marxist-Leninists advocate “Democratic centralism”. |
Social Structure |
All class distinctions are eliminated. |
Class distinctions are diminished. |
Political Movements |
Leninism, Trotskyism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, Left-Communism. |
Democratic Socialism, Communism, Libertarian Socialism, Anarchism, Syndicalism. |
Private Property |
Abolished. The concept of property is negated and replaced with the concept of commons and ownership with “usership”. |
Two kinds of property, personal property, such as houses, clothing, etc. owned by the individual. Public property includes factories, and means of production owned by the state but with worker control. |
Way of Change |
Government in a Communist-state is the agent of change rather than any market or desire on the part of consumers. Change by government can be swift or slow, depending on change in ideology or even whim. |
Workers in a Socialist-state are the agent of change rather than any market or desire on the part of consumers. Change by the workers can be swift or slow, depending on change in ideology or even whim. |
Ownership structure |
The means of production are commonly-owned, meaning no entity or individual owns productive property. Importance is ascribed to “usership” over “ownership”. |
The means of production are socially-owned with the surplus value produced accruing to either all of society (in Public-ownership models) or to all the employee-members of the enterprise (in Cooperative-ownership models). |