Robert Conquest disputed such a conclusion and noted that "Russia had already been fourth to fifth among industrial economies before World War I" and that Russian industrial advances could have been achieved without collectivisation, famine or terror.
”但罗伯特·康奎斯特反对这样的结论，指出“俄罗斯在第一次世界大战之前就已经是排名第四至五之间的工业经济体”，并认为俄罗斯的工业发展的进步完全可以脱离农业集体化、饥荒和恐怖政策。