diff --git a/axonn/communication.py b/axonn/communication.py
index 6a11ebd..8036af7 100644
--- a/axonn/communication.py
+++ b/axonn/communication.py
@@ -33,11 +33,10 @@ def __init__(
         self.world_size = MPI.COMM_WORLD.Get_size()
 
         if gpus_per_node is None:
-            self.backend = "gloo"
+            self.backend = 'gloo'
             self.is_gpu_available = False
-            self.local_rank = os.environ.get("SLURM_LOCALID", 0)
         else:
-            self.backend = "nccl"
+            self.backend = 'nccl'
             self.is_gpu_available = True
             self.local_rank = self.world_rank % gpus_per_node
             torch.cuda.set_device(self.local_rank)
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.p2p_mpi_comm = MPI.COMM_WORLD.Split(colour)
         assert self.p2p_mpi_comm.Get_size() == G_inter
 
-        # create communicator for collective (NCCL) communication
+        # create communicator for collective communication
         if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
             init_method = "tcp://"
             master_ip = os.getenv("MASTER_ADDR", "localhost")
@@ -121,7 +120,7 @@ def __init__(
                 for i in range(G_intra_c):
                     group_members = intra_layer_ranks[i::G_intra_c]
                     group = torch.distributed.new_group(
-                        ranks=group_members, backend="gloo"
+                        ranks=group_members, backend=self.backend
                     )
                     if self.world_rank in group_members:
                         self.outer_intra_layer_parallel_group = group