u/Pickle_Curious - originally from r/GenZhou
There certainly were a number of policies (such as the infamous 'killing of the sparrows') during the Great Leap Forward that did contribute to a terrible famine, and it's not clear how many died as a result; but Mao was not the cause of this famine, and in fact, is one of the most successful leaders in history in terms of ending famine.
It is worth remembering that, prior to Mao, China was the 'sick man of Asia', having suffered a 'century of humiliation', under colonial rule, plagued with countless famines, and Mao ended these famines very successfully even accounting for the policy mistakes during the Great Leap Forward, resulting in Mao's China sustaining the most rapid increase in life expectancy in documented global history. So, overall, Mao's policies were an outstanding, record breaking success.
In 1949, when Mao came into power, China had a death rate worse than their neighbours in India, for example, but Mao's government managed to decrease the death rate twice as quickly as India (Compare the death rates of China during Mao's rule from 1949 - 1976, to the death rate in India during the same time period).
So, no, Mao did not 'starve millions'. Millions starved, yes, but Mao was responsible for saving millions, and had it not been for Mao, China would likely have followed the path of India, meaning 2x as many people would have died (notice how Capitalists are silent about the shocking death rate of India but criticise Socialist China).
Mao was far from perfect and made many mistakes, but overall, he proved to be one of the greatest and most successful leaders in history, achieving such rapid and massive increases to the standards of living for the Chinese people that even imperialist nations have not been able to match.