Man forgotten about in jail.

[The Dharma Bum]

Had Russia or China been industrialized nations the result if introducing socialism would have be far different. Those disasters were from the result of forced rapid industrialization, not adopting a socialist economic system.

The authoritarian state required to force this "progress" on the mass of Russian and Chinese peasants is the true issue here, not the socialized economy. State socialism and state capitalism are actually more similar than different. Both require authoritarian regimes, internal repression, and imperialism to maintain.

Socialism is a development of advanced capitalism, and that period of industrialization is a painful step that cannot be skipped on the road to progress. The period of industrialization that the west went through was equally painful, though the process was spread over centuries instead of within a few years.

The fact it is is a wrenching process to enclose common land and take it for industrial purposes. We did it during the middle ages. It didn't happen in Russia and China until a few decades ago.