Mode of production

The mode of production is the system under which goods and services are produced. Examples of different modes of production are Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism.

In a socialist revolution, the capitalist system would first be overthrown, and replaced with socialism. A transitional system, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, would take place. Eventually, communism would be achieved, and the state would be abolished.

The USSR, and other "communist" states, were never communist. They were, at least nominally, socialist states aspiring towards communism.