UNDER THE TSARS
Due to the Great War, the economy was in shambles. Inflation rose, and the gold reserves that were used to back the currency were almost empty by the end off the war. This was due to unregulated printing of money by the government, as well as shortages due to the lack of communication and the war. Inflation was so bad that the price of butter during the war rose by 99%, meat 232%, butter 124%, and salt 483%. Although average earnings doubled, the prices of things quadrupled. Things would be even worse during the reign of the Bolsheviks.
WHY DID THEY FAIL?
The Russian people failed to establish a better economy because it was even worse under the new government. Prices for goods in 1923 were one hundred million times greater than for the same goods in 1913. People lost their life's savings, as their money was now effectively worthless. Russia's industrial output was 1/7th the size of what it was in 1913. By 1920, the number of employed workers had fallen by 1/2. The economy under the Bolsheviks was definitely worse than what it had been like under the tsars.