I certainly wouldn't want to live at a living standard anywhere near that of the old USSR either. One must remember though, that living standards in Russia (including the old tsarist empire)were horribly low compared to Western Europe and the USA, and they're STILL horribly low now. I believe that Russia had and still has a "culture" of poverty which has kept living standards low, regardless of what political or economic system it had. No entrepenurial class worthy of the name; it missed the industrial revolution entirely(the Stalin years were a mad dash to catch up) and collectivizing agriculture strangled the one aspect of Russian economic life that actually worked before the revolution. None of these factors had much to do with a policy of economic autarky--the USSR did have trading relations with both the Red and Free Worlds, but mostly as a supplier (leaving out military hardware for the moment) of oil and gas, rather like some Middle Eastern "ragistan."