If you honestly believe that the workers in a factory under Stalin could decide how much of a good they wanted to produce, or decide if they wanted to increase automation, or even decide if they were allowed to go to the toilet, then you really don't understand how the USSR worked.

The Soviets (factory committees) at best held some sway during the early days of the revolution, before Lenin seized power. By the time Stalin replaced Lenin they were long since just a propaganda tool, hollowed out of any democratic control whatsoever and turned to a simple bureaucratic management unit entirely controlled by the party hierarchy.

It is still socialism, even if it doesn't work as theoreticized. Flat-earthers are still flat-earthers even though their theory doesn't hold up to reality.