From what he told us, life was much better, and he is not the only one who told us that.  He was in the coal mining industry which was considered dangerous so they got lots of perks.  Paid very well, 2nd highest in the country I believe, extra health benefits, time off, early retirement, generous pension.  He brags about how great his pension is, he can travel to the US to visit his daughter, no shortage of money.  No idea who funds that pension nowadays, most pensioners are in poverty.  Born in the early 40's  He would have been of the generation that came of age during the glory years of the USSR, and mostly missed out on the terror and purges and WWII attrocities, yet grew up hearing the success stories of the war.  He would have seen the best and missed the worst, and would have been fully indoctrinated by the regime as opposed to the generation before or after.

Being a card carrying communist party member must have at least given the illusion of having some say in matters, as opposed to the dictatorship of oligarchs there now.  Nearly everyone is disillusioned by that, but so long as the standard of living increases, they are willing to put up with most of the wealth going to a few oligarchs.  He would have witnessed the destruction, firesale and abandonment of  all the infrastructure that his generation would have built.  Everyone brags about how great the soviet education system was(rightfully so).  

My wifes dad was an engineer in the Rostelmach/Don combine factory, really honest and dedicated guy, and also a member of communist party  He travelled to all points of the USSR where there was agriculture, they lived a very good middle class lifestyle, car, apartment, garage, holidays, air travel.  Then watched as the corrupt new owners acquired the factory for almost nothing, and sold off anything of value.  Production went from the biggest combine factory in the world to a handful of units.

And like anyone else anywhere else, the good old days were always better, just ask anyone over the age of..........  fill in the blanks.