We seldom disagree.
In my opinion, Hoover was not a Commie. He like most bureaucrats did the bidding of his masters. That is why he was comfortable with LBJ. As long as Hoover delivered the dirt to LBJ when asked, Lyndon let him to whatever he wanted.
This is a great case in point of what I've been saying all along: liberals like LBJ will give the statist "right" a police state at home and warfare abroad in return for a welfare state at home. Statist "conservatives" will tolerate or even support a welfare state in return for increased surveillance power and support for wars abroad. So it's no wonder that Hoover could work as well with LBJ as with Nixon, since Nixon and LBJ weren't nearly as far apart as their respective supporters (or enemies) liked to pretend.
“He like most bureaucrats did the bidding of his masters.”
Yes, but he also controlled his masters through the illegal knowledge he gained using the FBI. No one can have such a long career without leverage and it was widely known he used that leverage. That was illegal, unconstitutional, and he should have been in prison many times for it. He illegally spied on US citizens and used the power of the federal government to do it.
To me, that was communism in that he used the power of the State to control the people and their elected representatives. It was also communism in that he believed the federal government should wield power over the people and the States and he exercised that idea throughout his career. I have not doubt that should the US government have turned real commie and controlled all commerce he would have obliged to participate as that level of power would have had him drunk on it.