[This video is 14min long, 7min long at 2x speed naturally, and easy to listen to at 2x speed]

All this to say, please stop using the CIA report as some sort of proof that Stalin wasn't a dictator. This is an unevaluated antidotal report from one unnamed source, not a statement of fact by the CIA. Even if that was legitimately what the 1950s CIA as a whole believed, which they didn't, that wouldn't sufficiently prove the claim anyway. This report is not the proof you think it is, and the fact that it's been touted as conclusive for so long despite the obvious shortcomings would say more about current research standards than any of the actual realities of Stalin's regime. [emphasis mine]

This is a good video, and this closing statement is a good summarization of why. One of the things that does make this item of agitprop so effective is that it takes a 'trusted source' in the minds of liberals and turns it on them. They have no real pre-programmed response to this kind of message. This, however, will begin to fail to be effective and rightfully paint those who parriot it as shallow agents peddeling in simple misinformation that they themselves cannot even identify. Sources like the ones presented in this video, which effectively state, "The CIA was stairing at a black box, unable to expose it's inner workings, and deriving its function purly from its form," could be more persuasive. It would need to be followed up, however, with more current Soviet archive research.

This report, if anything, is a crutch that should be retired in favor of other more irrefutable documentation.