It's so cheap to buy them.
They're the lucky bunch from the uneducated poor. If you don't have any hope for life and they promise you security, stability and power, and all you have to do is follow their orders (and most of them have already been brainwashed into supporting the regime), I think that most people would do the same.
I don't know if I would. I was luckily born in relative safety from hunger and despair.