People ignorantly think Lenin would have been better if he had survived.
I think this attitude was carefully fostered by the useful idiots of the West following the lead of Khrushchev, who despite being an ardent Stalinists knew he had to toss over his old boss to secure his power. Only with the useful idiots, still seeking power in their own countries, they needed to make believe it was Stalin who was bad.
But the truth is Stalin embodied the true nature of Lenin’s governing doctrine, the gulag state and secret police terrors were all a part of it from the very beginning ... just as Trotsky (another vile scumbag some useful idiots tried to reform) was an unholy terror in his own right.
There were no good communists, no good socialists.
But at least Stalin did one good thing: he killed off a lot of those that Lenin trusted ... men who could have helped him not make the USSR a better place but a somewhat different commie hell hole.
“There were no good communists, no good socialists.”
Sure there are. DEAD ones.