There are two different dictionary-definitions of "socialism".  The statist meaning of
socialism is given in dictionaries because there are socialists who do have a statist
leaning in their use of the word.  The statist meaning of socialism is also given
because all the anti-socialist literature gives socialism a statist meaning. A dictionary
is a record of word usage. If all anti-socialist literature always uses the word socialism
as being synonymous with totalitarian and authoritarian statism, then a reliable and
responsible dictionary will and must give a record of this usage. If a person is reading
anti-socialist propaganda, then a pro-socialist definition of socialism simply will not do.
However, if a dictionary records both the anti-socialist and the pro-socialist definitions
of socialism, then a reader of either literature can easily recognize and discern which
definition is being put to use in whichever literature is being read at the moment. If I am
reading, for example, Ludwig Edler von Mises' book, Socialism: An Economic and
Sociological Analysis, then an authoritarian, interventionist, bureaucratic, and omnipotent
statist definition of socialism is what is being used. A good dictionary must give a record
of this anti-socialist usage of "Socialism". If other authors from the Austrian School, such
as Friedrich August von Hayek, give socialism a statist meaning in their books and essays,
then this meaning of "socialism" must be recorded. But, if a pro-socialist, like say, Mikhail
Aleksandrovich Bakunin, gives an anarchist definition of the socialism being advocated,
then a respectable and reputable dictionary will and must provide an anarchist and
libertarian definition of the word/name "socialism".





The purpose of commercial advertising is to sell things; the purpose is not to educate
consumers.