Why millennials are drawn to socialism

[Anomalocaris]

So an analogy to the contention that Karl Marx's philosophy wasn't put into practice and he shouldn’t be blame for it might be when some prophet claimed the cure to any sickness is to bash the patient’s skull in.  But one one actually had the tools to do this so his followers settled for pummeling the patient’s faces instead.  

Terrible analogy.

Communism in practice led to corruption, tyrannical rule and despotism but Karl Marx's communism was supposed to be about equality for all which is the very opposite of those things.

Again, I'm not saying that communism as envisioned by Marx is at all realistic but I AM saying that what happened in Soviet Russia is not Marx's philosophy.

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Even though the Soviet system never implemented the idealized communist system envisioned by Marx[...]

As soon as you start with this admission you're accepted my point.

No, whatever other things Soviet system has it also has those traits of true Marxism that would make it uncompetitive against other systems hostile to it and thus make true Marxism fail just as Soviet communism has failed. Without being very true to Marxism, it already demonstrates who Marxism is uncompetitive.

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The soviet union was Stalinism not Marxism

The difference between Stalinism and Marxism is immaterial to the shared fundamental weaknesses that ensure neither are likely to survive in more or less peaceful coexistence with robust capislist alternatives over the long run, and both can only plausibly thrive by exploiting some transient opening to impose itself violently and quickly and then maintain itself through continued violence and suppression in excess of those required by their competitors.