In this and other comments, you seem to be attributing all the achievements of the Soviet Union to their ideology. That's certainly a factor, but it's about as dumb as Americans claiming their nation is blessed by God with a special destiny. The Russians had just kicked out a severely anachronistic monarchy, so achieving progress was almost inevitable. And the Soviet Union had an empire of its own after World War II as well, and their centralized system was very good at capturing resources for a Moscow-centric elite.
But I agree it's not black and white, either. Just as the USA sometimes lives up to its own ideals in an inspiring way, you could find examples of that in the history of the Soviet Union too.
During same Holodomor times people dies through out Russia as well, and the event was caused by coincided mismanagement and bad seasonal conditions.
Were these the 14 million in Gulag, or the 20 million that Stalin murdered?
The only fact that gets tossed out is that Russia was never a peaceful country, and there were never times without a violent regime.
How about this: for every 1 who suffered in Soviet Union there were 10 who benefited. But how many do suffer now for every 1 oligarch to benefit?
'Suffering' is a funny way to pronounce 'murder'.
But how many do suffer now for every 1 oligarch to benefit?
Speaking of 'brain wash' - buzzword much?
I'm counting people killed in purges and the Ukraine famine before Josef and Adolph got feisty with each other in 1940.
Currently the Russian population is degrading without any purges and people die from poor conditions and criminals (including police raids) in their cities.
But before there millions who really worked for the future and now there are few.
If you're pining for the days of Stalin, and people who pull together for a common future, North Korea amped Stalinism to 11.
Joe Bob says 'check it out'.