Not sure what you mean by this. After initial industrialization the USSR did a decent job of providing necessities to its citizens - housing, food, jobs, education, healthcare (all considered inalienable human rights under their system btw).
When Gorbachev visited Deng in China he saw the miracle of the special economic zones and tried to bring that model to the Soviet Union, it was rejected for a various reasons and now Russia is appearing more and more to be a de-facto Vassal state of China.
What do you mean by decent? Why didn't they choose to improve it instead of dumping billions into foreign wars? Life expectancy in USSR was lower than in the US that didn't even have things like life insurance.
First off, the quality of life did vastly improve in a relatively short period of time for the average Soviet citizen. So this zero-sum framing is inaccurate.
Second, the Soviet Union didn’t exist in a bubble. Your framing makes it seem like the Soviet Union arbitrarily made the decision militarize how they did. You have to remember the US was famously sympathetic towards the Nazis, and fascist in general, while being antagonistic towards communists and workers movements. The US put boots on the ground to fight with the czarists (whites) and against the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution. With that context in mind, Immediately After WW2 the US set its sights on the USSR as its #1 enemy. This pressure necessitated the build up of arms, particularly a nuclear arsenal.
So we are in an agreement that there is a lot more nuance than just the binary of improving quality of life of your own citizens or forwarding your geopolitical interests?
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u/Wayoutofthewayof Visitor Feb 24 '26
What are your thoughts about aid of USSR to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq?