The Difference Between State Socialism and Democratic Socialism

They are not the same, and the confusion between the two means that some messages are not getting across.

Socialism isn’t always unfriendly. We have more of it than realized. Pixabay Tama66

Socialism is an economic system in which the state owns the means of production. However, in State Socialism, the state not only owns all of the means of production, but decides on what is to be produced and where and how it is to be distributed.

In Democratic Socialism (or social democracy), the people vote in order to decide which industries or resources the state would own, and who it would be distributed to.

Generally, in most first world countries, the following services have been socialized.

1. Education and skills training
2. Public transport — trains, planes, buses, ships, etc.
3. Courts, justice, prison, police, and those related to the maintenance of order.
4. Communication systems — state radio, television, subsidized phones, etc.
5. Electricity and energy, oil, etc.
6. Hospitals, medical services, etc.
7. Social housing
8. Unemployment and welfare benefits
9. The military