Were any of the former communist states proper dictatorships of the proletariat?

A dictatorship of the proletariat means workers rule, and protection of the society by the workers. Taking this definition, the Paris commune, or even Anarchist Catalonia, could be said to be a dictatorship of the proletariat. The problem with most communist states to date is the avocation of Leninism, which talks about a vanguard party leading the revolution. It is the vanguard party that usually leads into the dictatorship of the few, instead of the dictatorship of the proletariat - you probably already know the two different definitions of dictatorship: Roman and Marxian.