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Title: Thou Shall Not Kill by John L. Ellis ISBN: 1-4010-1973-0 Publisher: Xlibris Corporation Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.99

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Perhaps Putin has read this book?
Comment: For me, the confirmation of the primary thesis in Thou Shall Not Kill came directly from current Russian leader Vladimir Putin. As quoted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published 2/12/02, he indicated that he thought that there is a definite role for religion and morality in modern day Russia.

By extension, we can surmise that he also feels that the absence of these elements was a major flaw of communist ideology. This is the main point of the book, and it is interesting that both the author and the leader of Russia arrived at the same conclusion independently.

This book is important because it addresses key issues that previous "Rise and Fall of XYZ Empire" books have not - namely, the role of morality in building sustainable societies. Most historians shy away from this subject because it is "soft" or "not factual". Thou Shall Not Kill is a powerful reminder of how important morality really is.

Rating: 4
Summary: Intellectuals and the Communist Fallacy
Comment: "Thou Shall Not Kill" by John L. Ellis is a wake-up call for intellectuals who still believe in the Communist ideology and mourn its accelerating demise. The author, and his wife, left Nazi Germany in the thirties, but their relatives perished in the Holocaust. Yet, Mr. Ellis is convinced that Lenin's legacy has been more destructive to Judeo Christian morality than Hitler's demolished fascism was.

Ellis' arguments are simple, straightforward and laid out in a review of the immoral actions of the leaders of the Soviet Union. Beginning with a summary of the Communist Manifesto the writer exposes the utter fallacy of any attempt to construct a Utopia on its commandments. Marx and Engels promised to create a "new" human from the basis of "the working class." Private property based on land was to be abolished and "the State" would control everything: the instruments of production, means of communication, and all expressions of culture. The 1917 Russian revolution enforced this ideology ruthlessly, nullifying religion, tradition and any "unwanted" consequences of individual freedom or creativity. It is now known that one hundred million lives were sacrificed for Communism's inhuman purpose.

In parts of our modern world this materialistic and cruel disregard for any human rights is still in effect, witness Communist China's practice of killing prisoners if their body parts are wanted for transplantation.

The fascist regimes were authoritarian, cruel and inhuman, but never so conceited that they abolished tradition or killed their own countrymen to create brand new people. To the contrary, Hitler tried to instil behaviors contributory to purity of "the race" and its culture, and promoted German procreation by paying mothers for multiple births.

Both fascism (the extreme right) and communism (the extreme left) have shown their despicable faces, but communism continues its attempts at social engineering to refashion the universe. Mr. Ellis correctly points the finger at our predilection to favor communism over fascism just because Hitler attacked his old ally Stalin. However, it is time for all intelligent people to understand that malpracticed reasoning can lead to murderous totalitarian institutions and governments, both on the left and the right.