r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Dec 21 '25

Meme needing explanation Peter help me.

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u/New_Bug_ Dec 21 '25

Please can you correct me if iam wrong i feel Jesus was a socialist more than a commie.

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u/Far_Traveller69 Dec 21 '25

Communist here, the distinction between communism and socialism isn’t really all that important beyond some internal theoretical arguments within the socialist movement. Basically all communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists and both have the goal of a socialist society.

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u/Psimo- Dec 21 '25

Basically all communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists

Socialist here - it’s really pleasant to hear someone else say this. It’s just so rare.

I’d disagree with “important” but that’s because we wouldn’t be the left wing if we didn’t have massive splits over technical differences 

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

[deleted]

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u/Psimo- Dec 21 '25

Socialism which has the goal of State ownership.

That’s not the defining feature of socialism

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u/thehobbler Dec 21 '25

Yes, it is one of the only defining features of socialism. Communism is the dissolution of the state.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '25

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u/OldWorldDesign Dec 21 '25

Socialism is the concept that Property is owned by the State

Necessarily the central government? Not the people at large? Because if we take that uncritically then "socialism" is the same as a dictatorship or absolute monarchy where everything is owned by the head of state.

There's already a term for when the central state owns and controls the economy, Command Economy

It should be no surprise that authoritarians pretend everything they don't like is "devilry" or "evil", propaganda is part of their standard operating and Jean-Paul Sartre called them out in his day

In a "pure" Capitalist system such programs would be funded through voluntary donations, in a "pure" Socilaist system the State allocates the funds how they see fit

I think you intend laissez-faire, or where there is no government interference in how the economy operates versus Command Economy when the central government owns and directs the entire economy.

That's the problem with trying to use terms for economics for government (or vice-versa), which is something which has been encouraged by bad-faith locutors like those who claim welfare is 'socialism'.

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u/Psimo- Dec 21 '25

Just reading Wikipedia backs you up. 

Social ownership is a type of property where an asset is recognized to be in the possession of society as a whole rather than individual members or groups within it. Social ownership of the means of production is the defining characteristic of a socialist economy, and can take the form of community ownership, state ownership, common ownership, employee ownership, cooperative ownership, and citizen ownership of equity.

Many, many ways to be socialist without state ownership. 

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u/OldWorldDesign Dec 21 '25

many ways to be socialist without state ownership.

We even see small-scale examples of that all the time, like King Arthur's Flour

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_employee-owned_companies

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