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RE: The Socialist Poverty Formula
"When I refer to "socialism", I am talking about widespread and prolonged forcible transfer of wealth by the state from the "wealthy" (often including the middle class) to the "poor" (after the bureaucrat class take their cut.)"
socialism is worker control of the means of production. What you are referring to is social democracy, which split from socialist action a long time ago when the time came for real action. Please do not call it socialism....
If the means of production must be forcibly taken from the current owner(s) in order to be controlled by the “workers”, then that is a forcible transfer of wealth. If it occurs in a widespread fashion, it fits with the definition provided.
the means of production are only controlled by an outside force through the power of the state. Without a state capitalism immediately falls away. The basis of capitalism is offensive violence, to keep the control of the means of production out of the hands of the workers and instead in the hands of the "capitalist".
In the Paris commune, all the owners fled and abandoned their businesses and workplaces; after which the workplaces were collectivized and compensation was common for business owners who lost their business and returned.