A system doesn’t have to be 100% socialist to have socialist elements. A city-owned fire department is a socialist element of a system. The fire trucks are collectively owned and controlled by the people via the government. That meets the definition of socialism.
A person who owns knitting needles and uses them to make scarves he sells is a capitalist element of a system. That person privately owns the means of production.
Capitalism and socialism have always existed in a mixed system. In a 100% capitalist system, every “means of production” would have to be in private hands. That would mean that you couldn’t have a government-owned fire department, all firefighting equipment, and the labour of firefighters, etc. would have to be privately owned and operated by independent for-profit firefighting companies. In a 100% socialist system, nobody could own knitting needles – or at least couldn’t sell any knitting they did using those knitting needles because that would turn the knitting needles from a personal possession to a piece of capital equipment, which would therefore have to be collectively owned.
The USSR at various times tried to go 100% socialist, but it was a disaster. They had to at least allow small elements of capitalism in their socialist / communist system, just as ramping up capitalism to 100% never works either.
We currently live in a mixed socialist / capitalist system in which some “means of production” are collectively owned and controlled by the people via the government, and others are privately owned and operated. One way in which the USA is different from the UK is that in the UK the means of production associated with healthcare are owned and operated by the people via the government (socialist healthcare) whereas in the USA they’re privately owned and operated (capitalist healthcare).
A system doesn’t have to be 100% socialist to have socialist elements. A city-owned fire department is a socialist element of a system. The fire trucks are collectively owned and controlled by the people via the government. That meets the definition of socialism.
A person who owns knitting needles and uses them to make scarves he sells is a capitalist element of a system. That person privately owns the means of production.
Capitalism and socialism have always existed in a mixed system. In a 100% capitalist system, every “means of production” would have to be in private hands. That would mean that you couldn’t have a government-owned fire department, all firefighting equipment, and the labour of firefighters, etc. would have to be privately owned and operated by independent for-profit firefighting companies. In a 100% socialist system, nobody could own knitting needles – or at least couldn’t sell any knitting they did using those knitting needles because that would turn the knitting needles from a personal possession to a piece of capital equipment, which would therefore have to be collectively owned.
The USSR at various times tried to go 100% socialist, but it was a disaster. They had to at least allow small elements of capitalism in their socialist / communist system, just as ramping up capitalism to 100% never works either.
We currently live in a mixed socialist / capitalist system in which some “means of production” are collectively owned and controlled by the people via the government, and others are privately owned and operated. One way in which the USA is different from the UK is that in the UK the means of production associated with healthcare are owned and operated by the people via the government (socialist healthcare) whereas in the USA they’re privately owned and operated (capitalist healthcare).