Socialism and Communism are the same: a classless stateless society based on production for use and democratic control. Capitalism in contrast is based on ownership of the means of production by the capitalist class, wages system and production for sale.
Just to give a very short answer: Capitalism is a free market economy and is found in forms of government that range from a Republic (The United States) to Communism (China - though it is not true capitalism).
Socialism like Capitalism is a type of economy (to a certain extent). Socialism most commonly occurs in a Democracy (many European countries) that is on the road to Communism. In Socialism, the markets are controlled by the government in an attempt to 'balance' wealth. An economy can not remain in Socialism or it will fail (as it has in Europe). In order to regain stability it must either return to a Republic with a Capitalist system, or evolve into Communism.
Communism is the Government system needed to control a Socialist economy. However, as stated above, a Communist government is not required to use a Socialist economy. Communist governments that have adopted Capitalism (China) have seen great economic benefits for its country.
If a communist government has adopted capitalism then it is no longer communist, to achieve true communism all social classes, capitalist ideas, private industry, private business and open market have to be eradicated.
Capitalism, socialism, and communism are all forms of economic organisation.
Socialism and Communism have different meanings depending on the context. If you were to travel back in time to the 18th and early 19th centuries, Socialism and Communism meant societies which did not have the inequality and problems of contemporary societies. Socialism was generally a movement and ideal in which conscious planning and fairness would be used to greatly modify and correct modern society and eventually the idea was that action should be taken to influence the state in this direction or found a new state. Communism is simply the idea of a balanced, advanced society in which everyone was equal. A socialist society would work towards Communism. People for centuries founded communities (Utopian communities) in which they tried to create an equal, rational society. But these efforts were isolated and doomed to failure, though some lasted long periods. Other movements cropped up from time to time demanding society revolutionize itself. These had no real social basis for support.
Socialism gradually became very advanced as a political movement among intellectuals in the early 19th century. It was thought by some great figures that the peasantry and middle class could be mobilized for a new revolution, like the capitalist revolutions of a few decades prior. They had begun incorporating philosophy into their ideals, but they were still at a primitive level.
In the second quarter of the 19th century increasingly brilliant socialists emerged who looked at the problem with a much more trained eye, inspired by philosophy. These included such men as the anarchists, led by Proudhon and other new groups of philosophical socialists such as those gathered in the tiny Communist League, also called the league of the Just. A member of this small group was the young radical Karl Marx and his friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels. Marx developed the theory that the new working class was to be the force which would bring society from capitalism to socialism through a social revolution. His theories and political legacy are called Marxism and his role in socialism is analogous to Darwin's in Biology.
Later socialists often called themselves Marxists. When the Second International of socialists collapsed in 1914 some remaining socialists in Russia began calling themselves Communists to distinguish themselves from the former parties of the Second International. Before then this identification was rare after the time of Marx because it was considered unnecessary (the word socialism was more familiar and traditional) and because some confused or deviously tried to confuse the word communism as meaning the sharing of all personal property.
When Stalinism took over the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution they continued to call themselves Communists, as the Russian revolutionaries had done, though they deposed and executed the old Revolutionaries during the Great Terror 1936-1940. Their practices and membership in their parties were labeled as "Communism" in the west as well, so the word took on new and negative meanings.
Socialism was either regarded in this new light as a covert form of this communism or as a word to describe reformist parties of Europe who had come from the Second International. Generally these two meanings were mixed in the United States and Americans were quite hostile to "Socialism" as well.
Today Socialism and Communism are tied together with Marxism as a dangerous utopian effort to take away freedoms. There is usually no effort to distinguish them outside of occasional allowances for Socialism being a more mild form of Communism.
They're not simple to distinguish, because they are terms that are used and misused in lots of different ways. See if this makes sense:
Communism and Socialism originally meant the same thing: a future society based on equal distribution of the things we all need to live and thrive
Democracy means 'power of the people' or 'the rule of the people' and is basically a way to make decisions. Voting is often described as a sign of democracy, though there may be problems in individual voting systems, or it depends what you get to vote on!
Communism later became used to describe states like the Soviet Union, who also described themselves as a democracy (just to confuse matters). In reality no truly Communist or Socialist society has yet existed.
Democracy would be an essential feature of a true Socialist society because equality would have to start with an equal say in how things are run. Some people say that we don't have truly Democratic societies because we aren't asked to vote on key issues like the class structure of society, monarchy, or war.
Socialism and communism are in favor of the working class, and capitalism is in favor of the rich and wealthy.
Not true. Free nations that are capitalist are much better off than communist ones. Look at China and North Korea.
Capitalism: class ownership of the means of production, wages system, production for profit, state, war. Socialism and Communism are the same: no classes, no state, no Money, no borders.
Socialism is not a compromise between capitalism and communism, it is a distinct economic system and mode of production. A "mixed economy" is often cited as being a compromise between socialism and capitalism, but in practice most mixed economies are interventionist capitalist economies.
Marx did not see Socialism as a transitional stage to Communism. In one text he distinguished two stages of Communism, but he did not label the first stage as Socialism.
Socialism and communism are similar in the way they are supposed to work - all power being shared equally - and capitalism is similar to socialism in that everybody should ideally get out what they put in proportionally, but communism and capitalism are the exact opposites.
Marx talked about the dictatorship of the proletariat as the transition between capitalism and Communism. This just meant the working class taking temporary control of the state and using it as part of the changeover to a classless society.
Socialism is a less restrictive form of Communism. While socialism is communist based, it can fall under various forms of fascism. In fact, Hitler's original party was based on National Socialism.
Capitalism and communism - APEX.
The point of Marxist Communism is to "spread the revolution". One of the most striking differences between Communism and Socialism is that Socialism calls for reform, but Communism calls for revolution.
There can be no such compromise, as Socialism and capitalism are completely distinct systems. Socialism means a classless stateless society based on production for use, while capitalism has a class division and production for profit.
They are unrelated to each other, Democracy is a form of government which is chosen by the people, Capitalism is the form of society which says that everybody earns for what he works for, Socialism is the point of view which says that the government meddles with the income and living of the people (ex: unemployed people who get a job from the government),also Captalism is why Americas great and socialisism is the first step to communism and then comes fachism(prbly spelt it wrong) hpope i helped what id said is true
Capitalism and socialism both respect private property. Communism is a form of socialism where all 'means of production' are publicly owned--that is factories, farms, mines, etc. But socialism itself respects property rights. Capitalism, when it runs amuck as it has in the US, tends to see property rights as being above human rights or civil rights. Because the rues are dictated by the property-rich. But putting property above people is not inherent in capitalism, usually.
It really hasn't... their economy has evolved into some sort of mix between Socialism and Capitalism, but not in the Social Democracy manner... what has remained is a totalitarian dictatorship.
They are unrelated to each other, Democracy is a form of government which is chosen by the people, Capitalism is the form of society which says that everybody earns for what he works for, Socialism is the point of view which says that the government meddles with the income and living of the people (ex: unemployed people who get a job from the government),also Captalism is why Americas great and socialisism is the first step to communism and then comes fachism(prbly spelt it wrong) hpope i helped what id said is true