Resource allocation is always a political problem. (On a large-scale, anyway.)
> In a capitalist system, if something looks like it's going to be a big economic hit people are ready to sell off other assets and pour billions of dollars into it.
1. In a Capitalist system, most people have little assets; and most assets are under the control of a minority (which becomes relatively smaller over time.
2. A "big economic hit" is not necessarily in people's interests anyway.
3. The USSR was not a Communist society (and didn't claim to be). It was ruled by "The Communist Party" but that's really not the same thing.
> there's a guy who doesn't want to lose funding for his department who might have more power than his rivals
Not entirely different from divisions within a large corporation who vie for funding and/or power over their peers. (And the managers of such divisions.)