He’s a ba’athist, not a socialist, and inherited his position of power.

The revolution was about the government taking political prisoners, and mismanagement of water rights.

The revolution formed Soviets and was honestly pretty based, but then the CIA, ISIS, Russia, etc. got involved and escalated it into a civil war with so much violence social change was near impossible.

In this context, keeping Assad in power is the best case scenario for the country because the alternatives are rule by IS or rule by a US proxy. It’s also the best bet for socialism because the Assad government tolerates the autonomy of the Kurds (and their socialist project) in a way that neither ISIS nor NATO do.

So, he’s not good, but he needs to stay in power for the time being.