The siren song of socialism and communism is alluring, but the record is crystal clear.
Source: Why Socialism Often Leads to Tyranny - Foundation for Economic Education
This article addresses communism as much as socialism but the point is the same. Either form of government requires a top heavy government. This inevitably leads to tyranny in some greater or lesser way.
So why do some countries seem to do fairly well under relatively socialist governments? The U.K. for example. Well, the U.K. went hard towards socialism immediately after World War II and things weren't working out so well. They went pretty hard back towards capitalism and that probably saved them. The U.K. still has a large free market economy and that's what keeps it relatively prosperous. As opposed to place like Venezuela where more heavy handed socialist practices like price controls are common. The Venezuela to U.K. comparison is nothing to be laughed at. Venezuela has the world's largest proven supply of oil reserves and not so long ago was South America's largest economy.