Western academics and proles are upset by it. It's the realpolitik wings i.e. business and politics that are less directly concerned because it hurts them, or,

Western academics and proles are upset by it. It's the realpolitik wings i.e. business and politics that are less directly concerned because it hurts them, or, it's hard for them to do anything about. Western Academics loved Stalin, even as millions were dying in the Ukraine because: 1) He was a Communist - and the leader of the glorious revolution. 2) The direct news of 'how bad it was' wasn't clear. We didn't have TV to project images and experiences. And maybe there was a snippet or two in the NYT about it, so it was easy to dismiss, fantasize. 3) We didn't really understand these mass control regimes yet. This was a new phenom. This massive, centralized control for the proletariat, the grand experiment wasn't up yet. Communism wasn't truly a dirt word until after the 1950's and 1960's when it was also associated with the Cold War.