Well, a question like this is always open to personal interpretation, but I'll give you my idea.

I believe he actually tried to change Russia into a better country. Though, he was an idealist. He really believed in the communist utopia and wanted to achieve it. And in that sense, he does have blood on his hands. But only that of sturn political opponents (esecially during the civil war). Unlike Stalin, though, he realized that his Utopia was not worth everything. Stalin wanted to reform the country and for that goal lead millions to death. When Lenin instigated the New Economic Policy, that was actually a sign he wasn't going full throttle. He realized he had to go step by step and could not destroy the entire society to achieve complete communism.

I also recently read that there has been an autopsy on Lenin's brain and that he apparently suffered from brain calcification, which may have caused him to be more brutal during his later years (the civil war).