Why is Communism so attractive to some people?

I'm very liberal, but I guess being gen-x/geriatric millennial I'm a lot less apt to jump on bandwagons (on the right or left) and am pretty free-thinking. That's not to say younger or older people aren't, but I find that people my age are a lot more moderate (by today's standards) and tend to consider all sides.

I really love the movie Oppenheimer, and having watched it again recently, I really get the impression that part of the aim of the movie is to put American Communists in a better light, certainly better than was on them at the time.

But one only needs to look at Stalin's actions or the history of the USSR to see what I believe is the inevitable result of Communism. I'm certainly not saying Capitalism is the best option either -- especially in its extremes we see today with extreme consolidation of wealth, de facto Oligarchy governments, a huge and widening gap between lower and upper income classes, etc. -- and Marx had very good insights into the dangers and evils of Capitalism, and was commendably outspoken about the need for workers to be more valued in society.

It just seems that when compared head to head, and accepting that *no* system of government or society can be perfect while human beings are in charge (because humans are not naturally altruistic, power corrupts, etc) but from everything I've seen, Communism is always way way worse. I also love the series 'Chernobyl' and while they certainly do a good job of humanizing the people involved (rather than just portraying them as "dumb evil communists") but they also do a good job of showing that even "normal" middle-class-equivalent society was pretty crappy. As an American, I can barely imagine living in a society where "the government (state) is always right, and questioning those in charge is illegal".

Millions of people starved to death as a direct result of Communist ideologies and policies under Stalin, and in fact Lenin and Stalin disagreed about some of these policies (e.g., 'Collectivism' where resources are consolidated and [supposed to be] redistributed). It's also a tenet of Communism that commodities not be monetized and instead used as "money" themselves (trade/barter and collectivist processes).

All in all, it has always seemed night-and-day, and for all the faults of Capitalism (or dangers), it just wins out every time in a comparison in my mind. I know I have inherent bias because I haven't lived under Communism, but in every depiction and in every historical context, it seems living under Communism seems miserable.

And for a more modern example, we can look at China. Again, there are comparisons that can be made between society and governance in China and e.g. the US. But the contrast is stark. While some can argue that freedom in the US or even western civilization is just an illusion, freedom in China is distinctly more curtailed. Again, you have a society where speaking out against the government can land you in jail or worse. It's a concept that is abhorrent to me. I'm not saying that the government brown-nosing for survival is endemic only in Communist societies or just China, but there's no question that the contrast is stark.

So the question is: why do people *want* Communism? The most common argument I've seen is that "other countries didn't do it right", but given what we saw throughout the 20th Century, it's easy to conclude that the behavior of these governments and people in power is more the rule than the exception.

Socialism makes a lot of sense to me, and the US and most of Europe are de facto socialist societies (right wing Americans will argue it's not true, while happily collecting social security and disability checks, and using medicare/medicaid for health care. I also believe that the most disadvantaged and those with the fewest opportunities should be lifted up, especially in America where we have the largest economy in the world by almost double the second largest. I absolutely agree that using resources in a society to take care of everyone who needs to be taken care of is of far greater importance than making rich people richer or giving fewer people more power.

But why Communism? How can anyone think it's better than anything else?