So the argument in that link is “everyone else was homophobic too so it’s okay”, and I need to stress that that is not unshakeably principled behaviour. That is an example of shaken principles. If your defence of Stalin is “he was only as bad as the capitalists”, he’s still shit.
“Unshakeably principled as a communist and anti-imperialist”, nowhere was it mentioned he was a perfect human, especially on social issues. What is your point exactly? No-one on this instance is saying that Stalin was jesus, and even Jesus was a homophobe
You are missing the point. Also, bringing up gay rights in the USSR is a non-sequitur, it has nothing to do with what my original comment was about. I was doing you a favor providing you with a source that explains the historical context behind the unrelated topic that you brought up, it’s up to you if you prefer to ignore it.
judging a character by today’s standards is not only bad faith but a terrible argument.
While I’m not entire sure whether such claim is true or not (or even if Stalin had any say in that), you have to understand that material conditions back then were much different from today’s.
Does this “redeem” the CPSU in this regard? Not really, no, they should be criticized, but to claim Stalin was a terrible man because of this one policy (that he either had no say in or had no real power to change if he wanted to) is just bad faith. Stalin was not the king or god emperor of the USSR.