state level governments, factory managers etcetera.
Discussion
Capitalism is the free exchange of goods and services between individuals and private groups, where the means of production are privately owned, production is guided and income distributed through free markets.
Socialism calls for public ownership or control of property and natural resources, and that society collectively owns and distributes the profits of production.
Level of government and business structures are pretty irrelevant.
It comes down to do you own your property and can you do what you want with it (rent, sell, transform into a product)? Or, does the governemnt own the property and determine what you get.
That's impractical. A factory would always have hierarchy. You don't expect government to directly control the factory or the workers collectively controlling the factory.
Like I said, the structure doesn't really matter.
Socialism won't lead to capitalism, because they are diametrically opposed.
Opposite in "theory". Realistically, you don't expect a factory to be managed without a leader and a leader can potentially micro manage anytime.
There are leaders in socialism. There can be structures to organize labor. This doesn't mean it is capitalism.
Yes. That.
The leader has the potential to turn rogue (that's what essentially happens in capitalism - someone in the chain becomes exploitative and decides to exploit workers, evade taxes and all). Same can happen in socialism and one way or the other we are looking at capitalism.
Exploitation of workers does not equal capitalism.
Capitalsim is the free exchange of goods and services, with prices and pay determined by a free market.
If you have a manager under socialism secretly stealing from the gov't and/or the employees, that is just corrupt socialism, as there is still no free market.
If a free market, say a capitalist black market (goods, services, and labor), were to arise, there would be a case along the lines of what you are suggesting. But, this, then, would just be a rejection of socialism, replacing it with capitalism.