WI: Utopian Russia? (Post-1905)

Here's your challenge. Essentially, you need to find a way to take the reputation of Russia being a nightmarish frozen wasteland of authoritarian hell and turn it on its head.

What is the best possible scenario for the ideal Russia?

Russia should, ideally, be superior to the modern United States or Western Europe in terms of pleasantness to live, wealth, possible ecological sustainability, and so on.

The PoD must be somewhere after the Russo-Japanese War.
 
This has a lot to do with a surviving Russian Empire that is either a lot more successful in World War I (presumably without a Tsar who takes control of the Army or appoints officials based on his wife's whims) or a lot more successful in pacifying class and ethnic tension (this includes abolishing the Pale of Settlement and other anti-Jewish laws). It was among the top three largest economies by 1910, so an outright over Germany would have significantly bolstered Russia's positions both in terms of foreign influence and economic power.
 
This has a lot to do with a surviving Russian Empire that is either a lot more successful in World War I (presumably without a Tsar who takes control of the Army or appoints officials based on his wife's whims) or a lot more successful in pacifying class and ethnic tension (this includes abolishing the Pale of Settlement and other anti-Jewish laws). It was among the top three largest economies by 1910, so an outright over Germany would have significantly bolstered Russia's positions both in terms of foreign influence and economic power.

We're not really looking at a powerful or successful Russia so long as a utopian one, though. We're looking for a Russia that's a great place to live and is generally considered very moral and upstanding by the international community.
 
We're looking for a Russia that's a great place to live and is generally considered very moral and upstanding by the international community.

Being powerful and/or successful is pretty helpful, though, and, ideally, going through one war rather than two wars, a huge famine and a massive economic recession is, to a certain degree, a boon to both population and quality of life; "upstandingness" likely comes through a friendly relationship and/or modest economic ties with the West, perhaps some sort of a *European Economic Community, as well as more "peacemaker" monarchs like Alexander III (without his rabid conservatism, of course).
 
Top