I wasn't saying it like a bad thing. In the same manner than no one but Stalin could get through WW2, only Lenin's willingness to be brutal could make Petrograd survive as long as the Paris Commune, let alone win. As Bukharin said

We see now that infringement of freedom is necessary with regard to the opponents of the revolution. At a time of revolution we cannot allow freedom for the enemies of the people and of the revolution. That is a surely clear, irrefutable conclusion.