this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2025
610 points (93.8% liked)
Memes
53438 readers
701 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Not the biggest fan of the USSR - but compared to the capitalism that followed, yeah, they were
Compared to other capitalist countries it was worse during Soviet times too. Average US life expectancy at the USSRs peak in 1986 was approx. 75 years old, whereas in the USSR the average is 5 years less... Quite substantial.
"A previously feudal society didn't fully catch up to the biggest capitalist superpower! That means communism doesn't work!"
Not what I said.
Also, where the Soviet Union fairly quickly seemed to plateau off with their life expectancy, the PRC managed to much more continuously trend upwards. Not necessarily faster than the SU at first (which makes sense), but they did manage to keep the momentum whereas the SU did not.
I mean, you did compare the US with the USSR, which is misguided because of what I highlighted. I agree the USSR made many mistakes we must learn from.