This was called the Union of Soviet Socialist States. What do you think the "soviets' were? They were representative organizations of the "proletariat", or the "workers". It has been tried and does not work if the government is the guarantor of the business. Now there have been, and are employee-owned businesses. But, these businesses usually are where the employees bought it from a sole proprietor. You cannot just throw poor people into a business and expect them to perform and make a profit, it just does not work as has been the case in numerous communist attempts to do so.