People always say stuff like this, forgetting that the level of technology has skyrocketed. We cannot compare the USSR in the 20th century to the mass surveilla

People always say stuff like this, forgetting that the level of technology has skyrocketed. We cannot compare the USSR in the 20th century to the mass surveillance state and technology-dependant lives that exists today. And even in a significantly weaker, more vulnerable position, the USSR only really fell apart due to internal stresses. The people themselves were completely subjugated in the meantime, a cultural norm that has continued long after the fall of the union and led to the rise of (attempted) fascism again in those states. There is no real reason to believe that a state with this level of sophistication, if willing to use the US military on civilians, could ever be toppled by the people.