Was Russia ever actually truly communist though?

No, and it wasn’t a secret. The Party’s official story was that they were working on it, so be patient. Until the eighties they were in the habit of perpetually pushing the future advent of communism later and later, until nobody believed it would ever come.

In a sense, Russia was more communist under the tsars than after the revolution:

Until the 1860s, almost all Russian peasants held their land in a form of communal ownership known as obshchina or mir, which was similar, but not identical, to the commons-based communities in pre-industrial England. The communes were arranged in various ways, but typically, each household farmed strips in open fields, and the land was periodically redistributed. Control of common lands and forests was managed by village assemblies. — Monthly Review

all Russian peasants held their land in a form of communal ownership known as obshchina or mir, which was similar, but not identical, to the commons-based communities in pre-industrial England — Monthly Review

Very interesting. Makes me think that communism as created by Marx maybe was envisioned specifically in these kinds of communal contexts and so communism would be a kind of radical political modification to a familiar (or at least not so far off) social situation.

Look how different society is now though - how individualized but at the same time geographically extended / globalized it is; how much economies have shifted from manufacturing and producing material goods to services and entertainment; how we have gone way beyond basic necessities to choice and consumerism. I wonder if communism actually even makes sense in modern society without some radical re-invention of it. Maybe someone has done that. That said, even experiments in socialist communities back in the 1800s basically all failed as far as I'm aware.

Great and interesting answers Jamal! I was also thinking of adding some notes by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn:

Steals what is stolen. (grab nagrabliennoye) Earlier, Vera Kornéyeva said, you put your unbridled passions before everything else and, of course, believers hindered you. But now you want to build and achieve well-being in this world, why do you persecute your best citizens? Believers do not steal; do you intend to build a just society with the profiteers and the jealous? It will all come crashing down on you. Let the Church be truly separated from the State, do not touch it, you have nothing to lose.

***

The manifesto of 1861, despite all its limitations, the reform proved to be more generous than similar reforms in neighboring countries: Prussia and Austria. Later on, the 1917 revolution swept away the incomplete agrarian reform of Alexander...

, , fyi, an old vote/thread taking it a step further:

Is communism realistic/feasible? (realistic/feasible ≠ possible)

In a traditional definition, Russia was never communist but socialist. It has now transitioned to an oligarchic State capitalism. The socialist economic model has shown itself to be inefficient times again, so I doubt Russia will ever go back to Soviet ways, perhaps something more like China is a possibility.