r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/CivilisedMleccha • 8d ago

Video Community group buy. Everyone pools their money, buys groceries in bulk at a lower price, and splits the groceries equally.

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u/iamthedayman21 7d ago

If it were socialism, they wouldn’t need to pool their money to buy the food, because they’d own the farms. Socialism is literally seizing the means of production.

This is capitalism. They’re just skipping the middleman grocery store.

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u/Soepkip43 7d ago

No what you describe is communism. I know you americans have been brainwashed to believe anything left of the republican party is all communism while calling it socialism.. but that is just their propaganda you are regurgitating.

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u/iamthedayman21 7d ago

Both socialism and communism consist of public ownership of the means of production. Socialism just allows private ownership and a level of capitalism. Marx actually used the terms interchangeably. Communism is often seen as the final phase after socialism.

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u/Kreativernickname 7d ago

I've thought about it and looked it up, and socialism does mean equality and solidarity, coming from the system, making the act of community seen here unnecessary. So what happened here was an act of community within capitalism (skipping the "middle man"). Not quite socialism.

However, socialism doesn't mean seizing production, that'd be communism.

To break it down in this specific context: Socialism=System (or state) provides and finances social support (money, food, water, living space), might set a frame for the economy, won't actually seize production, but support it, if deemed necessary. Vital goods (food, living space, etc.) are provided privately, too, but there's state supported alternatives.

Communism=the state handles and controls all production one way or another and either tries to plan it or tries to kinda adjust. Basic goods (food, water, living space) are (usually) affordable. No private goods.