Which dictator would you rather live under?

Who would you rather live under?

  • Benito Mussolini

  • Joseph Stalin

  • Chiang Kai Shek

  • Other (Say in replies)


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And yet he still killed far fewer people than Tito, who you praised earlier in this thread.
Really? So how many do you think were killed under Tito?
Anyway being shot to steal your children didnt happen under Tito unlike Franco nor was forcing the women of opponents into prostitution
 
Hmm... I guess I would go for one of the later rulers of the British Indian regime? As long as you stay out of Bengal during the war, you probably won't starve, and you'll have self-determination soon enough.
 
in 1939 (I guess that's the point of the question, otherwise I'd just live in 2021 Qatar lol), I imagine the best is under mussolini, just thanks to the higher quality of life compared to the other
If you live in western germany and you aren't of age/gender to get conscripted to the eastern front and you don't live in an industrial city likely to be bombed (lots of If..), then probably being under Hitler is better, just again, higher quality of life and particularly post war prospects, although italy also had good post war situation in the north... So Mussolini is probably still better than living under hitler on average
 
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in 1939 (I guess that's the point of the question, otherwise I'd just live in 2021 Qatar lol), I imagine the best is under mussolini, just thanks to the higher quality of life compared to the other
If you live in western germany and you aren't of age/gender to get conscripted to the eastern front and you don't live in an industrial city likely to be bombed (lots of If..), then probably being under Hitler is better, just again, higher quality of life and particularly post war prospects, although italy also had good post war situation in the north... So Mussolini is probably still better than living under hitler on average

Assuming that you was acceptable as Aryan and you wasn't Jew, Romani nor homosexual and if not pretended being nazi supporter at least you managed to be silent about the regime.
 
Really? So how many do you think were killed under Tito?
Anyway being shot to steal your children didnt happen under Tito unlike Franco nor was forcing the women of opponents into prostitution
Looking at some of the more recent research on the subject, it seems that estimates on Tito's killings have gone down and so now he's 'only' on around the same level as Franco (100,000-200,000 deaths).
 

marktaha

Banned
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Indira Gandhi. Sure you would be dealing with a terrible economy and Sanjay's shenanigans with sterilization, but there is little fear of getting killed for political reasons even if you protested against the government (you would be promptly imprisoned of course, but its better than being thrown off a helicopter). If you have good connections with the congress party, you can expect a comfortable life.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Indira Gandhi. Sure you would be dealing with a terrible economy and Sanjay's shenanigans with sterilization, but there is little fear of getting killed for political reasons even if you protested against the government (you would be promptly imprisoned of course, but its better than being thrown off a helicopter). If you have good connections with the congress party, you can expect a comfortable life.
She was only a dictator during the State of Emergency.
 
Gaius Julius Cesar/s


Being a college educated non-religious Jew I'm pretty much at the top of Mussolini's shitlist, near the top of Stalin's, and somewhere in the middle of Chiang Kai-Shek's.

Off the list I'd say Antonio De Oliveria Salazaar isn't a terrible choice. Castro might be good choice for the simple reason that he's comparatively easy to get away from, and I guess if you stretch the term "dictator" FDR would be pretty much fine.
 
If I have to choose. I would also go with Franco and Salazar. Tito would just throw me down a creek for being Italian. Franco and Salazar, despite being heartless authoritarians, had the decency of sparing their countries a global conflict.
 
Lee Kuan Yew, I guess. He seems like a decent leader and I don't really mind Singaporean strict laws. Since I'm not an Aryan, Mussolini is not a choice for me, and I'm not a Turkish either so Ataturk is the same thing, albeit he would be higher on my list. Pol Pot, Stalin and the like are definitely a "no".

Of the other Maritime SEA-variety, since father talks rather glowingly about living under Suharto (mostly the economics, and just stay out of politics) I won't really be opposed if I were to happen to live in that era, if only because I'm curious.
 
The biggest problem with living under Stalin isnt Stalin. It its The Nazi invasion.

The biggest problem with living under Chiang kai Shek isnt Chiang, it is the Japanese invasion.

Mussolini wins not because he was the best of the 3 (I would argue he was the worst) but because living under him means living under the least brutal invasion by a foreign power.
 
I would preferred to South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee throughout late 60s and early 70s praised the economic transformation to build better roads and meeting main production resources quota on capitalism.
 
Mussolini wins not because he was the best of the 3 (I would argue he was the worst) but because living under him means living under the least brutal invasion by a foreign power.
I would question why you would rate him as worse than Stalin? (especially if we are talking about living as an Italian and not in the Italian colonies?)
 
I would question why you would rate him as worse than Stalin? (especially if we are talking about living as an Italian and not in the Italian colonies?)
Well if we are going to be ignoring the Italian Colonies we also get to ignore everything that happenened in Ukraine and Siberia (you see where this leads?). I would rather include it all, but honestly whatever standards you want to apply lets use them so long as they are the same in both cases.

Russian Life Expectancy 1925: 30.68 years
Russian Life Expectancy 1955: 58.52 years

Italian Life Expectiancy 1925: 50.71 years
Italian Life Expectancy 1945: 52.48 years

By this or any other statistical measure of wellbeing (ie literacy) the Stalin regime made far more improvements than Mussolini regime.
 
I think the DDR is probably one of the better ones. It gets a bad rep mostly cause it gets compared to West Germany, but if you compare it to any other 20th century dictatorship it probably ends up better than the vast majority on both human rights, standard of living, and political stability.
 
Russian Life Expectancy 1925: 30.68 years
Russian Life Expectancy 1955: 58.52 years
Italian Life Expectiancy 1925: 50.71 years
Italian Life Expectancy 1945: 52.48 years
By this or any other statistical measure of wellbeing (ie literacy) the Stalin regime made far more improvements than Mussolini regime.
Is picking different dates and 1945 especially not going to totally throw any comparison? (by your own source 45 USSR was under 30....) Do you not need to plot it on the same graph and then work out how much to weight that life expectancy is harder to keep increasing, so smaller gains at later age require the same level of effort as larger for lower ages?
 
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