What exactly is there to misunderstand about stalin tho

"He didn't really want all those people to starve he was just making hard choices!" Ironically, exactly what people say when they claim Churchill is misunderstood

I've also had people flat-out tell me, a historian of sexuality, that Stalin didn't really *want* to reverse the decriminalization of homosexuality and abortion, his underlings did it without his permission. Because Stalin was famous for allowing his officials autonomy.