Forced Labor in the Soviet Union. [With Illustrations.]. PDF Download

Author: United States. Department of State
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 69

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Author: Paul R. Gregory
Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
ISBN: 0817939431
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Until now, there has been little scholarly analysis of the Soviet Gulag as an economic, social, and political institution, primarily owing to a lack of data. This collection presents the results of years of research by Western and Russian scholars. The authors provide both broad overviews and specific case studies.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Convict labor
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Author: David J. Dallin
Publisher: Octagon Press, Limited
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Author: David J. Dallin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: James Bunyan
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421436612
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Originally published in 1967. Many documents essential for understanding the development of Soviet labor policies from 1917 to 1921 have been selected, translated, and presented in this volume. The Origin of Forced Labor in the Soviet State, 1917-1921 begins with the early months of the revolution, when the utopian slogans of workers' control of industry and the promise of trade-union management of industrial production were the controlling factors in shaping Soviet policy on labor. Chapter 2 traces the gradual introduction of measures of labor compulsion, first in relation to those the Bolsheviks classified as the bourgeoisie and afterwards in relation to the working class. Chapters 3 through 5, the core of the study, tell the story of labor militarization—the new formula that, for the Communists, held the key to solving all economic problems in a socialist state. Chapter 3 presents the theories used to justify the militarization of labor and outlines the institutional framework that kept the system in operation. Chapter 4 deals with the application of this system to different segments of the Russian population. Chapter 5 analyzes compulsory labor in transportation, in which the validity of labor militarization as an institution came most sharply into question. The last chapter reviews the general crisis of Russian Communism, the repudiation of some of the most oppressive features of that system, and the efforts to reconcile conflicting views within the Communist Party on the role of labor under socialism.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forced labor
Languages : un
Pages :

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Author: Edwin Bacon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Concentration camps
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Throughout the Stalin era and after, the Gulag system of forced labor blighted the Soviet Union. Millions were incarcerated in its camps, some to be eventually released, many to die imprisoned and faceless. For decades, histories of the camp system have relied on the experiences of those who suffered within them for their main source of information. Though these accounts have been supplemented with officially sanctioned Soviet publications, the details of the forced labor system have for decades remained hidden by state secrecy. But with the collapse of the Soviet empire, the archives of the Gulag are now opening. Drawing on the archival records kept by Gulag authorities themselves, "The Gulag at War" traces the development of this system in the Soviet Union from 1920 through 1960. The volume describes the state's perceptions of the camps and their tasks and addresses long-held questions concerning the motives behind the system. Specific attention is given to the World War II years; the information found in the archives shows the importance of forced labor to Soviet, and therefore Allied, victory. "The Gulag at War" offers a close investigation of different aspects of camp life during this time, supplying data concerning the numbers and backgrounds of the prisoners, the economic tasks and achievements, the camp conditions, and the effectiveness of camp security which have previously been unavailable.

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil rights
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description

Author: Charles River Editors
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781792740619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts *Includes a bibliography for further reading One of the most idiosyncratic horrors of Soviet Russia was the Gulag system, an extensive network of forced labor and concentration camps. Part of the rationale behind this system was that it could serve as slave labor in the drive for industrialization, while also serving as a form of punishment. The name Gulag is in fact an acronym, approximating to "Main Administration of Camps" (in Russian: Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei) and operated by the Soviet Union's Ministry of the Interior. The Gulag consisted of internment camps, forced labor camps, psychiatric hospital facilities, and special laboratories, and its prisoners were known as zeks. Such was the closed and secretive nature of the Soviet state that to this day, knowledge of the Gulag system comes mainly from Western studies, firsthand accounts by prisoners such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and some local studies after the fall of communism. The most recognizable version of the Gulag, a term that was never pluralized in Russia itself, existed from the 1930s-1950s, a period in which a huge network of camps and prisons was established across the vast Soviet federation. Prisoners were often used as forced labor, made to do physically arduous and soul-destroying tasks. Some workers helped to build large infrastructure projects, and indeed the system was partly rationalized in terms of economics. By the early 1960s, Gulags were synonymous with various forms of punishments, including house arrest, imprisonment in isolated places, or confinement to a mental hospital where a prisoner would be declared insane or diagnosed with a "political" form of psychosis. In its later years, the Gulags held a particular place in the public's imagination, both within the USSR and in the outside world. They could mean exile, brutal punishment, or simply being banished to Siberia. Though it's often forgotten today, in many respects the Gulags represented a continuation (albeit a more far-reaching version) of the kind of punishment meted out during the Russian Empire under the Romanov dynasty, which was overthrown in 1917. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the system in the context of the broader history of Russia and its empire, even as the system of repression, imprisonment and punishment persisted for decades in the Soviet Union and has been primarily aligned with the rule of one leader: Josef Stalin. As the USSR's leader for almost 30 years and one of history's most notorious tyrants, Stalin was a believer in the economic utility of the Gulags' forced labor. He was so paranoid that he constantly saw potential enemies among his people, particularly his Bolshevik contemporaries. Stalin sent hundreds of thousands to the Gulags, notably in the 1930s during his "Great Terror" and after the end of the Second World War. For Soviet politicians, the Gulags served as a propaganda disaster, and they were constantly cited by Western leaders. Many nominal supporters of the Soviet Union were forced to reappraise their stance towards the country when reports of Stalin's Gulag became common knowledge, and the prison camps became an international issue during the Cold War, especially as human rights became a foreign policy priority for the West in the 1970s. A number of Soviet dissidents and former or current occupants of the Gulag, including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, became cause celebres for campaigners outside the country. The USSR collapsed in December 1991, and it can be argued that the labor camps were not only integral to the very existence of the Soviet Union, but also a damning indictment of the Soviets' failed experiment in communist totalitarianism. The Gulags: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Soviet Labor Camps examines the rise of the labor camps, how they were instutionalized by Soviet leaders, and what life was like for the prisoners.