The idea that huge numbers of deaths have been caused inherently by socialism is also absurd. They have been caused by countries which deluded the proletariat into the belief that they were implementing true socialism. Even with the skewered system which they lived in, the Soviet Union became a global superpower from a rural land of peasants in just a few decades. Capitalism in its early stages also result in millions and millions of pointless deaths, as it continues to today in many parts of the world.
Some people like to deny this.
That leader can attempt to manipulate the people when they are in this phase, using the pretense of socialism. The difference is that a capitalist society admits to rewarding selfishness through money, while a socialist society intends to prevent it - this means that false claims of a capitalist society (or corporatist, we could also say) are less likely to happen. When I refer to a "socialist society", I mean the socialist society envisioned by Marx and Engels, not by Lenin (although I must say that Trotsky was reasonable for his time).