There is an enormous amount of confusion about what the term means.  There aren’t multiple definitions.  It’s when the means of production are owned exclusively by the state.  It must be distinguished from fascism.  That is when the state controls all factors of production.  The terms of capitalism are retained.  They have been called socialism of the Russian and German pattern.  I prefer “statist” because it’s almost always a mix of both.

Capitalism and statism are fundamentally different.  Statism might go by various names, but the foundation doesn’t change.  Marxism, socialism, fascism, democracy, social democracy, progressivism, leftism, etc., are all variations of statism.  They might differ in the speed at which they travel and the methods they use.  However, they all rely on violation of property.  They are different branches of the same tree.

Statists are conscious of the weakness of their doctrine.  They’ll avoid discussion.  Anything to distract from contradictions and aggressions.  There won’t be any elaboration.  They’ll stick to nice sounding terms.  The statist will engage in personal attacks as soon as the opponent begins to question.  On top of personal attacks, terms will be used that in no way characterize the opponent.  The talking points will be adhered to.

If they don’t use nice sounding terms, they’ll say it’s needed for “public goods.”  This is code for some sort of special good in which supply and demand don’t apply.  The public goods fallacy has been pointed out many times.  So-called public goods are the beginning of statism.  If that fallacy is accepted for one good, it can be accepted for all goods.  There is no logical stopping point.  Popular fallacies, catchwords, and slogans are the road to hell.

It’s imperative you understand the terms.  You certainly won’t get this in the school system.  Terms today are thrown around and they’re so disconnected from their meaning.   Any term that may be used is just a variation of statism.  Fill-in-the-blank capitalism is probably not capitalism.  All forms of statism, whatever they call it, rely on the violation of private property.  The state can’t own or control any property without aggression.

Reference

Ludwig von Mises; Socialism