Why are you a Socialist and not a Communist?

[Eddi]

Question to Socialists: Why are you a Socialist and not a Communist?

For me: I am a socialist because I believe Marx was right in his analysis of society, politics, and the economy. And when it comes to class struggle I favour the ordinary people over the ruling class. I am not a Communist because I believe Communism is neither desirable nor possible. I believe that the (currently capitalist) system can be changed to favour the ordinary people at the expense of the ruling class and that this is a more sensible, realistic, and achievable aim than trying to bring about a state of communism. Which, I believe, can only lead to real-life dystopias. Although granted, things as they are at the moment are pretty dystopian! But do we really want to swap one dystopia for another??? When making the status quo less dystopian is a (more) realistic aim???

 

[PureX]

Question to Socialists: Why are you a Socialist and not a Communist?

For me: I am a socialist because I believe Marx was right in his analysis of society, politics, and the economy. And when it comes to class struggle I favour the ordinary people over the ruling class. I am not a Communist because I believe Communism is neither desirable nor possible. I believe that the (currently capitalist) system can be changed to favour the ordinary people at the expense of the ruling class and that this is a more sensible, realistic, and achievable aim than trying to bring about a state of communism. Which, I believe, can only lead to real-life dystopias. Although granted, things as they are at the moment are pretty dystopian! But do we really want to swap one dystopia for another??? When making the status quo less dystopian is a (more) realistic aim???

Communism only works on a very small scale, and even then, tends not to survive when confronted by the highly aggressive and destructive capitalist meme. Even modern socialism has difficulty reigning in the toxic aggression of the capitalist greed machine.

 

[Tambourine]

For what it's worth, I do not view being a Socialist and being a Communist as mutually exclusive positions, or even as two distinct positions at all.

The way I see it, Socialism is a general term to describe a wide variety of movements, organizations, and schools of thought that are united in opposition to capitalism and in support of the working class. Communists, to me, are simply socialists who are working towards the realization of a communist (that is, free from government and private capital) society - in other words, Communists are simply a specific type of Socialist.

I consider myself a Socialist rather than a Communist because I see the strength of global socialism in its diversity of beliefs and approaches towards anti-capitalism and worker liberation, and I believe that many different approaches to socialism have their strong points. Different situations call for different approaches and methods of political action. Reformism, democratic revolution, spontaneous activism, and so on, and I would consider an overly strong fixation on a Marxist-Leninist style vanguard revolution a detriment to class struggle.

 

[Secret Chief]

For what it's worth, I do not view being a Socialist and being a Communist as mutually exclusive positions, or even as two distinct positions at all.

The way I see it, Socialism is a general term to describe a wide variety of movements, organizations, and schools of thought that are united in opposition to capitalism and in support of the working class. Communists, to me, are simply socialists who are working towards the realization of a communist (that is, free from government and private capital) society - in other words, Communists are simply a specific type of Socialist.

I consider myself a Socialist rather than a Communist because I see the strength of global socialism in its diversity of beliefs and approaches towards anti-capitalism and worker liberation, and I believe that many different approaches to socialism have their strong points. Different situations call for different approaches and methods of political action. Reformism, democratic revolution, spontaneous activism, and so on, and I would consider an overly strong fixation on a Marxist-Leninist style vanguard revolution a detriment to class struggle.

This.

(I know that's lazy of me but hey, it's a great post).

Socialism variants (Communism straight in at No.9):

Socialism - Wikipedia

• 21st-century
• African
• Arab
• Agrarian
• Anarchism
• Authoritarian
• Blanquism
• Chinese
• Communism
• Democratic
• Ethical
• Ecological
• Feminist
• Fourierism
• Free-market
• Gandhian
• Guild
• Laissez-faire
• Liberal
• Libertarian
• Marhaenism
• Marxism
• Municipal
• Nationalist
• Owenism
• Reformist
• Religious
• Revolutionary
• Ricardian
• Saint-Simonianism
• Scientific
• Social democracy
• State
• Syndicalism
• Third World
• Utopian
• Zionist

 

[Estro Felino]

If by Communism you mean Bolshevism...well...the Italian Socialist Party was created in 1892 in Genoa...whereas the Russian Revolution took place in 1917.
I identify myself with the values of the Social Doctrine of the 19th century which has many theorists...for example the Encyclical Rerum Novarum.

 

[Samael_Khan]

Question to Socialists: Why are you a Socialist and not a Communist?

For me: I am a socialist because I believe Marx was right in his analysis of society, politics, and the economy. And when it comes to class struggle I favour the ordinary people over the ruling class. I am not a Communist because I believe Communism is neither desirable nor possible. I believe that the (currently capitalist) system can be changed to favour the ordinary people at the expense of the ruling class and that this is a more sensible, realistic, and achievable aim than trying to bring about a state of communism. Which, I believe, can only lead to real-life dystopias. Although granted, things as they are at the moment are pretty dystopian! But do we really want to swap one dystopia for another??? When making the status quo less dystopian is a (more) realistic aim???

I embrace Anarchism, which from what I understand is a sub category of socialism, because I am apposed to hierarchy due to its essential role in indoctrination.