I know the reality would have been somewhat grim and that ordinary people would not have been able to have one.
I think you mean Albena not Albania, unless there was a typo in the article.
And in my opinion this is how communism looks in the real world: crooks take over and you get a totalitarian regime. Anything else is an utopia.
Within the Warsaw Pact, there were essentially two levels of utopia: "socialist" and "communist". "Socialist" countries (Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia) allowed limited private ownership of land and businesses (private businesses could not employ more than 50 people). IN "communist" countries (East Germany, USSR), no private ownership was allowed at all.
Yes, crooks ruled in both systems. But everyday life was much easier in "socialism"
I should know - I grew up there.