Hell On Earth: Brutality and Violence Under The Stalinist Regime

by Ludwik Kowalski

Wasteland Press - July 2008

Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty

Those readers who have a limited knowledge of the terrors of Stalinism will undoubtedly benefit from reading Ludwik Kowalski's book. It is unfortunate today that when one discusses "dictators" or "totalitarianism," it is Adolf Hitler that seems to come to mind for most people yet, compared to Joseph Stalin and his fellow Communist colleagues, Hitler was a piker. (For support of this assertion, I direct the reader to Dr. Rudy Rummel's website at www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html where this retired political scientist keeps track of such statistics.) Those who argue that Hitler was much worse than Stalin when it came to mass killings may have to rethink their view.

For the author of Hell on Earth, this assuredly is a very personal book. Kowalski's father was an idealistic Communist who left his native Poland to help create the "Great New Society" in the Soviet Union. Later arrested by Soviet authorities and sent to a labor camp, he died while working in a gold mine. It seems to be the author's conclusion that his father's death was the result of being a naive idealist deceived by Communist propaganda. If that is so, it certainly was not the first time (nor probably will it be the last time) that a young gullible idealist was sucked into the lies and deceptions that constitute the practical reality of the Marxist-Leninist political philosophy. (During the 1930s and 1940s, there were a few reporters for the "New York Times" and other publications, not to mention many American "intellectuals," who were similarly deceived, as I recall.)

One of the most interesting features of the book are the comments by some (mostly professors) who take issue with Kowalski about the terrors of Stalinism and the death-statistics he presents. One can only draw the conclusion that there are some naive idealists still out there who apparently cannot recognize and accept the Soviet failures and the realities of living under a Communist system of totalitarianism. But, like the traditional universal skeptic in academic philosophy, some people simply cannot acknowledge the truth or the possibility of obtaining it.

Although I have no problem at all with the content of this book, -- indeed, I substantially agree with its findings and conclusions -- the writing style is sometimes problematic. That does not, however, detract from the importance of the work and I recommend reading it, especially to those readers who are not intimately acquainted with the terrors of Stalin's regime.