Someone asked me recently to explain the difference between Socialism and Communism.
Before discussing this it should be understood that there is a difference between theory and practice, and that there are several different theories within each ideological concept. There is not only one theory of communism, and not only one theory of socialism; and, of course, there are a vast array of different methods of implementation. The same is true of Capitalism, obviously.
It should also be said that any ideology conceived by man, whether religious in nature, or philosophical, or political, will usually include some elements of truth, deduced from rational contemplation and analysis; but of course, it will contain many errors and falsehoods as well. Al-Hamdulillah for the Mercy of Allah’s Guidance which rescues us from the limits of what we can understand through our own restricted reasoning.
The basic difference between Socialism and Communism is found in the contrast between the two statements “to every man according to his ability” and “to every man according to his need”. The former is the creed of Socialism, the latter, Communism.
Both theories prohibit the private ownership of the means of production, but,while Communism aims to create an egalitarian, classless society in which all people are economically equal through centralized State control of wealth and resources, Socialism advocates collective social control of the economy to limit excesses of wealth and poverty in accordance with actual productivity.
Socialism is essentially an economic theory, while Communism is both economic and political, giving ownership to the State. In Socialism, people can still amass wealth through productive activity, in Communism, they can’t, as income equality is enforced by government control, regardless of each person’s productivity. Many European countries incorporate Socialist theory in their systems for managing the economy.
Contrary to what is often alleged, neither Socialism or Communism require Atheism. That is a peculiarity of Soviet and Chinese implementation. The two theories are economic and political, not religious.