What examples are there of that?

As crazy as it sounds, the cuban revolution up until the late 80s. While their communist economic system was far from ideal, it saw significant rising GDP/cap vs the days when farm labor were like slaves and their output redistributed to petty farm masters under Batistas favored rich men.

Do you have a source for that? Most accounts I've read regarding that period talk about massive decreases in food production after the government took over those industries.

tiny.cc/c0jsvz

They had a rough first 10 years breaking even vs GDP/c under Batista but there was rapid advancement after that until collapse of the Soviet Union.