Granted, people argue about definitions of words. No one person or group is in control of language but for many years I have been fascinated with the history of the fall of the U.S.S.R. Over the years I have heard this common thread from the leaders of the U.S.S.R.... Actually existing socialism. I have heard that this is something Stalin and many of his comrades said.
In 1961 Nikita Khrushchev, the Secretary of the Communist Party said,
The Soviet people have constructed Socialism. They have completed great changes and opened wide the way to Communism.
It seems to me that the Communists described their economic system as socialism and were perpetrating the idea that they still had not reached true Communism. I always think of this when I speak to a socialist or someone that says we've never seen real Communism. Sometimes I think they are right. We haven't really seen it because it is impossible. But it seems to me you can't have it both ways. You can't say the U.S.S.R. wasn't real socialism when clearly it was. And we have other examples.
To me the most clear definition of a socialist economy is one where the means of production are controlled by the state or more naively put, the "public". In a socialist society there are no capitalists. There are no stock markets. Now, there are blurred lines like states that impose vast wealth stealing programs in the name of equality but those are just a part of a socialist plan for an economy.
When I think about Communism I think more about a political system where there is one party that controls the people and the economy. A planned economy like in a socialist economy but where there is only one party. My conclusion is that there has never really been a socialist economy that wasn't also communist. I could be wrong and if you know of any I'd love to hear about them.
Bottom line. Both systems are evil and lead to mass death. Even if the people determining what is produced and how much is produced were good people. Even if they were the most moral and smart people it would fail. Without the free market price system there is no way they could know how much to produce. I suspect we better get ready to explain the deep issues with central planning to a whole new generation as people have been impressed with the latest evolution in AI.
What do you think?