In Soviet Russia there was a common saying, “the worse the better”. Some people attribute its origin to Dostoevsky; certainly, it was popularised by Stalin. The idea behind the expression is that, the worse things get, the more likely people are to revolt and create systemic change for the better.
Self: ‘I’m ASHAMED by how ignorant most Britons are about imperial atrocities'
In fact, it suggests it is only when the proletariat are experiencing acute hardships that they even consider the possibility of rising up: the greatest gains come when you have nothing left to lose. If the revolution hasn’t happened yet, it is because life has not become bad enough to trigger proletariat desperation and violent bloodlust.
By the end of the Soviet era, the saying had taken on a
