How did the Soviet Russia come about? What legacies were created by the Soviet system that lasted for nearly seventy years?

The Russian Revival There are two sides to everything in life. Russia is no exception. After nearly 20 years of turmoil that followed the fall of communism and chaotic transition to market economy, Russia is emerging as an economic power house; it is now one of the ten largest economies of the world. Since 2000, Russia’s annual economic growth averaged 7 percent. Since 2003, workers’ salaries have more than doubled. Russia has about $500 billion in foreign currency, a huge sum. In 2007 alone, foreign companies invested about $45 billion in Russia, reflecting their confidence in Russia’s present and future. The man who is largely responsible to Russia’s recent economic reemergence is Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB spy who was Russia’s president, then prime minister, and now president again. Russia’s recent economic growth is fueled by its energy resources. Russia truly is an energy empire. A quarter of the world’s natural gas reserves are found in Russia. It also commands 17% of the world’s coal reserves and 6% of its oil. (And, very fortunately for Russia, the price of crude oil as of the summer of 2008 is more than $140 per barrel; it was less than $30 per barrel.) A Russian postal stamp testifies to the importance of energy resources, of which Russians are enormously proud. Life of Russians, of course, has irreversibly changed. For example, as TIME reports, “there are more billionaires [in Moscow] than in any other city on earth.” In Russia, it is estimated that there are “119,000 millionaires and 53 billionaires” One of the more obvious indicators of the changing economic life among Russians is how many automobiles are being sold. According to the Economist, a British magazine, in 2007, sales of new cars grew 36% by volume and 57% by value. By 2012 it is estimated that five million new cars will be sold in Russia, of which 90% will be foreign imports. Sudden riches are usually used to support banality and obscenity, and Russia, especially, Moscow, is no exception to this rule. The picture to the left is a view of a posh shopping mall near the Red Square in Moscow that carters to the rising middle class. To the right shows one of the most popular hangouts, a discotheque in Moscow where a regular cocktail costs about $25. This is truly a far cry from the Bolshevik days when the party declared (as shown in the poster below), “Either death to capitalism, or death under the heel of capitalism.” Russia’s economic resurgence has added more clout to Russia in international relations. According to one observer, “Russia is a huge, almost limitless, supplier of [natural] gas, and this makes it probably more powerful now than it was during the Cold War." Why not! Russia’s Gazprom, the world's largest gas producer and also the owner of what is arguably the globe's largest proven gas reserves provides a quarter of Europe's gas needs. Russia’s global clout was confirmed when the international community stayed on the sideline when Russia invaded the capital of South Ossetia, a breakaway territory within Georgia, and crushed the Georgian military occupying the disputed land. (Below is Moscow’s International Business Center.) In any event, not all Russians wallow in “the glistening slick of petrodollars” Here is how TIME described the chilling reality of the other side of the petrodollar frenzy: “Beyond Moscow is a country where the average man doesn’t live to see 60, where the average income is still just $540 a month. A hundred miles Moscow, the main federal highway melts into another century, becoming a four-lane road lined by weathered wooden houses. Old women sit by the shoulder of the road selling apples.” Also, as one western observer of Russian life has noted, Russia is a “confusing, disturbing, threatening world in which all the certainties of Communist life have vanished. Safety on the streets is gone, as is economic security. Many professionals earn $20 a month, and the elderly spend almost 80 percent of their pensions on food.” Russia still has some way to go before it reaches its dream (and that of Mr. Putin) to become a dominant power in terms of geopolitics, economy, and military.