TBH if you look at the etymology of socialism and how it is used by Marx it makes sense. In the manifesto they talk about bourgeoisie socialism and feudal socialism. Utopian socialism is also a frequent subject of criticism for Marxists. Socialism is just organized society, the literal socialization of labor. However Marxists typically use "socialism", "proletarian socialism", and "lower-stage communism" interchangeably which is where the problem arises.

Of course the average American won't understand any of that and just thinks that socialism is when the government does stuff.