I gotta say, this post was a doozie.
Somebody: Well, here's what I'm talking about. When you look at the formerly socialist or communist countries and examine at their anti-communist counterparts, the gap isn't that astounding. In other words, the chasm between China and Taiwan or Vietnam and Thailand isn't that impressive to say the least.
Sri Lanka had a robust Trotskyist movement in it's day, and it's had an effect, with a greater public health system than in most nations of similar income level. We could say similar things about the Indian state of Kerela. But, again, the differences are not astounding. As a matter of fact, those examples demonstrate that the issue is more of how much a country invests in health and education rather than the class composition of the state itself. A regime that fears a socialist revolution can achieve similar results to a regime produced out of a socialist revolution, so maybe John Holloway is right.
As for the issue of what constitutes an improvement in living standards, I take as relevant things like health (as measured by life span, mortality rates, rates of vaccination, etc.), education levels (like literacy or years of schooling), access to housing, consumer goods, and so on. By a few standards, Americans are stagnating, but by and large, there's still a slow improvement. We should seek to expand it, however, not deny it's existence.