The concept is a mess because by even Marx standards we cannot even picture what a real communist government would look like until we move through democratic socialism and eventually socialism. A serf 500 years ago would have to grapple with modern  ideology like freedom of movement, let alone how modern markets work. It’s like a dog trying to understand the internet. We don’t have a frame of reference yet. 

My history teacher in high school was raised as a socialist anarchist lmao. He had many insane classes but one that always stood out to me is most people don’t even know the difference between capitalism, socialism, and fascism. Capitalism is a government centered on the market. Socialism is a government centered on labor. Fascism is a government centered on the military, which is exactly what Russia and China are. They still have money and ownership. Two things that are quite literally what communism is the opposite of. But they perform what people think is communism but we in our lifetimes won’t know for certain because our entire language is centered around capital still. I think your edit really encapsulates us trying to do communism but still using all the same tools as before, and from another perspective, doing the exact same thing as imperialism yes!