Soviet society was communist, don't fall for the real Communism has never been tried ruse. Soviet society was one of the examples of how Communism at a large scale can end up looking, others are e.g. Cambodia under Pol Pot, China under Mao, Cuba under Castro, Venezuela under Maduro, etc. The things these societies have in common is that they were/are repressive, that the Party/ the government claims it was/is working for 'the people' and that there was/is a clear distinction between Party members and the 'common folk' with the former having access to perks not available or allowed to the latter.
Communism at a large scale does not work because it goes against human nature - we're not bees or ants or other similar animals but rather belligerent primates with a cultural predilection for living in families and clans. It is there where Communism can work, at a small enough scale so that leechers and moochers can be put in their place and there is no (need for a) Party. As soon as the size of the Communi(ty) gets so large that any individual can no longer check on all of the others Commun(ism) no longer works since it offers far too many opportunities for less scrupulous individuals to leech of others and for ideologists to rise to power 'in service of the people'.
> Communism at a large scale does not work because it goes against human nature - we're not bees or ants or other similar animals but rather belligerent primates with a cultural predilection for living in families and clans.
And yet, we don't live as such animals and our collective behavior changed throughout history thanks to our reasoning capabilities taking over the inner "animal".
> our collective behavior changed throughout history thanks to our reasoning capabilities taking over the inner "animal".
That 'inner animal' comes out the moment the shelves in the supermarkets are empty and the electronic payment systems are down. Those reasoning capabilities may have put a thin cultural veneer over the beast but it is still there, ready to defend itself and its own if push comes to shove as well it should - cultures have a way of collapsing when times get hard.
Tell that to China, Vietnam! Life's never been this sweet since they applied scientific socialism. It's been so successful there that Westerners are getting angry and they are accusing them of "flooding other markets" or of "overproduction". They caught up in less than 80 years! Imagine what they will be able to do in 50 years :)
"Scientific" is opposed to "idealistic" in the Marxian traditions. It opposes anarchism and social reformists. It is scientific because it seeks to understand the root causes of all major human historical events that passed and those that have yet to happen. And until now, history gave reason to Historical and Dialectical Materialism, which are respectively the scientific and philosophical pillars of Marxism.
Regarding the markets, considering their ever growing export sector, I wouldn't worry too much for now ;)
"Scientific" socialism versus what you label as "idealistic" socialism is the equivalent of Protestantism versus Catholicism: two iterations of a religion (it is not that commonplace yet to see Marxism and the Hegelian dialectics from which it originated as non-theistic religions but replace 'god' with 'man-as-god' and you'll understand the comparison). Both Catholics as well as Protestants consider their religion the true one while the others may have heard the bell but are lost when it comes to locating the clapper. The same goes for all your various strains of Marxism, good for endless philosophising by academics as well as for being regurgitated by Lenin's [1] 'useful idiots'. How many angels can stand on the point of a pin? Does historical materialism show the inevitability of the end of Capitalism? Philosophise away but don't forget that's all it is: philosophising without basis in actual reality.
[1] whether Lenin ever used the phrase I'll leave in the middle but the concept stands
Communism at a large scale does not work because it goes against human nature - we're not bees or ants or other similar animals but rather belligerent primates with a cultural predilection for living in families and clans. It is there where Communism can work, at a small enough scale so that leechers and moochers can be put in their place and there is no (need for a) Party. As soon as the size of the Communi(ty) gets so large that any individual can no longer check on all of the others Commun(ism) no longer works since it offers far too many opportunities for less scrupulous individuals to leech of others and for ideologists to rise to power 'in service of the people'.