In 1917 the Russian Empire was a great power, with the potential to be a superpower rivaling or even surpassing the USA. In 2017, Russia now has a GDP roughly the same as Australia and it's population drinking itself to death with a first world birth rate and 3rd world death rate.
It's been a rough 100 years.
In 1917 it was the weakest of several European powers, have being most recently beaten by Japan. It was a backwards agrarian economy where most people's lives had hardly advanced from the Middle Ages. Today it's the world's second most powerful country, with a growing population and the 6th highest GDP in the world. To be sure, it could have done better had it switched immediately to liberal, Western democracy, but it was going down the drain under the Czars.
Yes it is true that vis a vis the West, Russia was backward in 1917, is backward now and was backwards for centuries before. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia was experiencing lightning fast GDP growth, industrialization and new infrastructure and railroads. For example, the German general staff had agreed that Russia's lightning fast industrialization and new railroads would make their mobilization too fast for Germany to handle in a two front war. They agreed that after 1917, there could be no war with Russia. Russia/USSR has been absolutely devastated by WW1, The Russian Civil War , the Holdomor, Great Purges, and then WW2. To say these wars and tragedies were cataclysmic for the Russian/Soviet demography is an understatement.
Look at the US v Russia population comparisons for 1913 and today :
1913
Russia 170.1 million
USA 97,225,000
2013
Russia 143.5 million
USA 316.5
Russia had nearly a 2 to 1 advantage in population over the US in 1913, although Russia was backwards compared to the US, the population advantage over the US long term could mean Russia could have been the world Superpower, not the USA. Russia would certainly have needed able leadership to pull it off, but it was doable. Now the US has over a 2 to 1 edge in population and a gigantic edge in GDP. The collapse of the USSR was a big shock to the population which has caused lower birth rates and higher death rates.
