I guess you live in the USA ?
Just spoke to two kiwis and one Romania (who lived there while it was still communist) and we all think there is a huge difference between communism and socialism.

The way it was explained to me when I was growing up in the UK was there is a component of democracy with socialism.

I see the word collectivism often being lumped in with communism. This seems strange to me as I see collectivism as being very democratic like a worker owned collective such as gained a lot of traction in the Falklands after the English aggression and subsequent withdrawal of globalized businesses. I met a group of brewers here in NZ who formed such an organisation. It seems like a most agreeable way to rum a business to me! Very democratic