[quote]Basically socialism is communism but the economy belongs to the people, not the government. [/quote] That is a horrible and inaccurate definition of both terms.
Socialism is a "large" amount of government regulations and control towards larger businesses and products in an attempt to support the middle class. In communism, there are [i]no [/i]classes and land is owned by the community as oppose to individuals or the government. In a sense, communism is a more extreme version of socialism. Whether or not socialism is an extreme is up to debate.
Communism won't work due to human nature and socialism works in some cases but it really depends. Besides, I always thought it is healthiest for a country to be as close to the center as possible.
English
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Socialism by definition is state control over economic activities. The only relation that it holds to communism is in Marxist doctrine and it most certainly is an extreme.
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[quote]Socialism by definition is state control over economic activities.[/quote] Yes, that is what I am saying. However, it does not have to be [i]total [/i]control. The amount of control the government has over economic activities can vary slightly and still be considered socialist. [quote]The only relation that it holds to communism is in Marxist doctrine[/quote]Yes. And it is a more extreme form of communism. Socialism is to the bottom left and Communism is even further to the bottom left. [quote] it most certainly is an extreme.[/quote]If you believe socialism is an extreme, would you consider France to be an extremist country? One of their largest parties is the [i]Parti socialiste[/i] (you can translate that) and President Holland is a self-identified socialist. Would you consider him an extremist?
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The definitions are rigid. 99% of economies are considered just "mixed." Communism has zero state control.