Sometimes it seems like communism is really just monarchy/oligarchy with a slick orwellian marketing department.

Just replace "The People" with "The King", and imagine Louis XIV saying "The People?  That's me."
Or Kim Jong Un, or any other communist premier.

The Party is the king's court or nobility.
They ride in limos while everyone else walks, because kingdom-things.

When they nationalize industry, it becomes property of The King, along with almost everything else in the kingdom.

It's like a way of deluding the population into willing peons.  Exceptions can be re-educated.