Anybody interested in this might want to read "lorba the Dread" by martin amis, in which he makes similar points, re: Stalinist CCCP, but goes into greater details about the conditions in the gulag, etc.
You could also read Beevor's
Stalingrad as an example of the contempt for human life on both sides...
Everytime I see some idiot like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine or other pop-culture moron wearing pro-communist gear, I'd like to Fedex them an Adolph Eichmann t-shirt and see if they'd wear that...