I don't think "everyone being equal" was ever a stated or practiced goal in communism. Even if the means of production was owned by laborers (the state), all aspects of society is still ordered hierarchically in all real-life examples of communism. The Soviet Union, China, both had/have big businesses with company leaders, bosses, middle managers, and so on. Not to speak of the military forces, academia, or the arts. If anything, the communist nations had meritocracy instead of equality. At least in how claimed their nations were organized, and many times in practice as well.