Domestically. He also became an important symbol internationally for those in small countries repressed by the Soviet Union. Eastern Europe in particular did a brisk black market trade in dubbed and subbed VHS tapes of him killing Communists. 
Scratch an anti communist and a fascist bleeds
Truly the Soviet Union did more to harm the cause of global Marxism than any other political alignment in history. The workers needed a counterrevolution to dislodge the likes of Stalin and Beria. Their deaths came too late. No sane person wants Fascism, and all Stalin (and Mao) ever did was behave like Fascists. The so-called voices for the workers never spoke so, and primed the Eastern Bloc to despise the practices that could have been of use in dislodging the madmen of Moscow. At least their stain on the red flag has been driving more independence in the East, with much of the world realizing that the endless wars and capitalist exploitation of Trump, Putin, and Xi have no future. 
Says the person defending a right wing racist asshole
Nay. The icon for the workers he represents in those countries outweighs the corruption we have seen in ours. All workers oppose corrupt officials.
@StefanThinks
@ahltorp
@burnoutqueen
Agreed. We have the science to disprove racism and the social skill to debug it as if it were a bug in society. We should stop trying to argue about what is [word] and just make everyone know the racists are stupid. That's how you fix a racist. You make certain that everywhere they go everyone is proving them wrong. When they say "I want to debate" they are preying on the kids' lack of tools. The teacher's unions need to stop using Stalinist tools like student walkouts and actually teach! Tell a child to hate a racist they flip a coin onbhow edgy they want to be. Give a child a tool to convert a racist and you weaponize them and the former racists they homogenize! 
S.T.E.F.A.N.
Pseudonymous 
Jackie
Magnus Ahltorp