Asklemmy

1.What was the class structure of medieval/early modern merchant republics? Were they Bourgeois states, like the Netherlands for instance? If not what were they?

2.What was with the selection of NKVD chiefs? Even if we discount some of what the Krushchevites charged Beria with, he still wasn't great and was very opportunistic after Stalin's death. So three bad chiefs in a row is...not a good track record, especially since other offices (like commissar of foreign affairs being held by Molotov) weren't plagued by this

3.If human technological progress just stopped at some point, would the relations of production remain the same or no? I.e, if things like the steam engine were never invented and made factories more efficient, would it have been possible to have a dominant proletariat class? What about advances in agriculture and such? [Ignoring how changes such as this were extremely unlikely].

4. Has there ever been an example of the Feudal mode of production being restored? I know a dictatorship of the aristocracy has been restored before, in France for instance after the fall of Napoleon, but the mode of production remained somewhat similar as some reforms during the revolution were kept since reversing them would be impossible. [I am comparing this to the fall of the Eastern Bloc, where the capitalist mode of production was restored]

5.How did Laos and Vietnam remain socialist while Cambodia and Mongolia went through a capitalist restoration?