What would have happened if Stalin had not come to power in the USSR? Could the country have become more democratic?

Probably not, they had no tradition of democracy in Russia. More likely, a right-wing White Russian military dictatorship would have emerged, if the Communists hadn’t won the Russian Civil War. Probably something like Franco’s military dictatorship in Spain, following the Spanish Civil War against the communists — very brutal, but effective, and good for the Russian economy and the rich. Actually, after Stalin died, that’s likely what Lavrentiy Beria would have arranged for the USSR, if Khrushchev hadn’t staged a coup to bring him down, and executed him. One of the major accusations against Beria was that he wasn’t really a communist, just an opportunist, who sought power for himself, and wanted a military dictatorship in Russia under his rule. https://www.quora.com/unanswered/What-would-have-happened-if-Stalin-had-not-come-to-power-in-the-USSR-Could-the-country-have-become-more-democratic