Of course. In a fully free nation (or still predominantly free nation like the United States of America), individual rights, including rights to freedom of association and property rights, are protected by a government of constitutionally limited powers. A number of individuals can voluntarily agree to sign over and pool all of their property and earnings under common ownership and establish a method to distribute that wealth according to need. As a private association, no one can legally stop them. Nor can the communist association force others into their “society” (community). That would be communism, lower case “c”.
What no one can do in a free nation is use the government to legally force their communistic beliefs on others. That would be Communism, upper case “C”—i.e., Marxism—which would require an end to individual freedom and private property via the establishment of a totalitarian state.
It is a simple fact that, under capitalism’s limited government, a socialist can live by his convictions based on the separation of economics and state just as a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist can live by their convictions based on the separation of religion and state, so long as they respect the same rights of others. Under a Communist government, a capitalist cannot live by his convictions because no one can escape the dictates of the socialist rulers—a capitalist, or anyone who seeks any measure of economic freedom, is by definition an outlaw.
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It should be added that in a communist society set up under capitalism, any member who freely signs up can withdraw if he chooses and can take property with him which is justly determined to be his property under an enforceable formula contained in the society's agreement.
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