Socialism and Communism are, as per other political ideologies, only simple models by which to base construction what will ultimately be a complex system in order to preserve the values of the society (such as egalitarianism, liberty and mutualism) ( as per 1789 ).

None of these things are to be used just as an ideology we worship, since doing so doesn't actually make it so. Look at how the US worships freedom even as it tries to lock out trans rights and women's rights, and has a justice system that is stratified to favor the wealthy, and to incarcerate the marginalized. You can praise and chant an ideology all you want, and never actually see its virtues in action.

Just as democracy has (huge, egregious) issues that can be subverted (and are) and need to be addressed before the powerful exploit them to retain and increase power, so it is for other models of social conduct like socialism and communism. They're a starting point.

And frankly, the world has only started to veer away from models of dictatorship and bonded servitude, and are still trying to do the same thing just with extra steps with different names, hence how a gross amount of the US lives in precarity and the poverty line is lowered so that those above the poverty line still live in squalor (just slightly shinier squalor).

It's up to us to turn the notion of socialism or communism into examples that work. And there have been examples. The Black Pathers were anarcho-communist, though they suffered mass-assassinations by FBI. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico is also anarcho-communist, and still at large, if quiet right now (no actions have been taken by either side for a while).

The US is going through a phase where it has to change, and currently the path of least resistance is towards a grisly death, first through mass purges, then through obligatory war, at which point we're going to look an awful lot like Germany after the Soviets take Berlin. You are now a part of the resistance, presently unorganized, to prevent this fate. In the meantime, if we don't create a new public serving order, we will be here again.

(And then we have the climate crisis and the plastic crisis to address, both of which are running out of time. Stupid ice zombies)

That's where the permanent revolution would help. The workers must not allow splitting the revolution into stages of concessions and compromises but fight until total victory and the dissolution of the state.

Also this is the reason why communists are not pacifists — the working class has the right and a duty to defend itself and it's gains. That's what Marx meant when he wrote that under no pretense must workers be disarmed.