The differences between communism and socialism are still debated, but generally English speakers use communism to talk about the political and economic ideologies that find their origin in Karl Marx’s theory of revolutionary socialism, which advocates a proletariat overthrow of capitalist structures within a society societal and communal ownership and governance of the means of production and the eventual establishment of a classless society. When it was first used in English prose in the mid-19th century, communism referred to an economic and political theory that advocated the elimination of private property and the common sharing of all resources among a group of people in this use, it was often used interchangeably with the word socialism by 19th-century writers.

Part of the confusion stems from the fact that the word communism has been applied to varying political systems over time. They're frequently compared and contrasted, with communism sometimes equated with socialism, and democracy and capitalism frequently linked. Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, and DemocracyĬommunism, socialism, capitalism, and democracy are all among our top all-time lookups, and user comments suggest that this is because they are complex, abstract terms often used in opaque ways.

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