I skimmed over the article and read the article once.
You are right about Jonah Goldberg pointing out that communism ,socialism ,and collectivism all are rooted in envy. What is it they envy? Is it the objects we enjoy or our ability to feel joy? They make the world bland. They would be pleased if our days were like colorless, flavorless cubes of jello.
Their envy is rooted in the fear that they [the moral socialist majority] may lose control, if someone somewhere is having a bit too much fun.
I think that the envy is the main tool of “isms” to make the society rely on or reward its members less based on individual achievements, but rather deny them the sense of achievement.
“Envy” can be useful if it spurs the achievement of the sense of accomplishment, rather than the denying someone else the accomplishment - just to make [almost] everyone “equal”. That only breeds corruption and disincentive to progress.