Didn't communism fail in the Soviet bloc?

ITAL from MIM's website: http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/ 
END

The Soviet Union under Stalin achieved the world's fastest 
industrialization up to that point in history and became a super-
power. Although it could not overwhelm all the world's capitalist 
countries by itself or even with the help of a mighty China under 
Mao, it grew faster economically until Hitler bailed out the 
capitalist system by attacking the Soviet Union in World War II.

Capitalism "won" through the war of many states against the Soviet 
Union. The Soviet Union beat the Nazis, but the Soviet Union was 
bled dry of one-tenth of its people (their best people in their 
prime) and one-third of all Soviet wealth. The system being called 
a "success" had to have two world wars this century in Europe.

Shortly after World War II which bled the Soviet Union that 
otherwise would have been far ahead of any other country, the 
leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union went soft 
and implemented capitalism. The more the party deviated from the 
road of Lenin and Stalin, the more economic growth slowed down and 
the movement internationally suffered. The final "failure" of the 
Soviet Union was caused by the capture of its leadership by 
capitalist-roaders after 1956 and pointed out by Mao and Hoxha 
soon thereafter. The imperialist media talk about "failure," but 
we Maoists long ago saw failure in the Soviet Union--of the 
capitalist sort. 

We do not defend the economic system in the Soviet Union after 
1956. However, a small handful of rich countries get 
disproportionate weight in the discussion of communism as a 
failure. These rich countries were already much richer than Russia 
before it turned to communism in 1917. In other words, the 
supposed race between socialism and capitalism did not start at 
the same starting line.

Judging communism in a race where it started behind and which has 
only existed in state power since 1917, we are amazed by its 
successes in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and 
caring for the sick and elderly. In the long run, if we do not 
suffer a species-ending catastrophe of world war or environmental 
pollution, communism will prevail eventually just as capitalism 
eventually prevailed over the slave economic system and other 
economic systems before it. 

For more discussion of the real causes of economic development 
using a science and not judging races where several runners start 
the race ahead of another runner and beat up on that runner in the 
midst of the race--see MIM Theory #4, available from MIM 
Distributors for $6; also see MIM's FAQ page for further 
references and discussion.