For example, in the German Democratic Republic, you were shot when you wanted to leave. But it is just insufficiently sophisticated people that would conclude from that that they were lacking freedom.
They did have freedom, but just had a different definition for it.
Their definition of freedom was "understanding of the necessity" / "Einsicht in die Notwendigkeit". The definition comes from the famous German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, so surely it is more valid that the thought of some stupid redneck that thinks freedom means not being shot when you want to leave the country.
Being shot when leaving is consistent with this definition of freedom. It is not a shallow western individualist definition, with negative freedoms (freedom from...), but a collectivist definition. If you leave, you deprive the collective of your work, thereby reducing their positive freedoms. Surely it is just to shoot somebody for such an egregious violation of other people's freedom.
Rant over.
I am really sick of people trying to twist the meaning of terms to suit their own political agenda. If you want to argue that other things are more important than freedom, fine. But at least make up your own terms.