Why I believe Stalinism is the cause for negative views of communism as a whole

I've had quite a few conversations in my life with capitalists and rightists who deeply hate communism. These conversations have been held with both the unknowledgeable and the knowledgeable about politics. Most people have a slightly differing opinion from another, as expected, but one thing always comes up, and that is the phrase "Communism is what created the Gulag." Well that got me thinking, and a lot.In my view, that is both right and wrong. Sure, communism created the Gulag and yes, communism did not create the Gulag. Here's where I'm coming from:Stalin claimed to oversee Russia with a hold on Marxism-Leninism, which were, of course, the 2 most recent forms of communism prominent in Russia at the time. I'm going to break this down: Marxism promoted a form of democracy. A democracy very loosely actually upheld by the officials that are a part of it. Leninism promoted a dictatorship run by the vanguard part(ies)y of the proletariat), which couldn't be described as totalitarian. Stalinism promotes a more totalitarian programme than the other 2, putting most of the power into the dictator's hands*. Now here's what I'm going to finish this paragraph with: neither Marxism nor Leninism promoted a Gulag, but Stalinism is the branch of communism that established them. Since Leninism and Marxism, as well as Stalinism, are all forms of communism, communism both did and did not create the GulagThat right there is the answer. When the people I mentioned before say that they believe communism is bad, they most likely don't. They most likely believe that one form of communism is bad because, as far as I'm concerned, Stalinism was the only form of communism most widely publicised throughout the West. Now if these same people could understand Leninism and Marxism to the depth that they could describe it to somebody else, their opinions would more than likely change.In conclusion, I think Stalinism was as close to a dictatorship as communism can get, and since that was so publicised throughout the West as opposed to Marxist ideas and Leninist thoughts, lots of people have been misinformed to such an extent that some may even believe Stalinism is the only form of communism. This is why we need more information taught more in-depth about communism to the people of the West.*I'm not trying to bash Stalinism when I said this, but I'm just saying what my belief has always been and what I have learned about a brief summary of Stalinism. Correct me if I was wrong in what I wrote please. via /r/communism https://ift.tt/2XGXfZU