Saying a state is Communist is shorthand for asserting that it’s on the path to achieving Communism. It’s an uncharted path with many obstacles so just saying “X government did this bad thing therefore it’s not communist/socialist” is very unhelpful, and it really only makes any sort of sense in the context of arguing on the internet

It’s funny because if you look at living standards in eastern Europe during communism’s peak they were wayyy better than they are now