LogFAQs > #892088254

A lot of it is due to food related policies, but this is partly a consequence of ruling over a large country with known food problems and trying to experiment with new food related policies. Similar to what happened with Mao. A lot of it is argued to have been a deliberate population purge though. Hard to say.

It gets more complicated if you're trying to look at what Stalin was personally responsible for, as opposed to the policies of those working for him. The famous Russian purges were carried out mostly on the instructions of the head of the secret police from my understanding, who later ended up being killed on Stalin's orders himself. It's arguable if you want to blame Stalin primarily for that, though he certainly shares a great deal of responsibility for it.