Socialism = state with social ownership of the means of production Communism = hypothetical end goal of society where the state "whithers away" and class divisi

Socialism = state with social ownership of the means of production Communism = hypothetical end goal of society where the state "whithers away" and class divisions no longer exist Note that people describe themselves as communist since that is their end goal and states describe themselves as socialist since they have not ceased to exist yet.