I’m curious whether you have read any of Orwell’s essays on Socialism and Marxism? He was critical of Marxists mainly in that he felt they were too academic and out of touch, but he agreed with their fundamental goals. He fought alongside Marxists in the Spanish Civil War. A place to start would be The Road to Wiggen Pier.
I was wondering why Marxism was still a thing
Capitalism is still a thing, and continues to hurt people. Marx had insightful critiques of Capitalism.
this placed seemed to be filled with Marxists. So, why?
The site was built by communists
Do today’s Marxists think that USSR did something wrong?
Most do, but some are insane and will defend literally anything in the name of communism.
I would really have to try hard to find a community that would admire Hitler but apparently admiring Stalin, another mass murder seems to be perfectly fine!
Yes, it is abhorrent, but in reality there are plenty of people who admire Hitler too. You might just not be familiar with those communities.
To answer your question broadly, Marxism is mainly a critique of capitalism, and Marx wrote very little about the specifics of how its replacement should function. So I don’t think it is reasonable to blame the horrors of Stalin on Marxism. Marx was pro-democracy and pro-freedom, not pro-totalitarianism.
A more accurate term for what you are describing might be Marxism-Leninism, which was the ideology of the USSR. People abbreviate it to ML.
Distributing the means of production is the only way to ensure distribution of power, which is the only way to enforce a democracy. The idea that the proletariat will control the means of production if they are held by the state fails because there is no insurance that the central authorities will use them in alignment with the desire of the proletariat. Anything that can be distributed to communities or individuals should be, so that collective decisions must necessarily be made by the masses.
I was trying to reply to the original comment not yours.