Yes, absolutely. For starters, post WWI, Europe was in dire straits. A lot of the allied powers were desparate to pay back the inter-ally debts they owed to the US, the rising imperial power at the time, and these countries in turn charged Germany massive reparations. This indirectly assisted in fascism coming to power in Germany, along with a need to kill the communists organizing all over Europe to follow in the footsteps of the Russians. The Nazis were an effective anti-KPD kill force.

In fact, the social safety nets that Europe has now were in large part a direct response to increasing communist sympathies and risk of revolution. The soviets had massively expanded safety nets, and workers were sympathetic. Another thing to note is that Europe was imperialist (still is), World War I was more about deciding where colonial lines would be redrawn than anything else. This imperialism is what funded US and western European safety nets while maintaining capitalist profits, the soviets funded their safety nets through their own labor.

I recommend reading Concessions.

You're forgetting that the USSR was a rising country that already provided better safety nets, the US and western Europe copied them. When capitalism entered crisis, the bourgeoisie opted to bribe the working class with welfare to lower the chance of revolution, and make up for the loss with imperialism. With the dissolution of the USSR and diminished rates of profit overall, welfare became more expensive and thus the capitalists were free to roll those bribes back.