Ha well continue being baffled by it because it's the literal definition of grassroots communism.
What exactly do you think communism is on a small scale?
Give what you can; take what you need.
Have you heard this before?
Communism.
The only differences between large scale and small scale communism are voluntarism (small scale communists voluntary participate) and centralization (someone has to be in charge of distribution and determining who needs what). Obviously these are not small differences and lead to exactly where they lead to.
You're response in referencing Stalin... the most notoriously fascist government ever... and then equating it to small-scale communism is just... no.