Is it fair to say that democratic socialists are communists? I've met more than a few self-described democratic socialists who would object to that characterization.
Socialism, communism and anarchism are the very same thing. Some people are more comfortable with a label or the other because they have been appropriated by specific movements.
Authoritarian communism (marxism) is a historically very tiny branch of socialism/communism, with anarchists being an overwhelming majority.
This tiny marxist/bolshevik minority killed its way to the top, and was used by capitalist empires as a strawman example of what would happen with "communism". Both sides find advantages in confusing communism with marxism, while in practice, dictatorship of the proletariat has nothing to do with communism at all.
Someone claiming one of the three labels without the two others, either has no clue about the history of communism, or just wants to avoid being assimilated with genocidal authoritarian communists.
