Socialism was a good idea, maybe an unrealistic one in many respects.

Whereas Communism via "Vanguard-party" was always a bad idea. Pretty much all of communist countries never got past the Vanguard transitional stage and ended up with a brutal dictatorship.

I think socialism has worked pretty well in the UK, all things considered. We've never gone the whole hog, but we have had a welfare state and a number of industries nationalised at various times. I rather like having a mixed economy where some elements of capitalism are balanced by socialism.

I'm not sure how this meme started, Communism is a `terrible` idea. The goals of Communism are good but the actual plan might be the worst model of government ever tried.

It's only turned out badly when countries tried to leap from agricultural to communism without the capitalist/industrial intermediary stage.