marx, friend or foe?

• How is personal freedom only achieved in a community?

One of Marx's big issues is the matter of freedom. According to him, personal freedom can only be achieved in a communist community where everyone is working equally and gaining equal rewards from their work. You may say, in fact, even I say that this view is iffy at best. How can freedom be achieved, personal freedom no less, in a situation where everyone is forced to be exactly the same? Automatons just going about their lives in "perfect" harmony. Where's the freedom in that, Marx?
Marx's response is that in any other situation other than the communist community, there will always be somebody keeping you down. In the typical caste, or even social class system, there is a higher and lower class; with the former in control either loosely or directly of the latter. Marx believes that communism would correct this by eliminating social classes. For if there is no higher class, there is noone to oppress, and by extension noone to be oppressed. Like the rest, of Marx's ideas, this looks good on paper but doesn't really work in practice. A pity.