Many of those same peasants ended up dying in Soviet-era famines as well. I agree with you, the pre-communist revolution Russia was a living hell for many peasa

Many of those same peasants ended up dying in Soviet-era famines as well. I agree with you, the pre-communist revolution Russia was a living hell for many peasants, but it’s hard to say it was the “communist” aspect of the “communist revolution” that improved things, as opposed to the “revolution” aspect. What was needed was an overthrow of the existing power structures to enable modernization and industrialism, communist or not. Keep in mind other nations, like Japan, made even greater leaps out of feudalistic societies to modern economies. For Japan, it too required a dismantling of the existing power structures (first voluntarily at the turn of the century, and then by force after WWII), with no communism involved at all. It’s possible communism had a uniquely positive influence on Russia’s transformation, but I remain skeptical considering it seems to be the only example of communism to ever to do so, the place from which Russia was coming, and the place in which it ended.