Socialism is to be understood by multiple definitions, which can be summed up in common parliance as:
The entirety of leftist ideologies encompassing everything from anarchism to syndicalism, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, democratic socialism and social democracy (with caveats).
The abolition of private property of the means of production
The transitional state between reactionary economic models (capitalism, feudalism, etc) and communism. Socialism in this context is an ongoing process which can take decades or centuries to build up.
Communism has but one definition: a stateless, moneyless, classless society. No state is communist or anarchist as there can be no concept of a state under communism, which means anyone claiming X country is communist has fundamentally misunderstood the principles of both socialism and communism from the outset. "Communist" countries do not claim to be such, but do have the intent to build towards communism via socialist principles.
Socialism is to be understood by multiple definitions, which can be summed up in common parliance as:
The entirety of leftist ideologies encompassing everything from anarchism to syndicalism, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, democratic socialism and social democracy (with caveats).
The abolition of private property of the means of production
The transitional state between reactionary economic models (capitalism, feudalism, etc) and communism. Socialism in this context is an ongoing process which can take decades or centuries to build up.
Communism has but one definition: a stateless, moneyless, classless society. No state is communist or anarchist as there can be no concept of a state under communism, which means anyone claiming X country is communist has fundamentally misunderstood the principles of both socialism and communism from the outset. "Communist" countries do not claim to be such, but do have the intent to build towards communism via socialist principles.