Stalin admirable? I don't think so.

He did achieve the rapid industrialization/militarization of the USSR; so successful was he that we lived in a bi-polar world for almost half a century; but, anyone who was in the position at that time would have had to achieve the same thing or perish. I don't think its too far-fetched to suppose that someone else could have done what Uncle Joe achieved, without the terror he used.

He was massively assisted in what he achieved by the Allies...because he was an ally.
After WWII Uncle Joe became the demonized Stalin. That was necessary because now that the fight for survival had been won, the fight for ideology needed tending to. Fortunately, Stalin was a murderous paranoid prick, making the media campaign much easier.

The good that was achieved was born of necessity, but it's in the "other stuff" that he established his personality. I don't think he established himself as one to be admired.