The Soviet Union had massive public support as did Mao’s China and initially Mussolini, Pol Pot, and the other bloody dictators of the last century. Even Baby Doc enjoyed majority support in Haiti. It wasn’t until later they needed their secret police or student mobs.
We are just turning into the phase here where increasing numbers are realizing just how much freedom they are losing and how much worse their lives have become. One proof of this is found in the increasing support for Republican candidates from working Hispanic and Asian minorities.
I’m not sure the Soviets ever really had massive public support. No doubt 99.9% of Russians would have told a pollster they supported the regime but we all know that’s because they feared the consequences of not supporting it.