Communists believe that production is about physical objects they can steal by grabbing. They have never understood that production is a result of voluntary cooperation. When they use force, they keep the physical objects they think are so important, and destroy the cooperation they don't understand. Production plummets.
Then they blame everyone but themselves, as "wreckers" (i.e. slaves unwilling to work as hard under mere threat as free men do for their own benefit) or "profiteers" (when prices rise because supply has evaporated). They redouble repression, trying to substitute more stick for the missing carrot. Which drives everyone who can still move away from productive activities and the countryside. The collapse snowballs.
So millions die of starvation. Since they can't admit it was all because of their mistaken criminal economic ideas, they take the occasion to direct the starvation at real and imaginary enemies. It happened in Russia in the 30s and not one communist regime has learned from that experience since. Mao did the same thing, Pol Pot did the same thing, Kim Il Sung did the same thing. Now Mugabe does the same thing. And everybody stands around watching, expecting the outcome to somehow be different. It won't be.
Maybe they don't expect anything, except what, as you've describe, comes. Kill off your opposition and enslave the rest.