-->
@drlebronski
I disagree with most definitions offered here; they're too myopic. First, the only valid distinction between communism and socialism is that the former does a better job of deleting family and religion from society. This is because the communist state takes over the rearing of children from parents, and parents are convinced to abdicate that responsibility. The second, deleting religion from society. That occurs because the communist state will push the definition of religion as an opiate rather than as an individual preference to seek higher meaning to life and devotion to a deity instead of the State. The communist state cannot afford split devotion by its citizens, and, frankly, can't compete, anyway. Other thaqn those two features, little separates communism and socialism.
Economically, socialism will try, but fails at every effort to own and operate business, because, as I've demonstrated in other threads, socilaism does not know how to run a lemonade stand, let alone a serious manufacturing enterprise. Socialism insists there is nothing to the bourgeois necessity except making and selling a product, wherein the average use of revenue is to pay the bourgeois [management] 60% and the proletariate [labor] 40%. Socialism says 40% is not sufficient since they do "all the work." Clearly, they do not, and socialism ignores that along with manufacturing, and sales, [product-making & selling], there is R&D, factory set-up, process design, tooling design & manufacturing, purchasing raw materials, materials logistics, marketing, warranty, customer service... All of this expense is paid out by management, so there is no 60% profit, as claimed by socialism. In fact, of all activities, the 40% to direct labor is the biggest slice of the revenue pie. Management [ownership] is lucky to profit more than 50 cents of a $5 gross revenue per product. This is why socialism collapse in every country it has ever been tried.
And no country will successfully start out of its chute with socialism [or communism] because that system depends on other peoples' money to operate. It develops no revenue on its own.