Today there is a middle class (by Eastern European standards) and there is no hereditary nobility. Outside of penal colonies, forced labor isn’t a thing. The government isn’t constantly fumbling for control against political agitators (in fact it went too far into totalitarianism). Casual physical abuse of soldiers isn’t at least as widely reported on so I would assume that it isn’t an everyday norm in every unit. Pay inequality between officers and soldiers isn’t measured in how many orders of magnitude.
Russia is not on the brink of three revolutions and a civil war in the span of a year. It isn’t a good place but it is very different than how it was 100 years ago.
Hereditary nobility doesn't exist in Russia since 1917. What's your opinion on sending thousands and thousands of people to the front lines in Ukraine? Is it not true it's often forced? Or lied about where they are being taken to? What do you think about recent influential people in Russia falling out of a window? Or state-sponsored propaganda, how much of the free press remains in Russia? What happens to a regular middle class person when they speak up against the government? Can people go and protest against the government without repression? How has the Russian mentality changed in the last 60 years?
I am in no way defending Russia. As a Ukrainian I am appalled at its government’s actions.
What I am saying is that 2024 Russia is very different from 1917 Russia:
1917: weak government, 2024: strong government
1917: lots of protests, 2024: no protests
1917: class system (if you are born a peasant, you remain a peasant), 2024: you can sell hotdogs then become a billionaire, then have a mercenary force, then be shot out of the sky
1917: widespread income inequality, 2024: billionaires but a Lieutenant doesn’t make 1000x what a soldier in his command does.
1917: mercenary groups are a normal part of life, 2024: they are officially outlawed and unofficially there are only a few.
There are lots of other differences. Again, this isn’t to say that Russia is good or doing good things. They aren’t. But you can’t say nothing changed. That is simply ignoring history. There are similarities in that Russia is still a shitty place to live.
If you want a perspective, check out Antony Beever’s Russia for a history of the 1918 revolution.
Russia is not on the brink of three revolutions and a civil war in the span of a year. It isn’t a good place but it is very different than how it was 100 years ago.