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> Socialism is a system characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to capitalism, which is characterised by private ownership of the means of production. Both are ideologies.

Historically, every attempt to build a socialistic society has led to tyranny. One can wonder, if this might be an inevitable consequence along the path to attempt socialism.

But we have managed to build several capitalistic societies which did not fall into tyranny (although some did).

> Historically, every attempt to build a socialistic society has led to tyranny.

http://wrightstories.com/attempts-to-fly-before-the-wrights/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_perpetual_motion_ma...

>Also, I'm pretty sure Germans don't consider socialism to be an authoritarian ideology.

I'm not sure why the opinion of Germans matters here, they have the same capitalist economy that the US and the rest of Europe do.

There are the proper political science definitions and then there are the meanings on the ground (so to speak). Unfortunately, the latter are fluid depending on the country and don't always line up...