Alright, let's get this settled. Was he a generally negative

He won the war

>>1458125
He basically abandoned the idea that the Party's primary goal was to establish Communism. Hell, he basically stamped out the remaining members of government actually interested in establishing socialism in favor of expanding state capitalsim. That was definitely a net loss in the long term, especially when he took a policy of exporting his flavor of "socialism" abroad at the expense of other movements (Marxist or otherwise).

Really the only thing he did well is win the war, which is not to say someone else in his position wouldn't have also been capable.