Communism, socialism, democratic socialism differ

Mr. Greg Fassbender in his letter of Nov. 12 ("Germany learns lesson, now rejects socialism") said Germany is not a socialist country. I agree. Germany is a democratic socialist country, not a socialist country.

He refers to the GDR (East Germany) as a socialist country, which I consider a communist country, not a true socialist country, which as Mr. Fassbender pointed out, ceased to exist in 1989.

Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Party in Germany, as Mr. Fassbender stated, received 40-plus percent of the vote (actually 41,5 percent in 2013). But Mr. Fassbender left out the fact that since the CDU party did not have a full majority in Parliament, they had to form a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party, which is a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Socialist International, despite the fact that "(In 1959) the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism." (Source-Wikipedia: Social Democratic Party of Germany)

Mr. Fassbender is critical of socialism. I am, too. But for some Americans their hatred and fear of communism is so great it has prevented them from seeing the differences between communism, socialism and democratic socialism.

Steve Scott

Sarasota

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Communism, socialism, democratic socialism differ ."