The modern world admires the scientific method and points to repeated experimentation as the sure foundation of knowledge. If experimentation and the scientific method is applied to socialism/communism it quickly becomes apparent that Marx spawned the most flawed, foolish and cruel economic system yet devised by man. This is made manifest in a new book edited by Donald and Agnieszka Critchlow, "Enemies of the State".

"Enemies of the State" is a series of "personal stories from the Gulag". Excerpts are taken from ten different books published from 1951 to 1986. They cover the imprisonment, torture and persecution of individuals within communist states from the Soviet Union to Hungary to Viet Nam to China. They are representative stories of what happened to tens of millions of people. Each one is fascinating on a personal level, but is significant because it reveals what happens when a socialist regime gets total power within a state.

Every place where communism has been tried it has used terror and repression in order to impose its "utopia" upon the masses. The words "terror" and "repression" are ominous in and of themselves, but they take on real meaning as the reader takes personal interest in each of the stories presented in this volume. We see how people are taken from their homes and forced to confess to crimes about which they have no knowledge.

These confessions are extracted through ingenious tortures, from sleep deprivation to beating the soles of feet, to starvation to removing of fingernails. Threats are made to friends and family. Denunciation of self as well as friends, coworkers and neighbors is expected. Of course, the stories in "Enemies of the State" were written by survivors. Though terrible atrocities are described, we are also treated to the heroism of men and women who resisted the blandishments of their captors.

Although written over a span of nearly 40 years and across a broad range of geography, the reader cannot help but notice that there are many interesting similarities in the stories. First, every writer was quite amazed by their initial imprisonment. They each believed that a mistake had been made and that somehow, someway the wheels of bureaucracy would turn and they would be released with an apology. Yet it was not long before they would be disabused of this notion and the forced pseudo-confession was what was wanted of them.

Generally, the prisoners were caught up in a purge or a movement that attacked their class or profession. It seemed that each socialist regime was inevitably plagued by economic failure, and in order to assuage their own guilt and to pin it on others, they blamed a particular "conspiracy" or class of "wreckers". Also, it became apparent that these individuals were only so much grist for the communist mills. Communism cannot provide a decent standard of living to its people, so in order to maintain an appearance of normalcy it will resort to slave labor. This happened in both the Soviet Union and in Communist China. In fact, slave labor still exists in the major surviving communist states, China, Cuba and North Korea.

Another fascinating similarity in these stories was the strength that individuals gained by relying upon a spiritual force. Each author found a way to state in his or her own way that he could not have survived without the help of God. One of the authors specifically stated that the strongest prisoners who resisted with courage and vigor were invariably people of strong faith. The Critchlows extrapolate this thought, portraying communism as the antithesis of Christianity, so much so that the History of the 20th century might even be shown to be a struggle between Christianity and Communism. In other circles it has been hypothesized that Marxism is a religion which cannot tolerate other "Gods" being placed before it.

What I found to be the most remarkable thread running through the stories was the mindset of the oppressors and their invariable reliance upon force as a means of imposing an ideology. There was undoubtedly communication among the communist states, and this created some unity in method. For example, one common means of torture was merely to place a prisoner in handcuffs for days on end. This doesn't sound so bad until one considers the consequences. A person with his arms tightly bound, behind his back cannot place his hands in front. This makes it difficult to do even the simplest of things, from clean oneself to eat. It is hard to sleep because no position is comfortable. Soon circulation to the hands gets cut off and they begin to swell. The metal cuts into the wrists and soon there is constant bleeding and infection. Every movement becomes painful and the fear of losing infected limbs preys upon the mind. Given such treatment, most people are ready to confess to the most heinous crime and to implicate any friend or relation.

Yet these stories should not only be read for the lessons they can teach us about socialism. They should be read because they are great literature, human drama, and an inspiration to everyone who will ever face adversity. For me, after I finished each of the ten stories I looked heavenward and said, "Thank God I live in a free country, and may it alway be so." ****

This book may be purchased at Amazon.com.