Very well put. It's almost as if he knew he was going to be a scapegoat.

Another point i would like to add on is that Stalin was used as a scapegoat for all the contradictions that were resolved, many times harshly, during the early development of the USSR, the transition from a semi-feudal society to socialist society was not without it's contradictions.

In a similar fashion to how crimes done by imperialist interests are pinned on "corrupt individuals" and not the nature of the system.