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Terror in My Soul: Communist Autobiographies on Trial

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After the Russian Revolution, Communists shifted their concern from that of acquiring power to that of stamping out all opposition or potential dissent. Nearly half of the Communists purged from Leningrad State University in 1924 were of noble or intelligentsia background. (p. 215). Communists also sought to uncover and to neutralize "passive" tendencies against the Revolutionary state, including "degeneracy". Some of this makes for funny reading now, such as masturbation as a form of "degeneracy".

Communists rewrote the Decalogue. (p. 129). Stealing became OK if one was "expropriating the expropriators". Killing became OK if it was the killing of a class enemy. Honoring one's father and mother were only recognized if these recognized and supported the Revolution. Adultery, and other sexual activity, was encouraged if they promoted the growth of collectivist feeling.

There were efforts to make a "New Soviet Man". Because the Communists believed in the perfectibility of man, they rejected genetic determinism. (p. 234). A form of eugenics was also encouraged (see also p. 323).

Halfin supports a figure of 5-6 million dead as the price of collectivization. (p. 285). Victims of the 1936-1938 purges are reckoned much lower.