page_title: Forced labor in the Soviet Union
section_title: The Soviet Gulag System
hierarchical_section_title: Forced labor in the Soviet Union / The Soviet Gulag System
caption_attribution_description: Political prisoners in Gulag eating lunch (on the left Lithuanian Pranas Ivanauskas)
context_page_description: Forced labor was used extensively in the Soviet Union as a means of controlling Soviet citizens and foreigners. Forced labor also provided manpower for government projects and for reconstruction after the war. It began before the Gulag and Kolkhoz systems were established, although through these institutions, its scope and severity were increased. The conditions that accompanied forced labor were often harsh and could be deadly.
  The following closely related categories of forced labor in the Soviet Union may be distinguished.
context_section_description: Gulags or Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagerej, are described as labor camps which were a police-run system of colonies and special settlements.  The myth surrounding the Gulag was that these forced labor camps would reforge the Soviet citizen who could then become a foundation of the Soviet Society. The real function of the Soviet Gulag was the exploitation of human beings, which occurred by working the people to death or near death before discarding them. Approximately 20% of the prisoners would be freed each year from the Gulags, but these were not rehabilitated criminals, they were usually prisoners who were too weak to perform duties any longer or were suffering from incurable diseases. The types of prisoners ranged from petty criminals to political prisoners.  A 1993 study of the soviet archives revealed that between 14 and 18 million people were imprisoned in the Gulag labor camps from 1929 to 1953.  A further 10 - 11 million people were either deported or were already in the penal system at the time There are no accurate or official archive records prior to 1929.   The Gulag penal system was isolated to the point where there was little or no communication allowed between the different camps, and no mention of the camps were discussed in the wider Soviet society.   This institution was a separate society with its own culture and its own rules.  At the beginning there was rampant brutality and death, but later they began to normalize and operate like any other normal societal town or city.  In most cases the camp commandant would act more like the mayor of the city and would even advocate for better conditions and increased supplies for the people under his control. According to the US Government, conditions were deadly:
  In 1953, 1954, it was awful conditions in concentration camps. It is hard to explain how bad it was. . . . [S]uch bad food that when I came to the concentration camp, I have seen prisoners which have only bones and skin. Each day in our conentration camp, I do not remember a day when it was less than 20, 25 people--less than 35--which died from starvation.
  Different categories with the Gulags:  The Gulag system consisted of over 30,000 camps which were broken down into three different categories dependent upon the number of prisoners held at that camp.  A large camp normally held more than 25,000 prisoners each, a medium size camp held from 5,000 to 25,000 and the smallest camps held less than 5,000 prisoners each. These small camps were the most numerous of the labor camps.  Within the penal system there were different types of camps:  prisons, special prisons, special camps, corrective labor colonies, and special purpose camps such as the scientific prison institutes (sharashka), filtration camps and prisoner of war (POW) camps.
  Deaths within the Gulag system:  Now that the Soviet archives are available for study, it has been determined that there were between 15 and 18 million people held prisoner under Stalin.  There are no reliable records prior to this period.  It is estimated that 1.6 million died within the Gulags, approximately 800,000 killed by the Soviet Secret Police, and another 1 million dying during the exile process after they had been released from the Gulag.
  The official Party reason for the Gulags was rehabilitation, but this was not the real purpose.  The prisoners within the Gualgs were forced labor which helped meet the goals of the Five Year Plan, as well as to provide labor for the State run projects such as the Moscow-Volga canal.  There is no doubt the camps were meant to house criminals and misfits who were a danger to society, but what many people were guilty of is saying or doing the wrong thing and then becoming a political prisoner for years.   Stalin viewed these kind of people as enemies of the Party and he wanted them dealt with as enemies.
  The institution called Gulag was closed by the MVD order No 020 of January 25, 1960.  Forced labor camps for political and criminal prisoners continued to exist. Political prisoners continued to be kept in one of the most famous camps P
caption: Political Prisoners in the Gulag
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