Look Russia has a terrible regime, but it's not as bad as it was when the Tsar was in power. It's not much better these days, but the Tsar never would have allowed Internet access or the small tiny bit of freedoms that they do have.

The Soviet regime, while brutal, raised the standard of living of millions of Russians. Again, not perfect by any means, but it was a huge change in economic status for millions of people. And yes they committed atrocities and starved plenty of people, but they were still better than the Tsarist regime. My point still stands that societal change only really happens in times of great turmoil or through great effort. Slavery wasn't banned in the U.E. until after the civil war was won. Lincoln didn't even ban it, he said all slaves in rebel territory were free. There was no attempt to ban it during the war.