User:Trust Is All You Need/Socialism
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By definition a socialist state is led by a communist party, operating under the principles of Marxism–Leninism, that has instituted a socialist economic system in a given country.[1][2] This article does not deal with countries with constitutional references to socialism and countries ruled by long-standing socialist movements (such as Venezuela for instance). It deals with states that define themselves either as a socialist state or as a state led by a governing Marxist–Leninist party in their constitutions. For this reason alone, these states are often called communist states.[3][4][5]
The socialist state is more than a form of government. A socialist state can only exist in countries with a socialist economic system. There are examples of several states that have instituted a socialist form of government before achieving socialism. For example, the former socialist states of Eastern Europe were established as people's democracies (a developmental stage between capitalism and socialism). On the question of the Marxist–Leninist ruled countries of Africa and the Middle East, the Soviet Union deemed none of them to be socialist states—referring to them as socialist-oriented states.