After all, in the sense of extracting a surplus for the use of powerholders, Stalin's Soviet Union was the most exploitative regime in history.
Certainly one of them. But that was sometime after the revolution when that really started kicking into gear (when totalitarian Stalinism, industrialization and agrarian collectivism could converge).
Interesting tangent though, is the changes in the Gini coefficient since the change in the former Soviet Republics. Not surprisingly the change has been "positive" (i.e, more towards 100, where 1 person owns everything, rather than 0, where everyone has exactly the same). The following article gives a rather sad overview of what has happened.
Mind you, you've lived in St. Petersberg and Kiev, so this is probably not news to you..
Re: A time to pause and reflect?...
After all, in the sense of extracting a surplus for the use of powerholders, Stalin's Soviet Union was the most exploitative regime in history.
Certainly one of them. But that was sometime after the revolution when that really started kicking into gear (when totalitarian Stalinism, industrialization and agrarian collectivism could converge).
Interesting tangent though, is the changes in the Gini coefficient since the change in the former Soviet Republics. Not surprisingly the change has been "positive" (i.e, more towards 100, where 1 person owns everything, rather than 0, where everyone has exactly the same). The following article gives a rather sad overview of what has happened.
Mind you, you've lived in St. Petersberg and Kiev, so this is probably not news to you..