This is so wrong it’s compelling me to tweet out the definitions.

Socialism is the ownership of the means of production (machinery, raw materials, land, etc.) by the proletariat (workers). Communism is the subsequent development of a stateless, classless society. https://twitter.com/dapperdomo/status/1324444496470355969

Neither of those definitions will help you if you don’t also know what capitalism actually is: the political and economic system in which individuals can privately own the means of production and exploit the labor of the working class to produce surplus value as profit.

Notice that none of these definitions mentions the government regulating economic activity because that occurs in both capitalism (whether governed laissez-faire principles, Keynesian principles, etc.) and socialism.

Nor is socialism “government ownership of the means of production” unless that government is strictly and exclusively composed of and answerable to the proletariat.

This is why nothing the United States government (or the government of any capitalist state) does is socialism. The post office is not socialism. The police are not socialism. I am begging you to understand this. Even food stamps, corporate subsidies and Social Security aren’t.

Dear god I just clicked through to the original thread and now I’m glad I tweeted these out. Please for the love of god learn what these terms mean so you don’t end up saying meaningless bullshit like this. My infirm heart can’t handle these takes.

“Socialism for the rich” is a contradiction in terms, and hopefully you can see why from the tweets above. Socialism doesn’t just mean pooling resources or giving them out to people.