But it’s really hard to make the point of “socialism does not mean authoritarianism, you can have democracy in a socialist state” when the largest group of socialists loudly advocate for an authoritarian communist dictatorship where they silence all dissent.

I don't really agree with this. There are a lot of socialists that are colloquially called unionists and/or syndicalists. Mick Lynch is a perfect example of this. He's the head of a prominent rail union and is an unabashed proponent of socialism by means of unions. He's also relatively popular among the general British populace atm.

Authoritarians definitely do suck the oxygen out of the room, but I would argue it's because it's very easy for an average person to point at that and go "You're crazy", and either intentionally or accidentally miss the nuance that socialism is a lot bigger than stalinism/maoism.