When it was illegally dissolved the Soviet Union had full employment, healthcare, housing, and a diverse economy powered by high technology wielded by a well educated population. It had problems sure, even Stalin was writing about the economic problems of the Soviet Union before he died, but there is no universe in which the petro and weapons manufacturing state of modern Russia can be considered anything but a world historic failure, a vindication of everything the Soviets did, and the efficiency and efficacy of central economic planning.