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As all hypothetical questions about the past, it's hard to say. From the PoV of a common citizen, people were as poor before the revolution as after it. Also, t
by benterix 2y ago
As all hypothetical questions about the past, it's hard to say. From the PoV of a common citizen, people were as poor before the revolution as after it. Also, the rise of Stalin and WWII add enormous noise to the equation.
In any case, the best we can do is to have a look at the countries that adopted Communism (the Eastern bloc) and compare them with their neighbors that didn't (have to). From that perspective, the answer is clear.
OTOH, if instead of Stalin Russia had a wise ruler, if instead of a police state it allowed people to explore various ideas and develop them, I bet we could see some very interesting results.
- n4r9 2y agoThanks for the considered response. I guess it was a provocative question. Regarding this: "the best we can do is to have a look at the countries that adopted Communism (the Eastern bloc) and compare them with their neighbors that didn't (have to)" This does feel like an informative perspective. I suppose it assumes that Eastern bloc countries would be left to their own devices in the absence of the Lenin/Stalin USSR, which may be fairly safe to assume.