"Yesterday we only counted as statistics: labor force, emigration, death rate, crime rate, suicide rate. The best of us also counted in the records: wanted lists, political police, reports, prison rolls. This is no metaphysical void! No commodity is more common and more depreciated than man. Is he even worth the weight of his flesh? They wouldn't let a draft animal starve in the gray autumn fields. But a man in a big city?"
—Victor Serge, Conquered City (p. 34)