Actually, Communism was developed from Markism which was ironically created in Germany by the German philosopher and economist, Karl Marx. Any college student who studied Economics and or World History knows that Marx's socioeconomic theories failed to gain widespread acceptance in Germany which at the time, was not in any major economic crisis but it appealed greatly to the masses of poor people (Not the few, wealthy aristocracy and royalty) in Russia who were living under the feudal monarchy of the Russian Tsar (Emperor).

"In a nutshell", Communism with its conceived ideas of the equal redistribution of wealth and services among all of a country's citizens under a (forced) dictatorship of the proletariat (Or Common worker) only works if a country's population is under the grip of extreme poverty with little or no recourse. The main idea is that most (Not all) people within a country who are desperately poor with no legal means of remedying their situation and faced with either a slow death by starvation while still remaining free to control their own destiny, so to speak (You basically don't have "A way out" out of your situation because there are no legal opportunities available other than subsistence farming IF you can manage it) or having their basic needs (food, shelter and healthcare) being provided for them at no or minimal cost by the state in return for their total loyalty to the state which inherently involves the surrendering all of their personal freedoms, would choose the latter over the former.

That's why Communism was so widespread historically in Russia after the last Tsar, in mainland China after the last Emporer (Not in Taiwan where there is a Republic form of Democracy), not too far back in history in Cuba after it was under the rule of a military dictator and now in some African countires and other Third-World countries because the majority (Not all) of the people who are starving would rather not starve in exchange for giving up freedoms which they feel are really low on their list of priorities for preserving when faced with death by slow starvation (It's probable that anyone would choose the latter alternative rather than slowly starve to death with their family while remaining free - It really depends upon how desperate your situation is, financially speaking). We in the "free World" proclaim "Better dead than red" but that's most likely because we're not all desperately starving without any kind of aid (Even the homeless have social services like Welfare and homeless shelters to turn to for help if they accept it - It may not be much and in some cases, not very safe for families but it's better than nothing which is what other poor people in other countries have).

If you've ever seen those "UNICEF" or "Save the Children" ads on TV then you can get an idea of how bad is the situation of poverty for anyone living under those conditions and understand why they would instead have their bellies filled rather than hold onto their personal freedoms which isn't high on their "To Do" list. Whether or not Communism works for a country really depends upon the socioeconomic situation that the majority of its citizens are living under.