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Competition & Progressive?

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I couldn't make it past "The Principles of Communism" without several questions that may or may not appear obvious to others, but as for me, I need to know before moving along and taking the rest in. For example, competition, appeared to be one of the devils of society, one that communism must crush in order to be successful. Competition according to Engels was partially at fault for classism. This made me wonder how we conceptualize competition in our society today. Is this a cultural phenomenon. I remember as a child competition showed its face every day, from getting a star in the elementary school classroom to fighting to be a the top of the class in high school or winning the swim meet. How does a society function without competition? What are the detriments of competition? Is all competition evil?
Secondly, a lot of aspects of communism seemed to be very modern and progressive. For example, the idea of globalization was already mentioned: "In this way, big industry has brought all the people of the Earth into contact with each other..." Also, the idea that the Earth did not belong to anyone and the need for absolution of private property seemed to be progressive as well. "Equal inheritance rights for children born in and out of wedlock" is another progressive idea. Finally, the idea of the family in communism seems to me to be very modern. However, what I don't understand is the role of the woman. I don't understand the "community of women". What role does the woman play in a communist society? Is she valued and respected? How is this different from a democratic society? Is the difference significant?

One last note....when reading about the proletariat, I keep thinking about people who lived paycheck to paycheck today....any ideas?

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