a dumb question..

this question has been troubling me for some time now.. i hope someone can help me out.

the ussr was communist right? ussr stand for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", which you all probably know. then howcome ussr has got socialist in it? are they socialist or communist? is communist a form of socialist? im confused..

thanks in advanced

Basically, before you can have Communism, Socialism needs to exist in that State. Communism is the final step towards the Marxist Eutopia. However the U.S.S.R. was neither a Communist or a Socialist State.

In fact, Stalin used to say that the U.S.S.R. was a Democracy because he allowed people to vote - the only problem was, there was only one political party.

Why I mention that is to outline something, words have no meaning on their own it is the actions behind them and the U.S.S.R. [which my grandparents fled] was not a State that followed the ideas of Socialism or Communism.

See here for more information on what Socialism and Communism is and feel free to answer any more questions.

Socialism is where the state caters to the people, providing services directly to them and where the social system is modified. Communism is a state where a class-less mass publically owns the means of production and other types of property. It is governed by a dicatorship of the proletariate, and brought about by a class war and violent revolution.