I agree with some of what the OP said, but differ as to his analysis of GB 1.0. Having been an elder during the 1970s, those years were labled by some as Watchtower Vatican II. The JW disfellowshipping rules were reformed and liberalized. You could even greet a DFd person. Locally we even had independent Bible studies and didn't fear being brought before a JC for studying the Bible. It was after Ray Franz was purged in 1979 that the repression began and the reactionary GB members like Ted Jaracz enforced their authority.
When the GB began repealing the reforms of the 1970s I resigned as an elder in 1984 and quickly faded. But through the years I've talked with refugees from the Watchtower Gulag and things have gotten steadily worse in JW land since 1980. Perhaps the 1990s were less repressive for JWs than they are today, but when one looks back at 1970s JWdom, it is almost like examining a different religion.