Stalin's repressions:
What was it?
On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims political repression
In this material we have collected the memories of eyewitnesses, fragments from official documents, figures and facts provided by researchers in order to provide answers to questions that haunt our society again and again. Russian state was never able to give clear answers to these questions, so until now, everyone is forced to look for answers on their own.
Who was affected by the repression?
Under the flywheel Stalin's repressions included representatives of a wide variety of population groups. The most famous names of artists are Soviet leaders and military leaders. About peasants and workers, often only names are known from execution lists and camp archives. They did not write memoirs, tried not to remember the camp past unnecessarily, and their relatives often abandoned them. The presence of a convicted relative often meant the end of a career or education, so the children of arrested workers and dispossessed peasants might not know the truth about what happened to their parents.
When we heard about another arrest, we never asked, “Why was he taken?”, but there were few like us. People distraught with fear asked each other this question for pure self-comfort: people are taken for something, which means they won’t take me, because there’s nothing! They became sophisticated, coming up with reasons and justifications for each arrest - “She really is a smuggler,” “He allowed himself to do this,” “I myself heard him say...” And again: “You should have expected this - he has such terrible character”, “It always seemed to me that something was wrong with him”, “This is a complete stranger.” That’s why the question: “Why was he taken?” – became forbidden for us. It's time to understand that people are taken for nothing.
- Nadezhda Mandelstam , writer and wife of Osip Mandelstam
From the very beginning of the terror until today attempts continue to be made to present it as a fight against “sabotage”, enemies of the fatherland, limiting the composition of the victims to certain classes hostile to the state - kulaks, bourgeois, priests. The victims of terror were depersonalized and turned into “contingents” (Poles, spies, saboteurs, counter-revolutionary elements). However, the political terror was total in nature, and its victims were representatives of all groups of the population of the USSR: the “cause of engineers”, the “cause of doctors”, persecution of scientists and entire areas in science, personnel purges in the army before and after the war, deportations of entire peoples.
Poet Osip Mandelstam
He died during transit; the place of death is not known for certain.
Directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold
Marshals Soviet Union
Tukhachevsky (shot), Voroshilov, Egorov (shot), Budyony, Blucher (died in Lefortovo prison).
How many people were affected?
According to the estimates of the Memorial Society, those convicted under political reasons there were 4.5-4.8 million people, 1.1 million people were shot.
Estimates of the number of victims of repression vary and depend on the calculation method. If we take into account only those convicted on political charges, then according to an analysis of statistics from the regional departments of the KGB of the USSR, carried out in 1988, the bodies of the Cheka-GPU-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB arrested 4,308,487 people, of which 835,194 were shot. According to the same data, about 1.76 million people died in the camps. According to the estimates of the Memorial Society, there were more people convicted for political reasons - 4.5-4.8 million people, of which 1.1 million people were shot.
The victims of Stalin's repressions were representatives of some peoples who were subjected to forced deportation (Germans, Poles, Finns, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and others). This is about 6 million people. Every fifth person did not live to see the end of the journey - about 1.2 million people died during the difficult conditions of deportation. During the dispossession, about 4 million peasants suffered, of which at least 600 thousand died in exile.
In total, about 39 million people suffered as a result of Stalin's policies. The number of victims of repression includes those who died in the camps from disease and harsh working conditions, those deprived of their money, victims of hunger, victims of unjustifiably cruel decrees “on absenteeism” and “on three ears of corn” and other groups of the population who received excessively harsh punishment for minor offenses due to repressive the nature of the legislation and the consequences of that time.
Why was this necessary?
The worst thing is not that you are suddenly taken away from a warm, well-established life like this overnight, not Kolyma and Magadan, and hard labor. At first, the person desperately hopes for a misunderstanding, for a mistake by the investigators, then painfully waits for them to call him, apologize, and let him go home to his children and husband. And then the victim no longer hopes, no longer painfully searches for an answer to the question of who needs all this, then there is a primitive struggle for life. The worst thing is the senselessness of what is happening... Does anyone know what this was for?
Evgenia Ginzburg,
writer and journalist
In July 1928, speaking at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Joseph Stalin described the need to fight “alien elements” as follows: “As we move forward, the resistance of capitalist elements will increase, the class struggle will intensify, and Soviet power, forces which will increase more and more, will pursue a policy of isolating these elements, a policy of disintegrating the enemies of the working class, and finally, a policy of suppressing the resistance of the exploiters, creating a basis for the further advancement of the working class and the bulk of the peasantry.”
In 1937, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR N. Yezhov published order No. 00447, in accordance with which a large-scale campaign to destroy “anti-Soviet elements” began. They were recognized as the culprits of all the failures of the Soviet leadership: “Anti-Soviet elements are the main instigators of all kinds of anti-Soviet and sabotage crimes, both on collective and state farms, and in transport, and in some areas of industry. The state security agencies are faced with the task of most mercilessly defeating this entire gang of anti-Soviet elements, protecting the working Soviet people from their counter-revolutionary machinations and, finally, once and for all putting an end to their vile subversive work against the foundations of the Soviet state. In accordance with this, I order that from August 5, 1937, in all republics, territories and regions, an operation to repress former kulaks, active anti-Soviet elements and criminals should begin.” This document marks the beginning of an era of large-scale political repression, which later became known as the “Great Terror.”
Stalin and other members of the Politburo (V. Molotov, L. Kaganovich, K. Voroshilov) personally compiled and signed execution lists - pre-trial circulars listing the number or names of victims to be convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court with a predetermined punishment. According to researchers, the death sentences of at least 44.5 thousand people bear Stalin’s personal signatures and resolutions.
The myth of the effective manager Stalin
Still in the media and even in textbooks One can find justification for political terror in the USSR by the need to carry out industrialization in a short time. Since the release of the decree obliging those sentenced to more than 3 years to serve their sentences in forced labor camps, prisoners have been actively involved in the construction of various infrastructure facilities. In 1930, the Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps of the OGPU (GULAG) was created and huge flows of prisoners were sent to key construction sites. During the existence of this system, from 15 to 18 million people passed through it.
During the 1930-1950s, GULAG prisoners carried out the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Moscow Canal. Prisoners built the Uglich, Rybinsk, Kuibyshev and other hydroelectric power stations, erected metallurgical plants, objects of the Soviet nuclear program, the most extensive railways and freeways. Dozens of Soviet cities were built by Gulag prisoners (Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Dudinka, Norilsk, Vorkuta, Novokuibyshevsk and many others).
Beria himself characterized the efficiency of prisoners’ labor as low: “The existing food standard in the Gulag of 2000 calories is designed for a person sitting in prison and not working. In practice, even this reduced standard is supplied by supplying organizations only by 65-70%. Therefore, a significant percentage of the camp workforce falls into the categories of weak and useless people in production. Generally work force no more than 60-65 percent is used.”
To the question “is Stalin necessary?” we can give only one answer - a firm “no”. Even without taking into account the tragic consequences of famine, repression and terror, even considering only economic costs and benefits - and even making all possible assumptions in favor of Stalin - we get results that clearly indicate that Stalin's economic policies did not lead to positive results. Forced redistribution significantly worsened productivity and social welfare.
- Sergey Guriev , economist
The economic efficiency of Stalinist industrialization at the hands of prisoners is also rated extremely low by modern economists. Sergei Guriev gives the following figures: by the end of the 30s, productivity in agriculture reached only the pre-revolutionary level, and in industry it turned out to be one and a half times lower than in 1928. Industrialization led to huge losses in welfare (minus 24%).
Brave New World
Stalinism is not only a system of repression, it is also the moral degradation of society. The Stalinist system made tens of millions of slaves - it broke people morally. One of the most terrible texts I have read in my life is the tortured “confessions” of the great biologist Academician Nikolai Vavilov. Only a few can endure torture. But many – tens of millions! – were broken and became moral monsters for fear of being personally repressed.
- Alexey Yablokov , Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Philosopher and historian of totalitarianism Hannah Arendt explains: in order to turn Lenin's revolutionary dictatorship into a completely totalitarian rule, Stalin had to artificially create an atomized society. To achieve this, an atmosphere of fear was created in the USSR and denunciation was encouraged. Totalitarianism did not destroy real “enemies,” but imaginary ones, and this is its terrible difference from an ordinary dictatorship. None of the destroyed sections of society were hostile to the regime and probably would not become hostile in the foreseeable future.
In order to destroy all social and family ties, repressions were carried out in such a way as to threaten the same fate to the accused and everyone in the most ordinary relations with him, from casual acquaintances to closest friends and relatives. This policy penetrated deeply into Soviet society, where people, out of selfish interests or fearing for their lives, betrayed neighbors, friends, even members of their own families. In their quest for self-preservation, masses of people abandoned their own interests and became, on the one hand, a victim of power, and on the other, its collective embodiment.
The consequence of the simple and ingenious device of "guilt for association with the enemy" is that, as soon as a person is accused, his former friends immediately turn into his worst enemies: To save their own skin, they rush out with unsolicited information and incrimination, supplying non-existent evidence against the accused. Ultimately, it was by developing this technique to its latest and most fantastic extremes that the Bolshevik rulers succeeded in creating an atomized and fragmented society, the likes of which we have never seen before, and whose events and catastrophes in such pure form It is unlikely that they would have happened without this.
- Hannah Arendt, philosopher
The deep disunity of Soviet society and the lack of civil institutions were inherited by the new Russia and became one of the fundamental problems hindering the creation of democracy and civil peace in our country.
How the state and society fought the legacy of Stalinism
To date, Russia has survived “two and a half attempts at de-Stalinization.” The first and largest was launched by N. Khrushchev. It began with a report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU:
“They were arrested without the prosecutor’s sanction... What other sanction could there be when Stalin allowed everything. He was the chief prosecutor in these matters. Stalin gave not only permission, but also instructions for arrests on his own initiative. Stalin was a very suspicious man, with morbid suspicion, as we became convinced of while working with him. He could look at a person and say: “something is wrong with your eyes today,” or: “why do you often turn away today, don’t look straight into the eyes.” Morbid suspicion led him to sweeping mistrust. Everywhere and everywhere he saw “enemies”, “double-dealers”, “spies”. Having unlimited power, he allowed cruel arbitrariness and suppressed people morally and physically. When Stalin said that so-and-so should be arrested, one had to take it on faith that he was an “enemy of the people.” And the Beria gang, which ruled the state security agencies, went out of its way to prove the guilt of the arrested persons and the correctness of the materials they fabricated. What evidence was used? Confessions of those arrested. And the investigators extracted these “confessions.”
As a result of the fight against the cult of personality, sentences were revised, more than 88 thousand prisoners were rehabilitated. However, the “thaw” era that followed these events turned out to be very short-lived. Soon many dissidents who disagreed with the policies of the Soviet leadership would become victims of political persecution.
The second wave of de-Stalinization occurred in the late 80s and early 90s. Only then did society become aware of at least approximate figures characterizing the scale of Stalin’s terror. At this time, the sentences passed in the 30s and 40s were also revised. In most cases, the convicts were rehabilitated. Half a century later, the dispossessed peasants were posthumously rehabilitated.
A timid attempt at a new de-Stalinization was made during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. However, it did not bring significant results. Rosarkhiv, on the instructions of the president, posted on its website documents about 20 thousand Poles executed by the NKVD near Katyn.
Programs to preserve the memory of victims are being phased out due to lack of funding.
Over the years Soviet power millions of people became victims of the tyranny of a totalitarian state, were subjected to repression for political and religious beliefs, according to social, national and other characteristics. IN Russian Federation The law was adopted on October 18, 1991. “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression.”
What is rehabilitation? For the answer to this question, we turned to the Small Academic Dictionary. “Rehabilitation is the restoration of the honor and reputation of an incorrectly accused or defamed person.”
How did the process of rehabilitation of the dispossessed go? The rehabilitation process in the 1930s. was complicated by the need to collect a whole package of documents, as well as by the fact that the peasants’ applications were considered by various authorities. From 70 to 90% of decisions made on complaints were negative. In fact, the “stigma of a kulak” remained, despite the restoration of voting rights, the partial return of property, the process of restoring the rights of the dispossessed, which stopped after 1937 and was resumed in 1985. - Perestroika and the policy of glasnost began. Attempts to move away from “stagnation” in society could not but lead to a rethinking of the historical past. As it turned out after a detailed study, they first started talking about the closed pages of history only in 1985. Since 1987 the rehabilitation process began, which affected politicians, in 1990 repressions against peasants during the period of collectivization were declared illegal.
According to the law “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression” (Article 3), the following are subject to rehabilitation:
· convicted of state and other crimes;
· repressed by decision of the Cheka, GPU, OGPU, UNKVD, NKVD, MGB, Ministry of Internal Affairs, prosecutor's office, commissions, “special meetings”, “twos”, “troikas” and other bodies;
· unjustifiably placed in psychiatric institutions for compulsory treatment;
· unjustifiably brought to criminal liability with the case terminated for non-rehabilitating reasons;
· recognized as socially dangerous for political reasons and subjected to imprisonment, exile, deportation without being charged with committing a specific crime.
Rehabilitated, previously dispossessed persons are also given back the real estate necessary for living (or its value), if it was not nationalized or (municipalized) destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and in the absence of other obstacles provided for in Article 16.1 of the Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression”.
In the generally accepted sense of the word, rehabilitation means any restoration of a citizen to his rights. In accordance with established legal concepts, the rehabilitation of a person who was brought in as an accused is considered to be an acquittal during a review of the case, a decision to terminate a criminal case due to the absence of a crime, for the absence of corpus delicti or lack of proof of participation in the commission of a crime, as well as a decision to terminate cases of administrative offense.
The Law of the Russian Federation “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression of October 18, 1991, supplemented by a number of laws and by-laws, may have served as the basis for the rehabilitation of dispossessed and deported peasants. The implementation of rehabilitation revealed practical problems associated with confirming the facts of dispossession.
Undoubtedly, the rehabilitation of the dispossessed played a significant role in terms of restoring historical justice in relation to the great social group. There is no doubt that the consequences of dispossession and the losses suffered by the peasantry will affect the life of society and the state for a long time.
In 1993, my grandmother Lidiya Nikolaevna sent a request for the rehabilitation of her relatives to the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tambov Region. In 1994, she received a letter informing her that case No. 7219 about the stay under the supervision of Ivan Ignatievich Nikitin and his family was in the archives of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Chelyabinsk Region. Lidiya Nikolaevna sent the following request to the Information Center of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Chelyabinsk Region. In April 1994, she received a certificate of rehabilitation of Nikitin Ivan Ignatievich, who was repressed in 1931. The certificate was issued by the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Tambov Region. In June of the same year, a response came from the information center of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Chelyabinsk Region, in addition to a certificate of being under supervision with restrictions on the rights and freedoms of Ivan Ignatievich Nikitin, a certificate of rehabilitation of Anna Ivanovna Polyanskaya (Nikitina), a questionnaire for the evicted kulak household, and a questionnaire were sent. Based on these documents, Anna Ivanovna received a certificate stating that she is a victim of political repression and has the right to benefits established by Article 16 of the Federal Law “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression.” In 1996, Lidiya Nikolaevna Parshukova (Polyanskaya) received the same certificate and certificate. Volodar Nikolaevich Polyansky was recognized as a victim of political repression. At the ATC information center Sverdlovsk region Archival materials are stored on the case of repressions against Arseny Andreevich Polyansky and his family.
Polyanskaya (Nikitina) Anna Ivanovna died in 2005 at the age of 93.
Rehabilitation was slow, inconsistent and painful. It's not finished. Its implementation took place and is taking place in a fierce struggle between democratic and pro-communist forces. It began shortly after Stalin's death. On September 1, 1953, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Special Meeting was abolished. Complaints and statements of those convicted by the OGPU board, “troikas” (“twos”) and the Special Meeting began to be considered by the USSR Prosecutor’s Office, but with a preliminary conclusion from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Supreme Court of the USSR was given the right to review decisions of special boards, “troikas” and the Special Meeting. Until 1954, 827,692 people convicted in 1917-1953 were rehabilitated. Rehabilitation almost did not concern serious charges. Of all those rehabilitated, only 1,128 people, or 0.14%, were sentenced to death (hereinafter, statistical data taken from the official materials of the Central Archives of the KGB-MB-FSK-FSB of Russia are used).
Punitive authorities in every possible way prevented objective rehabilitation and kept it under their control. For these purposes Prosecutor General The USSR, the Minister of Justice of the USSR, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Chairman of the KGB of the USSR on May 19, 1954 issued a joint top secret order No. 96 ss/0016/00397/002252, which actually changed the procedure for reviewing criminal cases established by the decree in relation to convicted persons still serving punishment, i.e. those who were mostly repressed while officials were in power. The review of cases was supposed to be carried out on its own, departmental. For this purpose, a Central Commission was created, which included the Prosecutor General, the Chairman of the KGB, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the head of SMERSH, and the head of the Main Directorate of Military Tribunals. She was ordered to review cases of persons convicted by central authorities. The cases of those repressed locally were supposed to be reviewed by republican, regional and regional commissions consisting of the heads of the same punitive bodies. According to the authors of the order, the decision of the named commissions should be final. However, this did not work out.
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 19, 1955, which was not published, the Supreme Court of the USSR (which, perhaps, had a little less blood in the blood of innocent persons than the KGB) was allowed to review the decisions of the Central Commission, and on March 24, 1956. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR formed its own commissions to verify on site the validity of the detention of convicted persons accused of committing “political crimes.” These commissions were also given the right to make final decisions. From the content of the analyzed regulations on the procedure for rehabilitation, it is clear that all the authorities involved in the repression did not want to let go of control over rehabilitation.
On February 25, 1956, on the last day of the 20th Congress of the CPSU, at a closed meeting, a report by N.S. was held outside the agenda. Khrushchev "On the cult of personality and its consequences." This was the first official recognition of Stalin's repressions. August 7, 1957 by closed Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Supreme Courts Union republics and military tribunals of districts (fleets), upon protests of the relevant prosecutors, were also given the right to review all cases, including decisions of the Central and local commissions under the punitive authorities, and a few days later - decisions of the commissions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. During 1954-1961 another 737,182 people were rehabilitated (this number includes those convicted after 1953), including 353,231 people (47.9%) sentenced to death.
In the early 60s. The rehabilitation process began to be deliberately slowed down, and the staff of the prosecutor's office departments involved in preparing materials for filing protests was reduced. And with the removal of Khrushchev in October 1964, mass rehabilitation practically stopped. Over 25 years (1962-1987), only 157,055 people were rehabilitated. This process was resumed only in 1988. Until 1993, another 1,264,750 people were acquitted (since 1992, the number of those rehabilitated includes only persons convicted in Russia). In total, 2,986,679 repressed persons were personally rehabilitated. However, this is far from a complete account of lawlessness. It was almost impossible to open them during an individual review of existing criminal cases after repeated efforts by the KGB. Therefore, a group rehabilitation path began to be developed.
On January 16, 1989, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On additional measures to restore justice for victims of repressions that took place during the 30-40s and early 50s”, all decisions made by the “troikas”, special boards and special meetings were canceled out-of-court decisions. This, however, was not enough. On November 14, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the declaration “On recognizing as illegal and criminal repressive acts against peoples subjected to forced relocation and ensuring their rights.” But this did not solve all the issues. By decree of the President of the USSR of August 13, 1990, repressions against peasants during the period of forced collectivization and other citizens repressed for political, social, national, religious and other reasons in the 20-50s were declared illegal.
The decree did not apply to persons reasonably convicted of committing crimes against the Motherland and the people. But how to identify them? Only by checking each case. Consequently, group rehabilitation still did not work out. Moreover, whether the convicted person was justifiably or unjustifiably repressed was decided not by the court, but privately by officials in the prosecutor's office. This is how the secret rehabilitation of secret convictions turned out. Other difficulties also emerged2. They were overcome in the RSFSR Law of April 26, 1991 “On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples” and the Russian Federation Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression.” Convicts were rehabilitated for decriminalized acts. However, not all compositions considered in the 20-50s. state crimes, were decriminalized and not all those repressed were convicted illegally. Thus, under these acts, rehabilitation required individual approach. In 1993, the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression” was amended to give persons who were denied rehabilitation the right to go to court.
One of the last acts of rehabilitation was the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 24, 1995 “On the restoration of legal rights Russian citizens- former Soviet prisoners of war and civilians repatriated during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period.” It recognizes the actions of the party and state leadership as contrary to fundamental human and civil rights, as well as political repression. former USSR and coercive measures from outside government agencies, adopted in relation to Russian citizens - former Soviet military personnel who were captured and encircled in battles in defense of the Fatherland, and civilians repatriated during the war and in the post-war period. These individuals, of whom there are only a few survivors, are issued war certificates and are entitled to social benefits provided for citizens subjected to Nazi persecution. Naturally, all this does not apply to those persons who served in combat and special formations of the Nazi troops and in the police.
And one last thing. The RSFSR Law “On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples” talks about territorial, political, material, social and cultural rehabilitation. The most difficult turned out to be material and especially territorial rehabilitation for the Germans, Meskhetian Turks, Crimean Tatars and some peoples North Caucasus. Until recently, for example, there has been a search for ways to resolve the interethnic conflict between the Ingush and Ossetians in connection with the territorial rehabilitation of the Ingush.
Not only in Russia, but also in other states formed on the territory of the former USSR, many regulations were adopted defining the procedure for the rehabilitation of illegally repressed citizens, the restoration of their rights and legitimate interests, the provision of benefits and the payment of monetary compensation.
More on the topic § 3. REHABILITATION OF VICTIMS OF POLITICAL REPRESSION:
- § 2. IDEOLOGICAL AND LEGAL BASIS OF POLITICAL REPRESSION
- § 2. Political and legal trends of political repression in the USSR
- § 1. The concept of rehabilitation and the basis for the emergence of the right to rehabilitation
- § 1. The concept of rehabilitation. Grounds for the emergence of the right to rehabilitation
- 3.1. Concept and content of the definition of a crime victim 3.1.1. Crime victim concept
- ABOUT PUNISHMENT MEASURES FOR REPRESSED THOSE AND THE NUMBER OF THOSE SUBJECT TO REPRESSION
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There was a Gulag, this is indisputable historical fact, and it must be studied, like every historical phenomenon, and its causes, mechanisms, and consequences must be understood. To begin with, we need to at least truthfully diagnose its scale, outline more or less exact numbers. This research is being carried out by historian Alexander Nikolaevich Dugin (not a “geopolitician”!), author of the books “The Unknown Gulag”, “Stalinism: Legends and Facts”. He shares his results in the article “If not by lies: Do the currently popular ideas about the Gulag correspond to the truth?” (Literary newspaper, Moscow, May 11-17, 2011, No. 19 /6321/, p. 3: Present past):
Where did the “Gulagov land” come from?
One of the first publications published in the West on this topic was a book by a former employee of the Izvestia newspaper I. Solonevich, who was imprisoned in the camps and fled abroad in 1934. Solonevich wrote: “I don’t think that the total number of all prisoners in these camps was less than five million people. Probably somewhat more. But, of course, there can be no talk of any accuracy of calculation.”
The book of prominent figures of the Menshevik Party D. Dalin and B. Nikolaevsky, who emigrated from the Soviet Union and emigrated from the Soviet Union, is also replete with figures, who claimed that in 1930 the total number of prisoners was 622,257 people, in 1931 - about 2 million, in 1933-1935 - about 5 million In 1942, they claimed there were between 8 and 16 million people in prison.
Other authors cite similar multi-million dollar figures. S. Cohen, for example, in his work dedicated to N. Bukharin, referring to the works of R. Conquest, notes that by the end of 1939 the number of prisoners in prisons and camps had grown to 9 million people compared to 5 million in 1933-1935 .
A. Solzhenitsyn in “The Gulag Archipelago” operates with figures of tens of millions of prisoners. R. Medvedev adheres to the same position. V.A. showed even greater scope in her calculations. Chalikova, who claimed that from 1937 to 1950 more than 100 million people visited the camps, of whom every tenth died. A. Antonov-Ovseenko believes that from January 1935 to June 1941, 19 million 840 thousand people were repressed, of which 7 million were shot.
Concluding a quick review of the literature on this issue, it is necessary to name one more author - O.A. Platonov, who is convinced that as a result of the repressions of 1918-1955, 48 million people died in places of detention.
Let us note once again that we have given here far from full list publications on the history of criminal legal policy in the USSR, but at the same time, the content of the vast majority of publications by other authors almost completely coincides with the views of many current publicists.
Let's try to answer a simple and natural question: what exactly are the calculations of these authors based on?
On the reliability of historical journalism
So were there really many tens of millions of repressed people that many modern authors talk and write about?
This article uses only authentic archival documents that are stored in leading Russian archives, primarily in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (formerly TsGAOR USSR) and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (formerly TsPA IML).
Let's try, based on documents, to determine the real picture of the criminal legal policy of the USSR in the 30-50s of the twentieth century. To begin with, two tables compiled from archival materials.
Let's compare archival data with those publications that appeared in Russia and abroad. For example, R.A. Medvedev wrote that “in 1937-1938, according to my calculations, from 5 to 7 million people were repressed: about a million party members and about a million former party members as a result of party purges of the late 20s and the first half of the 30s ; the remaining 3-5 million people are non-party people, belonging to all segments of the population. Most of those arrested in 1937-1938. ended up in forced labor camps, a dense network of which covered the entire country.”
Assuming that R.A. Medvedev is aware of the existence in the Gulag system of not only forced labor camps, but also forced labor colonies; let us first dwell in more detail on the forced labor camps that he writes about.
From table No. 1 it follows that on January 1, 1937, there were 820,881 people in forced labor camps, on January 1, 1938 - 996,367 people, on January 1, 1939 - 1,317,195 people. But it is impossible to automatically add up these figures to obtain the total number of those arrested in 1937-1938.
One reason is that every year a certain number of prisoners were released from the camps after serving their sentences or for other reasons. Let us also cite these data: in 1937, 364,437 people were released from the camps, in 1938 - 279,966 people. By simple calculations, we find that in 1937, 539,923 people entered forced labor camps, and in 1938, 600,724 people.
Thus, according to archival data, in 1937-1938 the total number of prisoners newly admitted to the Gulag forced labor camps was 1,140,647 people, not 5-7 million.
But even this figure says little about the motives of the repressions, that is, about who the repressed were.
It is worth noting the obvious fact that among the prisoners there were those arrested in both political and criminal cases. Among those arrested in 1937-1938 were, of course, both “ordinary” criminals and those arrested under the notorious Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. It seems that, first of all, it is these people, arrested under Article 58, who should be considered victims of political repression of 1937-1938. How many were there?
The archival documents contain the answer to this question (see table No. 2). In 1937, under Article 58 - for counter-revolutionary crimes - there were 104,826 people in the Gulag camps, or 12.8% of the total number of prisoners, in 1938 - 185,324 people (18.6%), in 1939 - 454,432 people (34, 5%).
Thus, the total number of those repressed in 1937-1938 for political reasons and in forced labor camps, as can be seen from the documents cited above, should be reduced from 5-7 million by at least ten times.
Let us turn to another publication by the already mentioned V. Chalikova, who gives the following figures: “Calculations based on various data show that in 1937-1950 there were 8-12 million people in camps that occupied vast spaces. If, out of caution, we accept a lower figure, then with a camp mortality rate of 10 percent... this would mean twelve million dead in fourteen years. With a million executed “kulaks”, with victims of collectivization, famine and post-war repressions, this will amount to at least twenty million.”
Let's turn again to archival table No. 1 and see how plausible this version is. Subtracting from the total number of prisoners the number of those released annually at the end of their sentence or for other reasons, we can conclude: in the years 1937-1950, about 8 million people were in forced labor camps.
It seems appropriate to once again recall that not all prisoners were repressed for political reasons. If we subtract from their total number of murderers, robbers, rapists and other representatives of the criminal world, it becomes clear that about two million people went through forced labor camps in the years 1937-1950 under “political” charges.
About dispossession
Let us now move on to consider the second large part of the Gulag - the correctional labor colonies. In the second half of the 1920s, a system of serving sentences was developed in our country, providing for several types of imprisonment: forced labor camps (which were mentioned above) and general places of detention - colonies. This division was based on the term of punishment to which a particular prisoner was sentenced. If convicted for short terms - up to 3 years - the punishment was served in general places of deprivation of liberty - colonies. And if convicted for a term of more than 3 years - in forced labor camps, to which several special camps were added in 1948.
Returning to table No. 1 and bearing in mind that on average 10.1% of those convicted for political reasons were in correctional labor colonies, we can obtain a preliminary figure for the colonies for the entire period of the 30s - early 50s.
During the years 1930-1953, 6.5 million people were in forced labor colonies, of which about 1.3 million people were convicted of “political” charges.
Let's say a few words about dispossession. When they call the figure of 16 million dispossessed, apparently, they use the “GULAG Archipelago”: “There was a stream of the 29-30s, in the good Ob, which pushed fifteen million men into the tundra and taiga, but somehow not more.”
Let us turn again to archival documents. The history of special resettlement begins in 1929-1930. On January 18, 1930, G. Yagoda sent a directive to the permanent representatives of the OGPU in Ukraine, Belarus, the North Caucasus, the Central Black Earth Region, and the Lower Volga Territory, in which he ordered to “accurately take into account and telegraphically report from which areas and what number of kulak “The White Guard element is subject to eviction.”
Based on the results of this “work,” a certificate was drawn up from the Department of Special Settlements of the GULAG OGPU, which indicated the number of those evicted in 1930-1931: 381,026 families, or 1,803,392 people.
Thus, based on the given archival data of the OGPU-NKVD-MVD of the USSR, it is possible to draw an intermediate, but apparently very reliable conclusion: in the 30-50s, 3.4- 3.7 million people.
Moreover, these figures do not at all mean that among these people there were no real terrorists, saboteurs, traitors to the Motherland, etc. However, to solve this problem it is necessary to study other archival documents.
Summing up the results of studying archival documents, you come to an unexpected conclusion: the scale of criminal law policy associated with the Stalinist period of our history is not too different from similar indicators modern Russia. In the early 90s, there were 765 thousand prisoners in the system of the Main Directorate of Correctional Affairs of the USSR, and 200 thousand in pre-trial detention centers. Almost the same indicators exist today."
REFERENCE: Dugin, Alexander Nikolaevich. Born 1944 Graduated from the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives. He taught at the Higher Law Correspondence School. Candidate of Historical Sciences (1988), dissertation topic “ Bodies of the Moscow city police in 1917-1930».
ADDENDUM 1.
O.V. Lavinskaya " Extrajudicial rehabilitation of victims of political repression in the USSR in 1953-1956". Candidate of Historical Sciences (2007).
A number of works contain digital calculations about the number of rehabilitated people, and there is a serious scatter in the data: from 258,322 people in 1952-1962 (1) to 737,182 (2) and even 800 thousand people (3). According to estimates of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office in 1954-1960. 530 thousand convicts were rehabilitated in the 1930s, including more than 25 thousand repressed by extrajudicial authorities (4). Without relying on documentary data, researchers sometimes overestimate their number. Thus, in the “Black Book of Communism” we read that “in 1956-1957, about 310,000 “counter-revolutionaries” left the Gulag (5). According to V.P. Naumov’s calculations, as a result of the work of the 1956 commissions, “hundreds of thousands of prisoners in the camps as political criminals were released and returned to their homes” (6) Elsewhere, he spoke about a million prisoners and exiles who received freedom after the 20th century exit (7). Although, according to archival sources, the number of political prisoners in the camps on January 1, 1956 was “only” 113,735 people (8), and during March-October 1956, 51 thousand people were released from the camps (9)
1. From an interview with the head of the Rehabilitation Department of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office Kupets. //Moscow news. 1996. March 24-31. P.14.
2. XX Congress of the CPSU and its historical realities. M. 1991. P.63
3. Book of memory of victims of political repression. Kazan. 2000.
4. Massacre. Prosecutor's fates. M., 1990. P. 317.
5. The Black Book of Communism. M. 1999. P.248.
6. Naumov V.P. N.S. Khrushchev and the rehabilitation of victims of political repression. // Questions of history. 1997. No. 4. P.31.
7. Naumov V.P. To history secret report N.S. Khrushchev. // New and recent history. 1996. №4.
8. Data taken from the report of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs to the CPSU Central Committee dated April 5, 1956. In the book: GULAG: Main Directorate of Camps. 1918-1960. M. 2000. P.165.
9. See: GA RF. F. R-7523. Op. 89. D. 8850. L. 66. Rogovin, referring to the publication in No. 4 of the “Historical Archive” for 1993, gives the figure - 50,944 people. See: Rogovin V. Uk. op. P.472.
ADDENDUM 2:
In the Russian Federation, since 1992, about 640,000 people have been rehabilitated by decision of commissions.
The process of rehabilitation of those convicted in the period from the 20s to the early 50s began immediately after Stalin's death. According to the 1953 decree “On Amnesty” of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, up to one and a half million people were released.
Mass legal rehabilitation began in 1961. Then, due to the lack of evidence of a crime, 737,182 people were rehabilitated; from 1962 to 1983, 157,055 people were rehabilitated. The rehabilitation process was resumed in the late 80s. Then almost all the repressed leaders of the CPSU (b) were rehabilitated, and many of those who were declared “class enemies”. In 1988-89, cases involving 856,582 people were reviewed, and 844,740 people were rehabilitated. And finally, in 1991, the “Law on the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression” was signed. From the start of this law until 2015, more than 3.7 million people were rehabilitated. And yet, even with such a large-scale effort, which involved reviewing millions of cases, not all of those repressed were found innocent. Who never received rehabilitation? The 1991 law prohibits the rehabilitation of those who themselves participated in the repression.
Genrikh Grigorievich Yagoda
From 1934 to 1936 he served as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR. It was under the leadership of Yagoda that the Gulag was created. He also began the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal with the help of prisoners. He officially bore the title of “the first initiator, organizer and ideological leader of the socialist industry of the taiga and the North.” The machine he created eventually crushed him too: in 1937 he was arrested, and a year later he was shot. Yagoda was accused of committing “anti-state and criminal crimes”, of “connections with Trotsky, Bukharin and Rykov, organizing a Trotskyist-fascist conspiracy in the NKVD, preparing an assassination attempt on Stalin and Yezhov, preparing a coup and intervention.”
Nikolai Ivanovich Ezhov
This man, as you know, headed the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs from 1936 to 1938. It is he who holds the dubious honor of organizing the repressions of 1937-38, known as the “Great Terror.” These repressions were popularly called “Yezhovshchina.” In 1939 he was arrested, and in 1940 he was executed on charges of preparing an anti-Soviet coup d'etat and espionage in favor of five foreign intelligence services.
Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria
Since 1941 Lavrentiy Beria - general secretary state security. Beria – “ right hand Stalin,” a man from the inner circle of the “Father of Nations,” became for many generations of Soviet people almost a symbol of Stalin’s repressions, despite the fact that during the period of the “Great Terror” it was not Beria who held the post of People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs. Lavrentiy Pavlovich was not spared the fate of his predecessors; he also became a victim of the flywheel of arrests and executions launched in the early 30s on strange charges. Beria was arrested in 1953, found guilty of espionage and conspiracy to seize power, and executed.
Dekanozov, Meshik, Vlodzimirsky, Merkulov
These are people from Beria’s inner circle, security officers, active participants in Stalin’s repressions. And Vladimir Georgievich Dekanozov, and Pavel Yakovlevich Meshik, and Lev Emelyanovich Vladzimirsky, and Vsevolod Nikolaevich Merkulov were arrested in the Beria case, found guilty of espionage with the aim of seizing power, and executed in 1953.
Legal incident
Experts say: with regard to these and other similar persons, there is a certain legal incident. It is obvious that neither Yagoda, nor Yezhov, nor Beria, nor his henchmen committed the crimes that were accused of them. They were not spies of countless foreign intelligence services and none of them attempted to seize power in the country. However, the rehabilitation commission refused to find these people innocent. The basis for the refusal was the indication that they themselves were the organizers mass repression, and therefore cannot be considered their victims. From a legal point of view, there may be some inaccuracy in the wording; in any case, there are lawyers who insist on this. However, to be fair, everything is true.