No, the major difference between the Tsarist system and the socialist system was that aristocrats and capitalists were in control of the Tsarist system, while the working classes were in charge of the socialist system. Saying that “dissidents were punished under both” ignores that that means workers and peasants were by far the biggest victim in the Tsarist system, while aristocrats, semi-slavers called kulaks, and capitalists were the biggest victims in the USSR.

I can criticize the USSR for its genuine shortcomings more effectively than you can, because I put the USSR into its actual historical context, rather than treating it as a static snapshot that exists outside of history. I never said every prison in the west was worse than every prison in the USSR. I said the justice system in the USSR was better than the justice systems in the west on average. This is the actual comparison being made, not the ridiculous strawman.

Bringing it back from to culture rather than material conditions, and erasing it from its historical context, is nothing but quasi-fascism. I don’t think you are intentionally relying on fascist rhetoric, but fascism is the path idealism and metaphysics leads down, which is why taking a scientific approach to history is critical.