How many Soviet republics were there?

How many clever words you utter here! You should go into politics! You would stand on the podium and tell everyone how good democracy is and how bad communism is! But I would gladly live forty years ago, so as not to experience this very "great" democracy.

I don't mind, but you WOULD live, and people DID live during the repressions and collectivization. And these are different things. Look at the world through rose-colored glasses; I didn't say that democracy is a good form of government. There is no democracy as such. But communism is evil. History is proof of that. How many victims are there in the world from democracy? How many from communism? What is the argument about?
If you like it, let it be. :)