Socialism is an economic effect of a particular way of organizing a society. So is free-market capitalism. Neither are primaries in themselves.

You have already established that you aren't interested in discussing things like philosophy, ideology, or reason in the context of politics or social organization. This is kind of like discussing nuclear power or spaceflight without dealing with physics, but it's not impossible.

But you won't even deal with empirical historical examples, the "surface structure" of social analysis.

Of course corruption increases with the power of the state. Stop and think about the function of lobbying, government bribes, and the rest. The more power the state has to control the economy, the more incentive.

If you actually have any interest in this at all, go back and look at the corruptions of the Gilded Age. Try and find examples that didn't involve politicians.