This post is a response to the question posted by @anniebburg: "Is socialism the same thing as communism? What are the differences?"
My understanding of Communism is that it is a step on the way to a socialist society, but communism and socialism are not the same thing. As far as I know, socialism is a societal structure that does not really have a government. It is a kind of theoretical scheme where everyone owns everything and shares everything. Ideally, everyone gets what they want and everyone is happy. Communism is a step that socialists take where the government sieges or is sometimes granted the great powers needed to create a socialist society. The socialists historically have always gotten stuck on communism because of that necessary step of centralizing power. Once a person or group has the power, they are unlikely to relinquish it.
One of the differences between communism and socialism is the existence of a government. As far as I understand it, pure socialism does not have an established government. It might have one on the way to socialism, but I think the end goal is to have no government. Communism is a government that has total control. It is a totalitarian government with oligarchs and dictators, and is closer to a martial surveillance state than to no government.
Another difference is that of class. In a socialist society, everyone is equal on every level, and there are no classes. This is not the case with communism, which has a class of oligarchs that grow fat on the backs of the proletariat. The communist system works to protect the oligarchy, and sustain the difference of class, which is part of why communism will never turn to socialism.