Under the Sickle and the Sledgehammer

A gripping and important memoir by a Finnish woman who migrated to Stalin’s Soviet Russia in the 1930s and escaped in 1941

‘A captivating story of courage, belief, and disillusionment under the persistent tyranny of Russian imperialism. Even after 90 years, Kirsti’s story is a testament to the ongoing fight for Freedom.' - Ana Khizanishvili, Human Rights Lawyer

Under the Sickle and the Sledgehammer was originally published in 1942, as war still raged between Finland and the Soviet Union.

The author of this memoir, Kirsti Huurre (a pseudonym, since it was far too risky to reveal her real name), was a Finnish woman who immigrated to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, convinced the new egalitarian state and workers’ paradise would provide a better life for her and her young son; she was hopeful that, once settled, she would be able to send for him. What followed was vastly different to what was promised: a life filled with fear, suspicion, violence and state-run propaganda that spun a web of lies around its people. Kirsti eventually escaped – defying the odds when so many of her friends and loved ones did not.

Under the Sickle and the Sledgehammer is the first English translation of what became the second most censored book – second only to Mein Kampf – from Finnish libraries after the war. This is a gripping and valuable account of life in Stalin’s oppressive Soviet Union.