The regime he was fighting was far too humane for its own good, that is quite obvious in retrospect. Stalin, however, is not a black and white figure for Russian/Soviet history. On the one hand yes, there were purges, and a large famine on his watch. Millions perished. But on the other he industrialized the country and won WW2, which most likely would be impossible without industrialization. I wish there were easier answers to these moral questions, but there never are if one thinks in more than one dimension