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Socialism and communism are not the same. Communism is bad. Socialism is good.
Most communist are much more right wing than your average American liberal when you look at the broader picture. It dosent just stop at Universal Healthcare or what not.
There’s Free Market Capitalism (Good) and Crowny Capitalism (Bad). But communist (most of this sub) will tell you both are bad. The older you get, the more you’ll realize this.
Can you elaborate a bit on why you believe free market capitalism is good?
Why do you believe that socialism and capitalism is good, and communism is bad?
Your argument at least partially rests on the logical fallacy of equating age with wisdom and good opinions. Instead of arguments covering pros and cons.
I am skeptical of capitalism as a sustainable system, but see advantages such as allowing demand dictate production. The people "vote" for increased production of a given commodity by buying it, and "vote" for decreased by not. Advertisements manipulates the "vote", which is why I am skeptical of advertisements, and believe it should probably be banned.
Planning consumption in society is a really hard task, but can potentially work if there is a way to effectively detect real demand. This is a real challenge, because in capitalism it "hurts" when you buy something. You have to weigh your options and consider if it is worth the money. I don't think this is impossible, but I don't know how.
Allowing the workers and state to own the means of production, that is more obvious. But also has the challenge of predicting future demand in both a local and a global market. If we have free markets for goods and services, we can determine demand with more accuracy and then decide to produce or increase production of a good or service.
In other words the people should have money to buy goods, but their workplace should be owned by themselves or the state. This is socialism if I understand correctly?
A little off topic but on theme: Marx's Kapital is anything but dry. The book has some entertaining value. The 1st volume I mean. And the second nuance: Kapital has nothing to do with socialism/communism. It is about capitalism only.
Can second Capital being entertaining, I'm about a third of the way through Volume 1 and Marx's writing is dripping with personality and metaphor.
Only 1st Volume was finished. Others were just Engels's postmortem compilations of Marx's drafts. While they might be interesting if you're an economist, they are boring and repetitive as shit.
Still going to read them as a part of Hexbear's weekly reading threads, haha. I'm aware of them being unfinished and mostly drafts, but at this point I have a real need to read them all, including the extra-unfinished Volume IV.
Hexbear
Keep your distance from them and Lemmygrad. They are mostly crazies and Russian cringe propaganda bots. Treat any information you get there as a lie until proven otherwise.
I appreciate the warning, but I'm well-aware of what I said.
First off, it's fantastic to see that you're willing to learn! That's great, it's really commendable. Consider making an account on Lemmy.ml, Hexbear.net, Lemmygrad.ml, or even Lemm.ee, so you can see more of what the so-called "tankies" are actually saying, rather than having them blocked from view on Lemmy.world.
As for answering your questions, I want to speak on Norway first. Norway, and the western countries in general, are "Imperialist" by Marxist standards. Norway essentially bribes its proletariat with a portion of the spoils it reaps from hyper-exploiting the Global South, through methods such as IMF loans and outsourcing production. Norway keeps Capitalism temporarily in check simply for its own workers, but acts parasitically towards the Global South.
Of course, the United States, despite being worse for its workers, is by far the largest and worst Empire, it's just that the spoils of Imperialism are divied up even more lopsided, where the 1% earn unfathomable sums off of it.
When looking at Socialism and how it functions, look to "AES" countries, or "Actually Existing Socialism." These include Cuba, Vietnam, the PRC, Laos, DPRK, the former USSR, etc. Right off the bat, alarm bells are probably ringing for you, but keep 2 things in mind:
You are not immune to propaganda. The Red Scare and Anticommunism in the West is deeply penatrating, and likely clouds much of how you see these countries.
A system being Socialist does not make it a wonderland Utopia, they still exist in the real world and face real problems, both internal and external.
In Marxist terms, Socialism is where Public Ownership is the Principle aspect of the economy. Large firms and key industries being publicly owned means that the Public Sector is the one with power over the economy. The PRC, for example, has its large firms and key industries overwhelmingly publicly owned, while the private sector is dominated by cooperatives, sole proprietorships, and small firms. This is because Marx believed you had to develop out of small ownership, not simply make it illegal, hence why you'll see Socialists talk about the Productive Forces all the time. Norway, as an example, has the large firms in the Private Sector, and the Public Sector is in service of the Private.
That's a quick overview! I skipped over so much because it's really a vast topic that unfortunately does require reading. I keep an introductory Marxist-Leninist Reading List I designed to be easy to get into and not be quite so dry. This is the best path to get a firm understanding of theory, and is what @Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml tagged me here for (thanks, comrade!).
Alternatively, I will recommend reading just the first section for now, made up of Principles of Communism, followed by Blackshirts and Reds, and Dr. Michael Parenti's 1986 Lecture. Afterwards, Blowback is an excellent podcast talking about US Imperialism, and frequently touches on sympathetic portrayals of Socialist movements. You won't be a theory expert, but those will help drive interest in theory in general. I'd also read Dessalines' Crash Course Socialism if you go this route!
Feel free to ask me any questions if you have any about Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, etc, and I'll do my best! 🫡
Sorry for copying and pasting this response to your other 2 threads, but I figured it would be beneficial for you to see the various responses to my comment on the different communities, in how they differ.
Also, side-note! I don't think asking this question will be complete without asking on a Lemm.ee account or other more broadly federated account will get you the full picture, most Communists on Lemmy are on Lemmygrad.ml and Hexbear.net, and you can't see any of their responses.
Noam Chomsky, David Graeber, Aaron Benanav, Howard Zinn... A good fictional book that defamiliarizes capitalism is 'The Disposessed' by Ursula Le Guinn.
If you're looking for video makers, i would recommend Zoe Baker, which has an academics background, and Andrewism, who is may be less strict on reference than you are looking for, though. Both are quite focusing on anarchism, but Zoe sometimes talks about relations between anarchism and marxism.
If you happen to speak french, or if anyone speaking french finds this comment, i also love the Minutes Rouges videos.
I'd recommend that you try to learn from different movements, communism is very prone to diversity (aka groups and movements are splitting and fighting all the time), so you cannot really know one movement without knowing what its detractors say.