The caste system has existed in India for thousands of years, as a means of dividing the population and establishing who has power over whom. It was once quite fluid, but a series of invading people (including the British) found it incumbent to reinforce the caste system to keep the population in line. Following Indian independence, and the framing of the constitution, discrimination on the basis of caste was made illegal. However, in India caste discrimination remains extremely common, particularly in rural areas.

Russia suffered immensely during the First World War. Casualties on the frontline were catastrophic and Russian soldiers and workers suffered terribly. This contributed heavily to the exacerbation of class tensions in Russian society and led directly to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The Three Principles of the People were developed by Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen was the leader of the Chinese revolutionaries who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. The three principles can be loosely translated to “nationalism, self-determination, and social welfare.”

China’s Cultural Revolution was aimed primarily at purging China of all forces associated with capitalism or with traditional Chinese culture. This involved a concentrated and prolonged assault on Chinese intellectuals and academics - many of whom were imprisoned, tortured, or executed.

The Kulaks had been Russia’s landowning peasants and the collectivization of farms essentially took away all their economic, political, and social power.

Mao Zedong, as the Chairman (aka top leader) of the Communist Party of China, dictatorially governed the nation from 1949 until 1976. A fervent believer in Chinese Communism, which he described as a mix of Marx-Lenin style communism and his own take on socialism, Mao created the operating principle for the CPC known as “mass line.” According to Mao, the CPC’s leaders and top-tier officials could only truly achieve their Party’s authentic communist goals so long as they avoided becoming tainted by the powers of their government positions. Therefore, in order to avoid such isolation, these leaders should engage in “mass line” communication with China’s most socially-inferior but most numerous social group: the rural peasantry. Only by regularly visiting, talking, and engaging in activities with these peasants, or so Mao believed, could CPC officials truly understand Chinese communism’s most important edicts and aims. Often, Mao enforced the “mass line” principle as a sort of disciplinary punishment, in which insubordinate, under-performing, or otherwise objectionable CPC leaders were forced into lengthy sojourns in the remote countryside, far away from the Party seat of power.

Caste-based discrimination is illegal according to the Indian Constitution, but still prevails in many aspects of Indian society. In modern India a person is much more likely to experience caste-based discrimination in rural villages, as compared to cities which are extremely diverse.