I believe in socialism, but I feel Stalin shouldn’t be idolised due to things like the Gulag.
I would like more people to become socialist, but I feel not condemning Stalin doesn’t help the cause.
I’ve tried to have a constructieve conversation about this, but I basically get angry comments calling me stupid for believing he did atrocious things.
That’s not how you win someone over.
I struggle to believe the Gulag etc. Never happened, and if it happened I firmly believe Stalin should be condemned.
The correction on the name is actually important. It’s literally an acronym, like SCUBA. GULAG is an abbreviation of “главное управление исправительно-трудовых лагерей”. Translated to English “Main Directorate of Correctional Labour Camps”, so in English the abbreviation would be MDCLC. GULAG does not mean “prison” in any language much like USA does not mean “country” and CIA does not mean “spies”.