I believe in socialism, but I feel Stalin shouldn't be idolised due to things like the Gulag.
I would like more people to become socialist, but I feel not condemning Stalin doesn't help the cause.
I've tried to have a constructieve conversation about this, but I basically get angry comments calling me stupid for believing he did atrocious things.
That's not how you win someone over.
I struggle to believe the Gulag etc. Never happened, and if it happened I firmly believe Stalin should be condemned.
After WW2 when the whole country was experiencing a mass casualty event caused by Nazis (defined as members or supporters of the NSDAP and their political project, or anyone who materially supported them even if they later professed to be ideologically opposed to them, since I guess "what's a Nazi, exactly" is something you want to nitpick about), prisoner death rates were very high. Again, free civilian and soldiers' death rates were also very high. There was limited food and Nazis were killing everyone.
Once the Soviets had a few years of industrialized society during which nobody was trying to commit a genocide against them, death rates in prison plummeted. I reject the idea that "gulags" are different in a meaningful way from prisons as understood by most modern westerners.
Which government are you aware of that doesn't imprison those actively working to overthrow their government?