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@GhostOnTheHalfShell @duckwhistle @Radical_EgoCom

Properly understood, communism cannot be authoritarian. As Emma Goldman explains in https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-there-is-no-communism-in-russia , communism is egalitarian. We might disagree with Karl Marx about means to the end, but we agree on the end, which is why, for all the suffering that resulted from his ideas, I'm inclined to allow him a little grace--I think he meant well, and by the time we had the proof that Michael Bakunin was right, it was too late.

Accordingly, I label these regimes "authoritarian socialist," specifically to distinguish from libertarian socialism, which along with anarchism, recognizes that both political and economic power over others is a problem (anarchists would say it's illegitimate).

As to democracy, I'm not clear on why we even still talk about it. You ask, "Are the people doing the work deciding who, what, how much and why?" In any country I'm aware of, the answer is flatly no--the rich and powerful make those decisions.