WS: That is correct. Russians, and Eastern Europeans in general, use "the West" as their reference. The problem is, however, that their image of the West is completely unrealistic. One of the reasons is that for many of them the images of 'the West" come mainly from foreign movies (a phenomenon documented by media researchers in this country as well). Another reason is the contrarian attitudes toward government propaganda under the Soviet system (the "do not trust anything unless it is officially denounced" thing), and still other reason - different consumption patterns and exchange rates (especially under the Soviet system). And finally, the Eastern European Kultur loves misery and self-depreciation - this is how they distinguish themselves from the Westerners (Westerners - spoiled and pampered, Easterners - life-experienced and hard working).
The bottom line is that despite different consumption patterns, Eastern European standards of living under the Soviet system were not much lower than those of the Western developed countries and in many respects higher than those found in the United States when taking social class into account (that changed quite substantially after the so-called "market reforms"). The biggest difference was in the availability of luxury goods (fashionable clothes, automobiles, gadgets) which although marginal for actual standards of living, form the backbone of self-perceived social status. As a result, people would take for granted public health care, education, transportation, housing etc. and instead concentrate on color tee-vees, blue jeans and flashy cars - and if they could not get them, they would consider themselves poor.
Wojtek