I can count the number of timelines (especially on Reddit) with alternate socialist states which both 1) has the aforementioned states survive and thrive and 2) aren't meant to be dystopian/bad end scenarios on one hand. End of History Liberal Triumphalism/Fatalism is extremely pervasive, even in the minds of avowed communists.
If only some more reading was done on how the dissolution of the USSR and Eastern Bloc was far from inevitable. Socialism Betrayed is a good start, even if it's hardly comprehensive.
