Cane someone define the economic system where the State controls property, resources and...

[brooklynite]

...means of production? Apparently, it's no longer called "Socialism" so I'd like to be able to update my dictionary.

[Still In Wisconsin]

1. It's called "North Korea" n/t

[EX500rider]

2. That's still what it is called....it's just no one seems to understand the definition. nt

[comradebillyboy]

3. I see a lot of strange definitions of socialism here at DU.

It's become almost as meaningless as corporate democrat or neo liberal. Some people think univeersal health care is a socialist program. After all it was the notorious socialist Otto von Bismark (Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg) who brought universal health care to the German Reich in 1884.

[mr_lebowski]

4. How about ... Communism?

There's also a difference between small 's' socialism, i.e. 'roughly socialistic aspects of running the country' (i.e. Social Security, EPA, FDA, Medicare, etc) vs. capital 'S' Socialism, which is the dictionary definition, where the State actually controls all means of production.

Don't blame me for the confusion, it's the Right that's been (wrongly) calling every Government action/program (the ones they DON'T like, anyway) that benefits society collectively 'Socialism' for a hundred freaking years

[pangaia]

5. GHood points of remindert....

[MH1]

6. Communism

which oh by the way would have to be totalitarian to actually achieve and maintain that.

But as it is, in regulated capitalism, there is some control of property and resources by the State.

And eminent domain basically says, "you may think you own it but guess what, we can take it from you pretty much any time we want to". Used to be that republicans hated eminent domain. (some dems hated it too). Now that there's this idea of building a wall on the southern border, all of a sudden republicans don't hate eminent domain so much.

Point being, every economic system cedes some control of private property to the state.

[marylandblue]

7. Political definitions change with the seasons.

So public control of property would be called "traditional socialism." And Bernie Sanders platform would be called "new socialism" formerly known as social democracy.

[lunatica]

9. Communism

Democratic Socialism means the taxes that people pay go into services for those people. The government does not own businesses or control property. What the government does is make social services like healthcare, education, and all public needs work like social security and Medicare, Medicaid and public education works now. Every citizen would have access to social benefits, which are paid with our taxes.

You can even become wealthy beyond your wildest dreams, but you would have to pay your equal share of taxes to get the same social services as everyone else.

[Alea]

11. That's how it begins

The End Game for Democratic Socialism is to replace capitalism with full blow socialism.

[lunatica]

12. No it isn't

Look it up in the Democratic Socialist countries.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/democratic-socialist-countries/

If you think Social Security benefits are a way that the government is taking over then make sure to reject any SS benefits coming to you.

[Alea]

14. I hear people say that all the time

Reminds me of a warm flow of water going down my back while someone is saying it's just raining.

Wiki has a more believable definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism

Personally, I think the only people that say otherwise are people's who's end game is to implement socialism in this county, sugar coated as a way of saying no no, this isn't socialism, it's democratic socialism and it's not the evil one. The end game is socialism.

[lunatica]

17. You obviously ignored the link I provided.

[Alea]

20. No, I viewed your link

Of particular note was Venezuela, which seems to be working so well...

Nothing at that link changed my view. In fact it reinforces my belief that people that want socialism say "no no this isn't the evil one, this is democratic socialism, it'll be different". The end game is just plain old socialism. The powers that be just can't tell us that up front because no one would vote those people in.

[pnwmom]

15. That's not what the Democratic Socialist party of America says it stands for.

They are NOT just about paying taxes for government services.

https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/

Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either. Rather, we believe that social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of people. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

[lunatica]

18. I agree with how Socialist benefits are allocated

One way is to include Democratic Socialist and Progressive representatives in Congress.

[zipplewrath]

10. You're close to communism

In my day, communism was defined as the state OWING property, resources and means of production.
Socialism was the state CONTROLLING property, resources, and PRIMARY means of production, which is pretty much where we already are.

[WeekiWater]

13. That's close. It's more control instead of ownership.

Many are clearly not familiar with the different variations of it and the cool kids don’t like to say what they really are, a variation of a capitalist.

All of our current candidates and members of the Democratic Party are some type of capitalist. Identity politics makes using other labels important for campaigning purposes.

[JHB]

16. Don't update your dictionary, whack them in the face with it.

Don't quibble about definitions, just attack their bullshitting straight on.

Republicans call everything they don't like 'socialism'.

If you go by what they say is 'socialism', then we spent more Han half the 20th century as a 'socialist' country. That's just nuts, and so are they.

[0rganism]

19. it's called "State Capitalism" and it's an intermediate phase in the transition to socialism

unfortunately the vast majority of socialist states and communist revolutions get stuck at this stage, whether due to corrupt leadership or counter-revolutionary forces or constitutional/legal constraints. it often gets erroneously referred to as "Socialism" but it is not and understanding the difference is important.