Communist leaders in the past have been idiots, and you shouldn't look at all communists like them.
Not necessarily. Its not a free market.
Different leaders have different ideologies. Cheng Shengkai was worse of a leader than Mao. Cheng was immoral, corrupted, inexperienced, and an idiot.
Look at Tito's Yugoslavia. They were probably the most free communist country ever. And tito never listened to what stalin said, so stalin tried to kill him, but failed against the guerilla troops. So you're wrong. You CAN have your independence from other commies, and you CAN change the laws so its not 'obey or be shot'