Last week, I went over communism and why it fails. This week, I will be covering communism’s relative: socialism. This series shall be moving from the far left (communism) until the far right (fascism) and will ultimately conclude the series with an article on anarchy and the future of politics.

Now, socialism shares many features with communism, as they can be considered to be very similar. Socialism innately has its main meaning and purpose in the word itself. The word socialism has the keyword social in the name, meaning it has something to do with society, as well as the people within a given society. The main tenets of socialism, however, are very close to the beliefs and standards of communism, which is why many Americans easily confuse one for the other or even believe they are one in the same. However, they differ in the field of property. You technically do own property in a socialistic state, but the government still mainly controls the land, as well as the means of production. Usually, a highly capitalistic state will transition into a socialistic nature for its transparent benefits—these include healthcare, welfare, social security, insurance, etc.

Going back to the social part of socialism, we can now link the etymology to its main purpose. As previously stated in the previous paragraph, socialistic states will include many benefits for the sake of the population, or the society of the nation. These social programs aim to help society autonomously. These programs also try to make the lives of citizens living within a society be more at peace, and they allow the citizens to be able to be a bit laxer when it comes to their lifestyle. So you might be wondering why it’s a bad thing. If everyone is receiving benefits, and everyone is living a happier life while still owning property, what seems to be the problem?

Well the problem with it is that it can easily lead into communism. Bear in mind that communism is just a small step away from socialism, as they are hard to distinguish at times. This can lead to some facilitated conversions to communism, resulting in a huge loss of property and production power. Socialism also paves the way for the eventual laziness that ensues with a communist state. The social programs allow people to get by with little to no effort. This eventually begins to slow down production and the number of educated professionals decreases due to the fact that someone with a high level of education will receive the same things as someone who does nothing. People will then begin to view education as an arduous task with no extra benefits that can be accrued.

The failures of socialism are strikingly similar to communism, but not as severe. Were people to take initiative in the pursuit of excellence and education, it would work. Sadly, this is not the case and it forces socialism to crumble like communism.