History

In order to understand Socialism, one must understand its origin which is Marxism, which was created by one Karl Marx. Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict as well as a dialectical perspective to view social transformation.

A bit of background on our bearded revolutionary. Marx was born 1818 in Germany, later he became involved with the communist party (quick brief on communist beliefs at the time: They believed in the overthrow of the class system and the abolition of private property.) Worked as a journalist in Germany, later fled Germany and settled in London.

Went ape shit and wrote a fuckton of books, primarily on capitalism. Was an avid critic of capitalism.Here are some of his more well known critiques:

* Modern work is alienated. (He believed labour/work should be a source of joy. However modern, specialised jobs rob the worker of any real contribution as they have been refined to be a highly efficient process, serving as a disconnection of one’s pride or passion from their work .)
* Modern work is not secure (Modern work has made workers expendable)
* Workers get paid little while Capitalists get $$$ (He believed that capitalists shrink the wages of workers as much as possible to make a wider profit margin). He considered profit as theft. 
* Capitalism is unstable (Crisis/recessions etc are caused by an overabundance of necessities, factories and systems have become so efficient that we can provide fooding/housing etc to everyone. There is no need to work. “unemployment” should be called “freedom”.) Redistribute wealth of corporations to everyone. 
*  He believed capitalist ideas make us anxious, competitive, conformists and politically complacent. 

Karl Marx’s political and economic ideas have been used to design disastrous planned economies and dictatorships.  

Difference between Marxism/Socialism/Communism

People get confused with Marxism and Communism and to sum it up, Communism is the practical implementation of Marxism whereas Marxism is all about theoretical interpretation of the principles, so with no Marxism there is no Communism. So, where does socialism tie in.

If Marxism is the seed, then Communism and Socialism are the branches. The main differences are that under communism, there is no such thing as private property. All property is communally owned, and each person receives a portion based on what they need. A strong central government controls all aspects of economic production, and provides citizens with their basic necessities, including food, housing, medical care and education.

Under socialism, individuals can still own property. But industrial production, or the chief means of generating wealth, is communally owned and managed by a democratically elected government. So, the agenda doesn’t seem that great once you break it down, but it is guided by the magical word of “Equality”.

https://www.history.com/news/socialism-communism-differences

Today, communism exists in China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam, although in reality, a purely communist state has never existed. Such countries can be classified as communist because in all of them, the central government controls all aspects of the economic and political system. But none of them have achieved the elimination of personal property, money or class systems that the communist ideology requires.