Its not illegal, there are plenty of things in this country that have been socialism for decades...like public education.
Socialism has always been socialism. Today there seems to be some who use it interchangeably with communism, but this is not the case. Both are two different "isms" and approach government in two different ways.
Yes. There have been and are many Christian Socialists.
Socialism
The rise of socialism and the acquisition of power by socialist parties or movements varies across different countries and historical contexts. In some cases, socialism has been achieved through democratic means, with socialist parties winning elections and forming governments. In other cases, socialism has been established through revolution or overthrow of existing power structures.
Lenin was very much in favor of socialism as a stepping stone to communism. Being influenced by Karl Marx, Lenin understood that a true communist society had to be preceded by a fairly long period of socialism, perhaps generations long, before human nature lost its capitalistic nature.
It was from Socialism that Communism was born.
Socialism's origins where in France in the late 1780s during the industrial age. It spread through Europe over the next 200 years. I have added a link for you below that will give you a basic idea about the origin of socialism. I would have written it all out for you but it is a long story.
socialism
There was no African form of Socialism.
Market socialism should be contrasted with a planned economy, or planned socialism. Market socialism involves the use of markets and prices for determining how to use and allocate factors of production among organizations. These organizations may be state-owned or co-operatively owned; so market socialism can be a type of state socialism. State socialism is contrasted with co-operative socialism. In state socialism, the means of production are owned and managed by a public body. In contrast, cooperative socialism involves ownership of the means of production by the employees or by councils of consumer co-operatives. It is possible to have state-market socialism and cooperative-market socialism. Likewise, it is possible to have cooperative-planned socialism and state-planned socialism.
Socialism and society can be intertwined to create a 'for the people' state. The bulk of the power is left in the hands of the people instead of being completely controlled by a government or single governing body. There have been many forms of socialism in history, some with excellent results and some that have crippled countries for decades.