Most Russians are poorer now than under Communism in 1989

westernsydneywonk.wordpress.com

9 points·djrobstep··5 comments

This is absolutely untrue. Count # of owned cars, trips abroad and in-Russia, etc, and it all was increased dramatically from 1989. Not to mention basic stuff like food and clothes and appliances.

Interesting! The article is from 2017 -- I wonder how have the last 5 years gone for the Russian people? Did the Ukraine conflict and the pandemic have an effect on this gap?

Don't believe it 100%; statistics for the communist period are hard to interpret. Should you subtract something form people's income if they can't spend the money? If prices are kept stable by decree but people have to queue longer/shorter to buy them, is that 0% inflation, or should the change in wait times be factored in?

This isn't to say that communism did badly. It is to say that interpreting the statistics has special challenges.

Other things I've read concluded that communism did well for the people up to the sixties, except Stalin's calamities, then increasingly not. And Russia now, not.

Level of living in Russia has increased slightly (not dramatically) when compared with 2017.

Is this boosting communism, or decrying the current Russian authoritarianism?

Because as Americans, we all have visceral revulsion to communism.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com