the necessity of employing state power against literal fascists, landlords, capitalists, sabateurs, etc, then you're implicitly making the point that we should let these groups run free for a sense of greater "freedom,"
Firstly, fascists came much later as response to the growth of communist movements. Communism did not start to prevent fascists, it's the other way around, not that I am condoning the latter but this is simply the historical truth.
Second, Marxist Leninist communists killed even other different flavour of communists. A famous example were the Kronstadt sailors who simply wanted actual horizontal distribution of power like free and fair electione, and actual worker-run businesses. Instead, the Marxist-Leninist Bolsheviks killed them in the name of "vanguardism", ie to maintain state power that you just invoked. The state power is merely the centralisation of power and authority for the few.
In reality, communists become so because of disaffections with present capitalist systems, and seek answers from Marx, Engels, Lenin, etc. The fact that some party members are opportunists doesn't make that a fact of communism.
Yes, yes, theory, theory and all that; but that doesn't ignore the fact that empirical realities negate the idealism that communism purport to espouse. Going back to Bertrand Russell's quote: it quite literally is a veiled attempt to grab power. Actions and end results must comply with idealism but alas, that didn't happen even in communism.