A common Characteristic that describes socialism and communism is that they are economic and political structures which promote equality and seek to eliminate social classes. The two are very similar in some ways, but very different in others.
In a communist society, the working class owns everything, and all the people work for a common goal. There are no wealthy or poor people. In other words, all are equal and the community distributes what it produces based only on need.
In a socialist society, the main focus is equality as in communism. Workers can spend their wages as they choose but the government owns and operates all the means of production.
They are opposite to capitalism but basic healthcare and public education are forms of socialism and communism applied to capitalism.