I'd actually recommend Marx if you want to genuinely understand the ideology and why it appeals to people. I'm not saying I agree with him. I'm just saying a lot of what people label as communist is just some authoritarian assholery. If communism is really so terrible, we should be able to read what Marx said and clearly see the flaws in it, right? 

 A shortcut would be to simply ask, "Does this ideology respect the life, liberty, and property of the individual?" 

 And how do you propose to answer that question? By what definition and where did it come from? 

 Do you want your life, liberty, and property respected? Who owns you? 

 Partially correct, until you get to the individual. Note that this isn't an endorsement of communism, just clarification because a lot of people use the word without understanding it properly. Communism is largely about the means of production, the spaces, tools, and materials requires to produce the things society needs. Personal possessions aren't strictly banned under the ideology. Owning your own home, for example, isn't forbidden under communism, but there may be examples of attempted communist states that made laws to the contrary. 

 But if you can't choose what to do with your time & labor then you don't own yourself. People are actually the source of all wealth & production, so if you (as an individual) don't get to decide what you produce & you can't own the tools needed to do so, then communism is ultimately just a philosophy crafted to sell slavery to the slaves. 

 Communism is mass public slavery