This rings so true from what I took away from living in another ex-communist country (Czech Republic.) Very few people understand that for most people life was

This rings so true from what I took away from living in another ex-communist country (Czech Republic.) Very few people understand that for most people life was pretty good in Soviet times. It just turned out people preferred the outcome of a having a little less comfort and a bit more progress, which is what really drove the Soviet collapse in the end. It was kept propped up by purposefully (and often viciously) keeping the populace ignorant of the progress made beyond it's borders, but in the end the allure of the shiny and new behind the curtain won.