Something's definitely fishy about the resurgence of the anti-Russia propaganda in the United States.
I recently found a copy of The Soviet Achievement (1967) [1] in a library's discarded booksale. From the jacket:
"... This is a study of the deliberate creation of a new industrial society from a relatively backward, underdeveloped and basically rural country. Mr. Nettl illustrates the shifting balance between theory and practice, the attempt to apply Marxist ideology to practical problems, and the evolution of those distinctively Soviet solutions which have made the USSR one of the two dominating world powers. ..."
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=z81BAAAAIAAJ
My impression is that the Soviets were never the villains that they were portrayed to be in the West. They knew they were behind, couldn't keep up with the US, and were quite afraid of western efforts to subjugate them.
I like Scott Adams' take on 'blaming the Russians':
When Clinton’s surrogates respond to questions about
Wikileaks by saying the Russians are behind it, that’s an
acknowledgment of guilt. Guilty people almost always
question the source of the information first. Innocent
people start with a clear denial, or sometimes confusion
as to why the question is being asked.