i had a long reply that i accidentally deleted but conveniently this book about Stalin just came out that should give you an infinitely more nuanced “history and critique” of Stalin than the average westerner could imagine exists.

TL;DR Stalin is a complicated figure, just like everyone else. The cartoon villain picture of Stalin that western propagandists have been building for almost a full century now isn’t real, no one likes the “eastern hitler” caricature that doesn’t exist. We like Josif Stalin, the real person who existed, did great things, did bad things. a lot of what you think you know is simply false, and to understand why we “like” Stalin, you have to learn who Stalin really was, and find out what you think you know about him, the Soviet Union, and communism as a whole, that is just plain wrong.

sorry about the downvotes and dunking that are going to come to you, some folks around here have trouble distinguishing genuine questions and bad faith trolls.