The historic pre-Bolshevik Russia was nothing to boast about, either. Just look at literacy rate or percentage of rural population.

Compared to whom? France or Germany? The whole British Empire?

The Tsar was a shorthand for how undeveloped Russia was.

I'm not sure why it is a shorthand. A wide range of countries have monarchy, such as Belguim or Sweden. There are also a lot of piss-poor non-monarchies.

Overall you sound like a person of socialist education who never evaluated their upbringing critically.

I don’t care what I sound like to you.