Can Communism ever work in reality?

[ingemann]

I think you could make an argument that monasteries practice a sort of communism. Maybe that's ignorant of me.

Not western medieval monastries, they was simply religious manors with a large land, where local serfs or renting freemen worked the monasty's land.

As for the question, communism function in very small isolated groups, who have to share the work and the rewards to survive short term. But as a society it can't function.