Those are real russians, the soviet union woulda lasted longer if the west didnt refuse to trade with them, oh and if their immigration wasn't so tight, i know right a country with super strict immigration would collapse and the opposite has yet to happen.
you mean that whole-USSR famine that struck many republics including Russian one? I read a lot about it. Quite sure that much-much more than you did. And of better quality ofc, since I read only scientific and other fact-based material (like official reports, etc.) on historical matters.
Statistics, how do they work?
Anyway, I'm sure Russians miss the good ol' days of being overlords. Ask the same question in other ex-USSR countries and I do believe the results will vary a bit. Plus there's lots of nostalgia and nationalism in Russia, which together obviously makes one pine for the days where your country was (perceived to be) a superpower to rival the US and which provided for all its citizens, rather than the ultra-corrupted mess that attempted capitalism and got burned.
The above of course ignores the endemic corruption and glaring abuses that were present in the actual USSR, but in politics perception is often reality.
Russian societal views tend to be far more pragmatic than Western perspectives. Under communism, at the very least you had a job, a roof, and access to food even if said food was sometimes sparse. Nowadays, getting a job can be pretty damn hard, and wages overall are so suppressed that the capitalism arguments of individual free enterprise really don't factor for much. Shelter is not a guarantee, and one of the most common schemes for draining massive groups of people of their funds involves price fixing for apartments. Something that is technically not allowed, but corruption hasn't been even remotely touched; a large scale property owner is going to have more clout in the legal sphere than you. Civil liberties are on the decline as there is nothing like the Supreme Court to keep a legislative majority from deciding what rights should or should not be recognized.
There are some cities that do stand out. St. Petersburg does quite well due to having quite a bit of outside influence and perspective, and the culmination of people of similar more Western mindsets, but for the vast majority of Russians the new era is just like the old but switched from the government oppressing you in exchange for food shelter and work to corporations oppressing you and paying the government not to care in exchange for.... nothing.
So really, when you get down to it, Russia was distinctly better off for your average, every day Russian under the USSR than it is nowadays.
no surprising - changes are hard and for a lot of people quite cruel - so what if they have new market system if they are still as poor as they were back then.
its natrual for backwater countries because they look for solidarity in lack of succes and money - they rather all be poor then some people make it and rest is poor
its the same mechanism that made Trump being elected for president in US
Eastern European here.
The majority of the newer generation (people below 45 now, around 20 when it collapsed) are happy that it collapsed. There is some nostalgia from people above 70 who "miss the old days", but this is an increasingly disappearing generation, for obvious reasons, and I think it's mostly a nostalgia for their young days and not for the regime.
Not surprising, though sample size is too low. With bigger sample size I'm sure percentage would be lower, but still significant enough.
I'm from Estonia, we have it very good here compared to Russia because we got massive help from Germany. Entire infrastructure has been rebuilt on German money and today NATO is still pouring money into us, all politicians have to do is scream "Russia bad!" and NATO throws few millions, which is a lot for country that has just above 1m population. Without that money we would be among poorest countries in the world.
But unlike Estonia, Russia did not get any help. Furthermore, after USSR fall what was remaining there got stolen by western "investors". Even today that stealing is happening on massive scale and their government is helpless to prevent it because all thief has to do is say "I'm political victim" and US/UK will grant him and his stolen money a safe haven. Western countries are happy to accept those thieves. Everyone knows about that, so nobody trusts any promises coming from western politicians.
All west did since fall of USSR is lie and steal. And there is nothing Russians could do about it.
How great is there economy now that they are no longer communists?
1600 is a perfectly valid sample size to draw conclusions from, provided it used decent methodology and got a varied-enough response.
On-topic, it's no surprise older Russians miss the USSR. There's a strong current of nostalgia for 'the good old days' among the older populations pretty much all over the globe, just like every generation before them. There's just, y'know, more of them this generation because there was a huge population boom after WWII. Combine this with politicians banging the nostalgia drum as shamelessly as possible, along with the recent wave of extreme nationalism that sprung up in recent years, and you've got a good recipe for things like this happening where people recall halcyon days where their country was feared and respected around the world, but now seems to be brokenly chugging along, and they feel the solution is to attempt to bring back the past.
Be seeing you guys on Bloodsail Buccaneers NA!
I'm not sure what they think would be different exactly. They just went from a dictator and his counsel of powerful politicians to a dictator and his counsel of powerful businessmen.
Time and again people make the false assumption that just because Russians are white, they will ultimately behave by the same logic as Western citizens.
Well, they don't. Never have, never will - apart from a minority that is either sent to Siberia, imprisoned, murdered, or leaving the country. Even at its "best", the Russian political culture has never been much different from that of Islamic countries or Nazis.
You need to think of Russia as a nation of bullies who are willing to sacrifice even their own welfare, if in return they get to oppress and torment other nations to feel strong - while getting their steady supply of vodka. Once you understand that, you will no longer be surprised by anything Russia does.