That does not apply to the Eastern Bloc. The false propaganda that is levied against the Eastern Bloc is that the 'party elites' lived like kings while the ordinary citizen, well, just lived normally. Even at a cursory look, the propaganda betrays itself: So, the party elites lived like kings while the ordinary citizens still got guaranteed jobs, guaranteed housing, healthcare, free education, free higher education, free childcare, free hobby and social clubs, reasonable retirement age and all that, and that is somehow 'bad'?

The reality of course betrays the propaganda even more - the party 'elite' were people who came from literally villages, working class segments, and the most luxury they had was getting their housing in a slightly more desirable location, getting their car slightly faster and so on. So, whereas a party official got his or her latest Lada a few year earlier than the ordinary citizen, the ordinary citizen still used the last generation car. He was not homeless, he was not juggling two jobs, his children did not lack schooling, childcare and anything.

Today, ~70-80% of Americans would jump at an opportunity to live in a place like this, if it presented itself.

You pinpointed one thing very well though - the 'ruling classes', or rather the Eastern Bloc states, spent a lot of the GDP for defense. And for good reason too - the US was constantly building up to Ww3, at times openly indicating it to be so, and even mounting exercises that looked precisely like Ww3 was starting. Solely Reagan brought the world to the threshold of nuclear armageddon 2-3 times like that. The other presidents did it fewer times. So the USSR had very good reason to build up to Ww3.