Aristocracy and privilege are about as far from communism as it gets.

> Aristocracy and privilege are about as far from communism as it gets.

In theory. In practice (history is full of it), the castes develop overnight. A group of individuals has to make decisions and manage the oversight and record keeping, etc. This leads to corruption and a de-facto aristocracy.

Castes are about as far from communism as it gets.

You keep repeating this but as somebody from former Warsaw Pact country let me tell you there was a real caste system during communism. Party members were basically royalty. And the ruling caste (top, most loyal apparatchiks) were just like Louis XIV, having completely unlimited powers over other people.

The existence of castes - social classes - is in direct contrast with the definition of communism, which seeks a classless society.

Yes but it is not in contrast with every implementation of communism in human history.

Then why were there special stores for Soviet leadership where they could buy products the rest of the population couldn’t?

Is that not privilege? Why could a government official get a car while a normal person would have to wait years?

Children of government officials got preference at the best universities and jobs. Is that not aristocracy?

Communism is all about privilege — everyone is equal but some people are more equal than others.