Evening star., 1949-07-24
Russiu's Forced Labor

Russiu's Forced Labor
There is little or no reason to question
the authenticity of the British circulated
document setting forth the text of the
laws that govern forced labor in Russia.
Nor Is there any good reason to doubt the
accompanying estimate that as many as
100000 Soviet citiZenS-about a tenth
of the total working population-probably
are now being penalized under those laws
in one degree or another. In fact, it would
not be surprising if the true figure were
actually higher than that.
This thing. after all, is inherent in the
Soviet system. Under the dictatorship of
the Kremlin, Russia today is as much a
penitentiary as it is a state. The people
who live there are not free. They cannot
speak freely write freely, assemble freely,
vote freely travel freely or do any number
of other things freely. The one-party
tyranny of the Communists whose total
strength represents only a minor fraction
of the population-has outlawed all po-
litical opposition and laid down a party
line which everybody must follow in every
field of endeavor. The iron curtain,
ceaseless theological indoctrination and
propaganda, censorship, the secret police,
terrorism, fiat denial of individual liber-
ties like those set forth in our Bill of
Rights, the absolute concentration of
power in the Politburo-these are but some
of the features of Red totalitarianism.
Needless to say, in such a way of life,
forced labor, or slave labor is by no means
unnatural
Indeed, in Russia, what passes for free"
labor is itself anything but free Thus,
as revealed textually last year by 'The
Baltic Review" of Stockholm, Soviet law,
wholly apart from ruling out the right to
strike, imposes an exceptionally severe
discipline on all workers. For example,
worker who absents himself from his job,
or who is twenty minutes late in arriving
at it, must have valid excuse or risk be-
ing sentenced to correctional" work for
period up to six months, with Is per
cent cut in pay. Similarly any one losing
or damaging tools through carelessness can
be made to pay back their value fivefold,
merely on the say-so of the management.
Further as another illustration, q rail-
wayman can be jailed for ten years If his
lateness or absenteeism upsets time
table, results in economic loss, or causes
an accident, and If bad intent is involved,
he can be put away for twenty-five years.
Against such background, with even
the free" workers of Russia wearing
chains of a sort, the existence of large
scale forced labor can hardly be doubted.
The document in the possession of the
British-which is to be submitted to the
United Nations Economic and Social Coun-
ellis altogether believable. What it
shows is that the Soviet Union has body
of laws specifically designed to punish
and 're-educate" "claSs-hoStile" individu-
ais and unstable elements among the
workers" by means of an elaborate system
of corrective labor without deprivation
of freedom" concentration-camp labor
with "deprivation of freedom" and penal
employment in exile-the area Of exile
presumably being in Siberia
The document shows, in addition, that
these Soviet laws set forth a number of
rules which are supposed to protect the
penalized in terms Of ordering their keep
ers to feed, clothe and house them ade-
quately, release them when their terms
expire and otherwise treat them with a
measure of humaneness. Whether the
keepers live up to the rules is question.
Possibly they do. On the other hand,
especially in cases where the worker is
deemed to have committed a serious
offense against the state, it is not unrea-
sonable to imagine the worst.
In any case whether or not lashings,
tortures or executions are involved, the
mere presence of such system is cruelty
enough in itself. More than that, it is a
grim illustration of the prisonlike nature
of the Soviet Union. In its own way, too,
it is an impressive commentary on the
fundamental weakness of the Stain die
tatorship.
Certainly, when the government OF
country has to sentence millions OF people
to forced labor, it is not showing strength.
On the contrary, besides showing lack OF
civilization, it is showing fear; it is show
ing that it is not sure of itself; it is show
ing kind of dread that the masses be-
meath it, unless ruthlessly cowed and
punished, may one day rise to break their
chains