The amount of power Stalin actually wielded is vastly overstated.

Which I think is a failing in modern historical teaching, we like to connect terrible actions to a single man and call it a day. When in reality the situation is much more nuanced and required hundreds or thousands of people to perpetrate these crimes.

Even today we see this issue present, sure Donald Trump may be making shitty policies and destroying America's soft power, but the real blame lies in those who enabled him to do so.