I didn't think my article came across as 'pro-Stalin' - if it did, then I sincerely apologize and that's a shortcoming I need to work on.

I will say that just as even the greatest leaders did some things wrong (e.g. Churchill's roles in Gallipoli and in the Indian famine), even the most evil, corrupt, and incompetent leaders do some things right. One example: Hitler rightly earned the Iron Cross for courage under fire, and did resurrect Germany's economy after the Weimar Republic. A lesser example: in his first week in office, Trump refused to allow the GOP to shut down the Congressional Ethics Office (though his motive for doing so almost certainly had more to do with how he thought he could use it against the Dems).

Of course, those 'right things' by no means excuse crimes against humanity, but one cannot be truly objective unless one acknowledges both the good and the bad.