Why were the Soviet Union, and communist governments in general, restrictive of travel abroad? Wouldn't it have been more useful to allow dissidents to leave than to keep them in?
Why were the Soviet Union, and communist governments in general, restrictive of travel abroad? Wouldn't it have been more useful to allow dissidents to leave than to keep them in?
Because everyone tried to leave, not just political activists. Scientists, engineers, etc.
Quote about the carter story?Occasionally, Communist regimes disobeyed this formula, reversed it, or threatened to.
Yugoslavia I think disregarded the formula.
Cuba reversed the formula with the Mariel boat lift.
When Carter asked Deng Xiaoping about emigration restrictions, Deng said he could give the US 10 million peasants a year, and the conversation ended.
Is there any plausible scenario where Communist governments are judging the value of their citizens and doing a deliberate exportation of those with lower labor value?
Quote about the carter story?
Quote about the carter story?
I did a quick search, and found a reference to that quote from China Daily, the PRC's official English newspaper:
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2015-09/25/content_21981305.htm
It could be something like that apocryphal quote "You kill 700 million Chinese in a nuclear war, there will still be 300 million left to fight you", which I've heard atrributed to Mao; but also to the Chinese ambasador to Italy, and I'm sure others.
Mao’s exact words were: “I’m not afraid of nuclear war. There are 2.7 billion people in the world; it doesn’t matter if some are killed. China has a population of 600 million; even if half of them are killed, there are still 300 million people left. I’m not afraid of anyone.”
Although this famous quote has been passed around among ordinary Chinese, there are still many who have refused to believe it.
My option there would not be anybody left to oppress if there was a open travel out of those countries.Why were the Soviet Union, and communist governments in general, restrictive of travel abroad? Wouldn't it have been more useful to allow dissidents to leave than to keep them in?
We're talking about dissidents, so:Why were the Soviet Union, and communist governments in general, restrictive of travel abroad? Wouldn't it have been more useful to allow dissidents to leave than to keep them in?