Is communism a bad idea

No. Political beliefs are never "evil" they are just poorly executed. The goal of communism is not to kill anyone. Communism is a theory where its followers believe that the federal government should be very powerful and control almost everything. Is it evil, no. Is it a flawed system? yes. For Communism to exist and function as planned, the people must all abide to republicanistic ideals. However, greed takes over and you have a Dictatorship on your hands.