system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Marxism, Socialism, and Communism

I want to stop using these words interchangeably. Can someone tell me once and for all what each of these really means? What differentiates them from each other? 

Is it a matter of degree or type? 

Lastly, would you say this question belongs more in economics or philosophy? 

Thank you.
gpt
Marxism would be all the theoretical applications of Marx as a discoursive author. Many different theories and projects, many times at odds with Marx's own work.

Socialism has many meanings- Marx/Engels don't make difference between communism and socialism as a next socio-historical stage that comes after abolishing capital relations. Socialism is in marxist-leninist circles theoreticized as a transitive phase for communism. But it is also used to refer to existing socialism in Soviet countries. And nowadays, social democracy is also sometimes called that. Which is of course nonsensical.

To really understand that there can't be theoretical difference between socialism and communism, one must understand what capital is and that there really can't be two versions of it's non/existing.

It is a question of critique of political economy. Which is not economics and is not a philosophy either. It is a way of making theory called critical theory which is kind of critical assesment of existing scientific knowledge and philosophy that has it roots in Kant.