More labels than anything else, as I understand it, and that's been many years ago..
Actually, Russians were probably more communistic in practice than socialistic..
But Russia was a "Socialist Dictatorship", i.e., Stalinist, not strictly socialist.. Lenin and Stalin "hijacked" the worker's revolution..
The workers never got their shot at a socialist economy..
"From each according to ability to each according to need"... ( Economics = Socialism )
That would have required a greater involvement of the people in government.. Something Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky did not plan on happening.. ( At least Lenin and Stalin )
China, on the other hand, was strictly Marxist communism.. with Mao tse Tsung as the charismatic leader..
China still makes a great show of "the people's" representation in government, but even today chinese government tends to isolationism and government controlled indoctrination..
State policy is all.. the worker is nothing but a means to an end.. ( Communism = Political )
Others with more knowledge in this field may be able to explain it better..
I think you did a fine job. A while back I began a study of the the differences. I got side tracked and never completed it. This "conversation" may renew my interest.
Lenin and Stalin "hijacked" the worker's revolution..
I think there is a lot of hijacking going on in our own country. Words, suddenly mean things they never meant before. Thank you for your enlightening (another word that has been hijacked, IMO) responses.