Something else that seems to get lost in the shuffle is the fact that life under Stalin was no different in terms of freedom of thought, association, expression, etc. from life under the Tsars (any of them). The current return we’re seeing to an all-encompassing State in Russia under Putin is just a natural return to the status quo.
In other words, “communism” (an economic theory) had nothing to do with totalitarian oppression in Russia, which comfortably co-existed with feudalism and now with capitalism. China and Vietnam are other examples of totalitarian systems working together very well with capitalism.