General Election 2010

I really don't want to try to define Socialism, but I would argue socialism has more to do with having a planned economy (and this goes beyond simply the welfare state; we're talking about the nationalization of companies and goods which the state dictates are too important to be in the hands of private companies [or if they are, these companies need to be owned, and therefore accountable, to the government/public] like oil and other natural resources, transport, financial companies, communication companies, etc.) rather than the method of exchange (cash).

And these are the simple reasons why it didn't work.
You see, in Eastern Europe farmers had their land taken away by the Soviets to create huge nationalised "food factories". That's fucking bullshit, stealing from struggling poor people and make them work for shitty wages. Nationalised factories, mines, shops... There was a saying "if something is nationalised it belongs to nobody". There were no owners to the businesses, just appointed directors. Nobody gave a shit about the performance nor customers - "you stay up, you lay down, the wages are expected nevertheless".
Everything around you was a sham. Show put up to please the party secretary.
People were stealing from their places of work to sell off on the black market. Builders were openly selling building materials and compensate with poor craftsmanship (the roads and pavements would crumble after a year or so, because they use less cement which was stolen and sold to private people to build their own houses).
Traditional socialism juts doesn't work and people will never be ready to take the plunge and do it properly. The only solution is modern democracy with welfare support.