We've all read, I'm sure, the characterization of Communism - specifically Marxian Communism - as driven by envy. The trouble with that characterization, though, is that it's at odds with the way the Cold War mainstream conceptualized Soviet expansionism back in the old Cold War days.
Remember the "domino theory?" The widespread fear that the Soviet bloc, once it got its hand on a new nation, would never let that nation go? The further fear that American non-interventionism would lead to a Communized world? Although the people who seriously expressed those fears never clued in to von Mises' refutation of socialism, they weren't dummies - in fact, they were experienced geopolitical watchers, some insightful in their specialties.
To get to the point I'm making: the free-world Cold Warriors said that Communism was motivated by envy. But what they did, which includes the writings of the "word-warriors" amongst them, is consistent with a different characterization: Communism is driven by avarice.
Any thoughts on this point? Please note that I'm inducing from what the Cold Warriors did, not from what they said. For those who think that there was lots of avarice on both side, I offer the suggestion that the avarice and the State mesh well together.