Stalin never liked CCP and did not think it had much chance of governing China. Mao hated USSR even more, dating back to the very first years of CCP, when USSR's misguided advice almost destroyed the party. On economic aid, in order to have the aid to have the same impact on China as it had on Taiwan, it had to be 50 times larger. The Congress would never allow such expenses. The point about economic development is the essence of this discussion.
Some means are much better than others.
It had one of the largest public sectors outside of the communist bloc, and one of the most interventionist government. Whether the cat is black or white is really irrelevant.