I don't think you know the text book meaning of communist. Let me explain it to you.

Communism is like anarchy - there is no government. The people get together in small clusters and collectively own the means of production. So one group owns a small farm and another group owns a small workshop. There would be millions of these small co-operatives. There are business co-operatives in ever country in the world. No country has ever had communism. They have just called it communism. I am not a communist.

Socialism comes in degrees. Any country which provides services to its people is socialistic to some degree. Any country that collects taxes to use to provides services to the country is socialistic.

There are two forms of socialism - fascist socialism as in China (and the old USSR). However, the USSR had a lot more than socialism. They told people what to do with their lives. The correct name for that is totalitarianism.

There is also democratic socialism. In that model, people vote to tell the country what they want the country to do with the taxes. Although it's a party system in most western countries, most countries, with the exception of the USA, have voted that they want their taxes used for free education and free health care. I am currently living in Europe. I am a dual German/South African citizen but have lived for long periods of time in America and the UK.

Thank you for the apology. I was about to block you as I don't have the time to argue with people who don't know what they are talking about!

:)