I want to really drill down on something in this graph via AEI (I’m assuming that the numbers are correct, of course):
You see that first dip in the Chinese GDP line? Yeah, that represents something called the Taiping Rebellion, which killed roughly twenty million people. Notice that the Chinese ‘recovered’ from that relatively quickly, once the rebellion was finally suppressed: they didn’t really improve, but they recovered to at least their previous levels. Contrast to the collapse starting with the Japanese invasion of China, and following up with the Communist takeover. That GDP disaster lasted about three to four times as long, and did not actually ‘end’ until the Chinese regime figured out how to get around their own ideology, and actually implement some badly-needed free market reforms.
In other words, ‘pure’ Communism was worse for the Chinese economy than what was (and is) one of the bloodiest wars in human history, and probably the bloodiest civil war. This is because MARXISM IS INTELLECTUALISM FOR STUPID PEOPLE.
Here endeth the lesson.
Moe Lane