To the average American, communism and socialism are slurs.
According to Heather Cox Richardson, socialism has been a thought-terminating cliché since the 1870s, if not before, only then, it referred to all sorts of public-serving government projects such as paved roads, libraries, schools, etc.
At the time, the assumption was that only wealthy landowners should get representation at all, and that working class folk, for having not contributed to revenues¹ should not get any benefits from government.
¹ Working class folks very much contributed to the labor that produced wealth, but this wasn’t acknowledged.
To the average American, communism and socialism are slurs.
According to Heather Cox Richardson, socialism has been a thought-terminating cliché since the 1870s, if not before, only then, it referred to all sorts of public-serving government projects such as paved roads, libraries, schools, etc.
At the time, the assumption was that only wealthy landowners should get representation at all, and that working class folk, for having not contributed to revenues¹ should not get any benefits from government.
¹ Working class folks very much contributed to the labor that produced wealth, but this wasn’t acknowledged.