You mean, it turned a backwater decaying agrarian empire into a world superpower, twice (Russia and China)? Side note: when the USSR held a referendum on wheth

You mean, it turned a backwater decaying agrarian empire into a world superpower, twice (Russia and China)? Side note: when the USSR held a referendum on whether it should be dissolved, most people voted to keep it (77% yes, 23% no) [1]. Things by far were not rosy in the late 80s (when a quarter of the nation votes for dissolution, things aren't great), but they weren't 30s either. That's, of course assuming you mean the USSR/China and ignore all the other welfare states in Europe, as well as programs like foodstamps in the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_Union_referendum