Communism is a stateless, classless society. By definition, this means that there cannot be a “communist country”, or a “communist state”.

Oh wow, not the first time I’ve heard this! Such a blatant example of the no true Scotsman fallacy!

It actually isn’t though. No true Scotsman is about pointing differences in UNRELATED characteristics to falsely reject provided examples. But “communist countries” are a violation of the clearly stated definition itself. Rejecting these examples is not fallacious.

Yes, countries in the eastern block can most definitely be classified as “socialist”. Socialist policies generally center around “workers owning means of production”. Meaning, most capital is owned by the working class.

NOW. What does one even mean by “owned by the working class”? Worker coops? Consumer coops? A singular state, owning capital? Different leftists have different positions on this.

But none of this really has much dirt on the idea of communism. Did the first French Republic after the revolution somehow show that republicanism, or democratic ideals were bad and that we should return to a monarchy? Not really. It was a revolution gone wrong.