According to Marxist–Leninist thought, the goal of the communist state is to abolish the state, not give "power to the people via the state".

Yeah, but communists are retards, so I don't really care about the theory, I care about, to use one of their favorite words...praxis.

It doesn't matter what they say, what matters is what Not Real Communism™ does every...single...time...it's implemented.

"True communism" wouldn't even have a state, sure, but that's never what they try to do, and real world communism has an incredibly strong state, so that's what I'll pay attention to and cite.

I'll stop calling communists statists as soon as communists stop advocating for top down nonsense at gunpoint, and join me in calling for government to get out of our lives, which makes it easier for them to fuck right off and go live on communes, or whatever. They just don't get to force me into their schemes.