Unfortunately, we have no overall term for redistributive policies, which are universal in the Western world in various forms.

Bingo. It’s the second most egregious gap in the English language, just behind the absence of a second person plural. :-)

Unfortunately, the word ‘socialism’ has been recruited in America to refer to any such redistributive policies, and that is the sense in which I use it, and in that sense it is certainly correct to say that all civilizations have had some degree of socialism.

Sure, as long as, LIKE the second person plural, we use appropriate qualifiers to insure that people understand that we’re not talking about government run banks, government run oil companies, etc.

Gee, how have those sneaky Europeans figured out how to have their ‘package of shared services paid for by nobody but the rich.’?

They haven’t. They tax their middle class at 2–3X the rates we tax them here.