A sentiment shared by more than a few here on the left.
Via Huffington Post:
A majority of Russians think it’s a real shame the USSR isn’t around anymore, according to a survey released by Pew Global Research on Thursday. Out of a sample of 1000 people polled last month, 55 percent agreed with the statement that “it is a great misfortune that the Soviet Union no longer exists.”
This may strike some as odd given the not-so-stellar track record of the Soviet Union when it comes to many aspects of history (it did fall after all), but the results are actually fairly consistent with previous polls. As Pew notes in their survey, “in 2009, 58 percent described the collapse of the USSR as a great misfortune, and 50 percent expressed this opinion in 2011.”
The nostalgia for Soviet times is most pronounced amongst older generations of Russians, the poll shows. Pew explains that “about seven-in-ten Russians age 50 and older (71 percent) characterize the end of the Soviet Union as a great misfortune.”