Both communism and socialism may seem similar at first glance, but there certainly are some differences that tell them apart. Firstly, both ideologies entertained the idea of letting the working people control the economy, creating a strong sense of collectivity and community, thereby becoming national heroes for their efforts of sustaining the nation’s comfort.

Since these people are in charge of the factories, the lower working class was prioritised over the rest during the Industrial Revolution. In other words, in the 19th century, the jobs people might consider lower these days, were extremely prestigious.

During Romania’s communist regime, some workers could be, shockingly, paid more than their employees. Such an enterprise was Steagul Roșu 🚩(The Red Flag) from Brașov, but we could talk about it in more detail in another article.

Now you can see why socialism and communism seem so alike. In this case, let's get into some representative characteristics. We’ll start with the older ideology between the two, socialism (it firstly appeared in the 19th century). It represented the desire of the working masses to have some control over the economy (which switched from manufactury to industrialization) and the need for better living conditions for the people.

Two German philosophers and economists made themselves known during that time: Karl Marx🔱 and Frederick Engels. They traveled through Western Europe and saw the extremely poor conditions people in factories were forced to work in. They finally made their opinions public through multiple publications, such as ‘The Communist Manifesto’. They didn’t live luxurious lives. They were, in fact, really poor and constantly running away from the authorities. The ideology they left behind was a peaceful one, one that didn’t affect democracy, wanting the approval of the people.

Let’s talk a bit about communism, shall we? The ‘communism’ term appeared at the same time as the word ‘socialism’. It was used in the names of several organizations such as The German Communist League, founded in 1846 in Brussels. As an ideology, communism appeared in 1917, after Vladimir Lenin took control over The Russian Empire, turning it into the Soviet Union. However, this change led to a civil war between the bolsheviks and the anti-bolsheviks. We’ll talk about it in another article, though. Back to communism. We could say it was more radical than socialism, approving of violent revolutions, wanting the definitive unification of the country under a party that would bring all people to the same standard of living, at any cost (intense nationalization, confinement of former capitalists, assassinations, etc.). Unfortunately, this much darker side of socialism spurt deep roots in several countries all over the world starting from 1946, up to this day, in some cases. The leaders of former communist states are still remembered as national heroes who exterminated poverty and gave people a simple life and the power to start a family. On the other hand, these so-called ‘national heroes’ killed anyone who opposed their beliefs or seemed to be a threat to the system. Such leaders were Stalin, Lenin, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej and Ceaușescu. Their propaganda used to be everywhere: at the radio, newspapers, TV, and it showed a picture-perfect world, one that, in fact, never existed to begin with.

To put it plainly, whereas socialism seemed to be an ideology that supported the people, communism was a violent and mendacious one, that didn’t even appear to care for its people.

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editorial: Matei Ilie & Andrei Tănase

graphic design: Bianca Constantin

translation: Maria Mătăsaru

DP (dekstop publishing): Maria Mătăsaru