I have spoken to some Bernie Sanders supporter-types...They dismiss Stalin by saying that it was Trotsky who had it right before socialism got messed up... (or something.)
Russians don’t see Stalin as a Communist.
Stalin’s hero was Ivan the Terrible, and that’s how Russians see Stalin, as the modern-day Ivan the Terrible.
Stalin did the exact opposite of Trotsky and Russified the Soviet Union. Trotsky wanted to destroy all vestiges of Russian Nationalism, Stalin wanted to preserve them, even resurrecting the Church during WWII.