The world’s two major propaganda systems did not agree on much, but they did agree on using the term socialism to refer to the immediate
destruction of every element of socialism by the Bolsheviks. That’s not too surprising. The Bolsheviks called their system socialist so as to exploit the moral prestige of socialism.
The West adopted the same usage for the opposite reason: to defame the
feared libertarian ideals by associating them with the Bolshevik
dungeon, to undermine the popular belief that there really might be
progress towards a more just society with democratic control over its basic institutions and concern for human needs and rights.
If socialism is the tyranny of Lenin and Stalin, then sane people will say: not for me. And if that’s the only alternative to corporate state capitalism, then many will submit to its authoritarian structures as the only reasonable choice.