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Born out of personal tragedy, this highly readable book is dedicated to victims of Stalin's mass murder. Millions of forgotten people, whose fates even today seem to disappear into oblivion, were put to death or were brutally enslaved in the name of the fight for a better world. In the system run by “proletarian dictatorship” which was believed to be embodied in the sole will of its unscrupulous, insane leader, everyone could be accused of being the next “enemy of the people” and sent to the forsaken place called Gulag. Many of those sent to jails and camps perished and few came back to tell their stories. Among them, most prominent testimony was given by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The rule of Stalin's terror was possible due to the totality of indoctrination, to the widely spread acceptance of the principle that every sacrifice on the way towards the glorious future is justified. Masses of people in Russia willingly applauded the endless processions of trials during which, among many others, almost the entire leadership of the soviet revolution was eliminated. They applauded until they found themselves on the way to jail. Many even then did not lose faith in the wisdom of great Stalin, considering their own fate to be some terrible mistake in a just system. How could such a self distraction of the whole nation happen? How did the system work? What is more unbelievable, and sad, is the fact that the communist parties in the West, living in free societies and not subject to direct soviet terror, applauded Stalin's policy as well. And those were not bad or stupid people Building a classless society attracted the best minds of the time and many enthusiastically supported the Russian revolution. How could all those good people have been so blind? What was the reason for their self-deception? Had they found it hard to believe that all this noble effort and all the dreams they personally invested in soviet project were in vain? Were they unable to face the fact that their support might have indirectly helped Stalin to murder millions of innocent people? These among other questions are raised by Ludwik Kowalski in his book Hell on Earth. The book is an attempt to inform, to educate and to warn. Having found how little is known about the communist regimes even at his own university and being profoundly aware of the dangerous repetitions of history, L.Kowalski opens an internet forum from which the book evolves. He asks the most important question of man's inhumanity to man. Is it avoidable? Is moral sensibility of people sufficient to protect world societies from mass murder? He suggests that human impulse to hate and the forces that transfer that impulse into action should be studied and understood. He compares them to other natural calamities like earthquakes and epidemics which we do not accept passively and do everything possible to prevent. The book is one urgent call to understand what has happened and to prevent the next disaster. Both its form--short chapters each dealing with a specific question, providing most relevant references--and its limited size make it accessible to everyone. The book can be a very effective source of information and a base for further discussion in every forum. Writing about these painful matters is very hard for victims. Too traumatized to talk, lacking illusions concerning humanity, victims remain silent and do not easily expose their feelings to others. Ludwik Kowalski does it. Thanks to his great spirit. |