what is the difference between communism and socialism 
both communism and socialism advocate public over private ownership and they champion equality they seek to give power to the working class socialism is viewed as a more moderate ideology however unlike communism it permits the continued existence of capitalism in some parts of the economy and favors gradual change over revolution 18the bottom linecommunism has been around as a theory since the beginning of humanity but the french revolution karl marx and friedrich engels turned it into an influential political ideology the idea of a classless society in which all property and wealth are communally owned has been tarnished somewhat since then it has existed harmoniously in smaller communities but communism has so far failed to be successfully implemented on a larger level two major examples are russia and china where communist leaders ruled with violence and suppression and often gamed the system for their own benefit some say that this proves communism doesn t work others argue that these regimes deviated from communism and therefore shouldn t be considered as examples 