Stalin was the greatest tyrant of all times and peoples. Stalin destroyed his people on an unimaginable scale - from 10 to 110 million people were thrown into camps, where they were shot or died in inhumane conditions.

Examples of using

“Professor Kurganov indirectly calculated that from 1917 to 1959 only from internal war the Soviet regime against its people, that is, from their destruction by famine, collectivization, exile of peasants to extermination, prisons, camps, simple executions. - This is the only reason why we died. Along with our civil war, 66 million people... According to his calculations, we lost in World War II from neglect. 44 million people are harmed by its sloppy conduct! So, in total we lost from the socialist system - 110 million people!”

Reality

Igor Pykhalov

What was the scale of the “Stalinist repressions”?

Almost all publications addressing the issue of the number of repressed people can be classified into two groups. The first of them includes works by denouncers of the “totalitarian regime”, citing astronomical multi-million dollar figures of those executed and imprisoned. At the same time, “truth seekers” persistently try not to notice archival data, including published ones, pretending that they do not exist. To justify their figures, they either refer to each other, or simply limit themselves to phrases like: “according to my calculations,” “I am convinced,” etc.

However, any conscientious researcher who begins to study this problem quickly discovers that in addition to “eyewitness memories” there are a lot of documentary sources: "In the funds of the Central state archive October revolution, supreme bodies of state power and government bodies of the USSR (TsGAOR USSR), several thousand units of storage of documents related to the activities of the Gulag were identified"

Having studied archival documents, such a researcher is surprised to see that the scale of repression that we “know” about thanks to the media is not only at odds with reality, but is exaggerated tenfold. After this, he finds himself in a painful dilemma: professional ethics demands to publish the data found, on the other hand, so as not to be branded as a defender of Stalin. The result is usually some kind of “compromise” publication containing both standard set anti-Stalinist epithets and curtsies addressed to Solzhenitsyn and Co., as well as information about the number of repressed people, which, unlike publications from the first group, was not taken out of thin air and not pulled out of thin air, but was confirmed by documents from the archives.

How much has been repressed?

February 1, 1954
To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade N.S. Khrushchev.
In connection with signals received by the Central Committee of the CPSU from a number of persons about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report: from 1921 to the present time, 3,777,380 people were sentenced for counter-revolutionary crimes, including 642,980 people to VMN, to detention in camps and prisons for a term of 25 years and below - 2,369,220, into exile and deportation - 765,180 people. Of the total number of convicts, approximately, sentenced: 2,900,000 people - by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference and 877,000 people - by courts, military tribunals, the Special Board and the Military collegium.

... It should be noted that, created on the basis of the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated November 5, 1934, by the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR, which existed until September 1, 1953, 442,531 people were sentenced, including 10,101 people to VMN, to imprisonment - 360,921 people, to exile and deportation (within the country) - 57,539 people and to other measures of punishment (counting the time spent in custody, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) - 3,970 people...

Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin

So, as is clear from the above document, in total from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, people were sentenced to death on political charges. 642.980 person, to imprisonment - 2.369.220 , to link - 765.180 . It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, from July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production, but then some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years. In 1934, the camps housed 3,849 prisoners sentenced to capital punishment with a substitute for imprisonment, in 1935 - 5,671, in 1936 - 7,303, in 1937 - 6,239, in 1938 - 5,926, in 1939 - 3,425, in 1940 - 4,037.

Number of prisoners

» Are you sure that the information in this memo is true?“, - a skeptical reader will exclaim, who, thanks to many years of brainwashing, firmly “knows” about millions of people shot and tens of millions sent to camps. Well, let's turn to more detailed statistics, especially since, contrary to the assurances of dedicated “fighters against totalitarianism,” such data is not only available in the archives, but has also been published several times.

Let's start with data on the number of prisoners in the Gulag camps. Let me remind you that those sentenced to a term of over 3 years usually served their sentences in a correctional facility. labor camps(ITL), and those sentenced to short terms - in correctional labor colonies (ITC).

Year	Prisoners
1930	179.000
1931	212.000
1932	268.700
1933	334.300
1934	510.307
1935	725.483
1936	839.406
1937	820.881
1938	996.367
1939	1.317.195
1940	1.344.408
1941	1.500.524
1942	1.415.596
1943	983.974
1944	663.594
1945	715.505
1946	746.871
1947	808.839
1948	1.108.057
1949	1.216.361
1950	1.416.300
1951	1.533.767
1952	1.711.202
1953	1.727.970

However, those who are accustomed to taking the opuses of Solzhenitsyn and others like him for Holy Bible, often even direct references to archival documents are not convincing. » These are NKVD documents, and therefore they are falsified.- they say. - Where did the numbers given in them come from?».

Mass repression in the USSR were carried out in the period 1927 - 1953. These repressions are directly associated with the name of Joseph Stalin, who led the country during these years. Social and political persecution in the USSR began after the completion of the last stage civil war. These phenomena began to gain momentum in the second half of the 30s and did not slow down during the Second World War, as well as after its end. Today we will talk about what social and political repression was Soviet Union, let us consider what phenomena underlie those events, as well as what consequences this led to.

They say: whole people cannot be suppressed endlessly. Lie! Can! We see how our people have become devastated, gone wild, and indifference has descended on them not only to the fate of the country, not only to the fate of their neighbor, but even to their own fate and the fate of their children. Indifference, the last saving reaction of the body, has become our defining feature . That is why the popularity of vodka is unprecedented even on a Russian scale. This is terrible indifference when a person sees his life not chipped, not with a corner broken off, but so hopelessly fragmented, so corrupted along and across that only for the sake of alcoholic oblivion is it still worth living. Now, if vodka were banned, a revolution would immediately break out in our country.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Reasons for repression:

• Forcing the population to work on a non-economic basis. There was a lot of work to be done in the country, but there was not enough money for everything. The ideology shaped new thinking and perceptions, and was also supposed to motivate people to work for virtually nothing.
• Strengthening personal power. The new ideology needed an idol, a person who was unquestioningly trusted. After Lenin's assassination this post was vacant. Stalin had to take this place.
• Strengthening the exhaustion of a totalitarian society.

If you try to find the beginning of repression in the union, then the starting point, of course, should be 1927. This year was marked by the fact that massacres of so-called pests, as well as saboteurs, began to take place in the country. The motive for these events should be sought in the relations between the USSR and Great Britain. Thus, at the beginning of 1927, the Soviet Union became involved in a major international scandal, when the country was openly accused of trying to transfer the seat of the Soviet revolution to London. In response to these events, Great Britain broke off all relations with the USSR, both political and economic. Inside the country this step was presented as preparation by London for a new wave of intervention. At one of the party meetings, Stalin declared that the country “needs to destroy all remnants of imperialism and all supporters of the White Guard movement.” Stalin had an excellent reason for this on June 7, 1927. On this day, the political representative of the USSR, Voikov, was killed in Poland.

As a result, terror began. For example, on the night of June 10, 20 people who were in contact with the empire were shot. These were representatives of ancient noble families. In total, in June 27, more than 9 thousand people were arrested, accused of high treason, complicity with imperialism and other things that sound menacing, but are very difficult to prove. Most of those arrested were sent to prison.

Pest Control

After this, a number of major cases began in the USSR, which were aimed at combating sabotage and sabotage. The wave of these repressions was based on the fact that in most large companies who worked within the Soviet Union, leadership positions were occupied by immigrants from imperial Russia. Of course, these people for the most part did not feel sympathy for the new government. Therefore, the Soviet regime was looking for pretexts on which this intelligentsia could be removed from leadership positions and, if possible, destroyed. The problem was that this required compelling and legal reasons. Such grounds were found in a number of trials that swept across the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Among the most bright examples Such cases can be distinguished as follows:

• Shakhty case. In 1928, repressions in the USSR affected miners from Donbass. This case was turned into a show trial. The entire leadership of Donbass, as well as 53 engineers, were accused of espionage activities with an attempt to sabotage the new state. As a result of the trial, 3 people were shot, 4 were acquitted, the rest received prison term from 1 to 10 years. This was a precedent - society enthusiastically accepted the repressions against the enemies of the people... In 2000, the Russian prosecutor's office rehabilitated all participants in the Shakhty case, due to the absence of corpus delicti.
• Pulkovo case. In June 1936, a major solar eclipse was supposed to be visible on the territory of the USSR. Pulkovo Observatory appealed to the world community to attract personnel to study this phenomenon, as well as to obtain the necessary foreign equipment. As a result, the organization was accused of espionage ties. The number of victims is classified.
• The case of the industrial party. Those accused in this case were those whom the Soviet authorities called bourgeois. This process took place in 1930. The defendants were accused of trying to disrupt industrialization in the country.
• The case of the peasant party. The Socialist Revolutionary organization is widely known under the name of the Chayanov and Kondratiev group. In 1930, representatives of this organization were accused of attempting to disrupt industrialization and interfering in agricultural affairs.
• Union Bureau. The case of the union bureau was opened in 1931. The defendants were representatives of the Mensheviks. They were accused of undermining the creation and implementation of economic activities within the country, as well as connections with foreign intelligence.

At this moment, a massive ideological struggle was taking place in the USSR. New mode tried with all his might to explain his position to the population, as well as justify his actions. But Stalin understood that ideology alone could not restore order in the country and could not allow him to retain power. Therefore, along with ideology, repression began in the USSR. Above we have already given some examples of cases from which repression began. These cases have always raised big questions, and today, when documents on many of them have been declassified, it becomes absolutely clear that most of the accusations were unfounded. It is no coincidence that the Russian prosecutor's office, having examined the documents of the Shakhty case, rehabilitated all participants in the process. And this despite the fact that in 1928, no one from the country’s party leadership had any idea about the innocence of these people. Why did this happen? This was due to the fact that, under the guise of repression, as a rule, everyone who did not agree with the new regime was destroyed.

The events of the 20s were just the beginning; the main events were ahead.

Socio-political meaning of mass repressions

A new massive wave of repressions within the country unfolded at the beginning of 1930. At this moment, a struggle began not only with political competitors, but also with the so-called kulaks. Actually started new blow Soviet power on the rich, and this blow affected not only wealthy people, but also middle peasants and even poor people. One of the stages of delivering this blow was dispossession. Within of this material We will not dwell in detail on the issues of dispossession, since this issue has already been studied in detail in the corresponding article on the site.

Party composition and governing bodies in repression

New wave political repression in the USSR began at the end of 1934. At that time, there was a significant change in the structure of the administrative apparatus within the country. In particular, on July 10, 1934, a reorganization of the special services took place. On this day, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR was created. This department is known by the abbreviation NKVD. This unit included the following services:

• Main Directorate of State Security. It was one of the main bodies that dealt with almost all matters.
• Main Directorate of Workers' and Peasants' Militia. This is an analogue of the modern police, with all the functions and responsibilities.
• Headquarters border service. The department dealt with border and customs affairs.
• Main Directorate of Camps. This administration is now widely known by the abbreviation GULAG.
• Main Fire Department.

In addition, in November 1934, it was created special department, which was called “Special Meeting”. This department received broad powers to combat enemies of the people. In fact, this department could, without the presence of the accused, prosecutor and lawyer, send people into exile or to the Gulag for up to 5 years. Of course, this applied only to enemies of the people, but the problem is that no one reliably knew how to identify this enemy. That is why the Special Meeting had unique functions, since virtually any person could be declared an enemy of the people. Any person could be sent into exile for 5 years on simple suspicion.

Mass repressions in the USSR

The events of December 1, 1934 became the reason for mass repressions. Then Sergei Mironovich Kirov was killed in Leningrad. As a result of these events, a special procedure for judicial proceedings was established in the country. In fact, we are talking about expedited trials. All cases where people were accused of terrorism and aiding terrorism were transferred under the simplified trial system. Again, the problem was that under this category treated almost all people who came under repression. Above, we have already talked about a number of high-profile cases that characterize repression in the USSR, where it is clearly visible that all people, one way or another, were accused of aiding terrorism. The specificity of the simplified trial system was that the verdict had to be passed within 10 days. The accused received a summons a day before the trial. The trial itself took place without the participation of prosecutors and lawyers. At the conclusion of the proceedings, any requests for clemency were prohibited. If during the proceedings a person was sentenced to death, this penalty was carried out immediately.

Political repression, party purge

Stalin carried out active repressions within the Bolshevik Party itself. One of illustrative examples The repressions that affected the Bolsheviks occurred on January 14, 1936. On this day, the replacement of party documents was announced. This move had been discussed for a long time and was not unexpected. But when replacing documents, new certificates were not awarded to all party members, but only to those who “earned trust.” Thus began the purge of the party. If you believe the official data, then when new party documents were issued, 18% of the Bolsheviks were expelled from the party. These were the people to whom repression was applied primarily. And we are talking about only one of the waves of these purges. In total, the cleaning of the batch was carried out in several stages:

• In 1933. 250 people were expelled from the party's senior leadership.
• In 1934 - 1935, 20 thousand people were expelled from the Bolshevik Party.

Stalin actively destroyed people who could lay claim to power, who had power. To demonstrate this fact, it is only necessary to say that of all the members of the Politburo of 1917, after the purge, only Stalin survived (4 members were shot, and Trotsky was expelled from the party and expelled from the country). In total, there were 6 members of the Politburo at that time. In the period between the revolution and the death of Lenin, a new Politburo of 7 people was assembled. By the end of the purge, only Molotov and Kalinin remained alive. In 1934, the next congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) party took place. 1934 people took part in the congress. 1108 of them were arrested. Most were shot.

The murder of Kirov exacerbated the wave of repression, and Stalin himself made a statement to party members about the need for the final extermination of all enemies of the people. As a result, changes were made to the criminal code of the USSR. These changes stipulated that all cases of political prisoners were considered in an expedited manner without prosecutors' lawyers within 10 days. The executions were carried out immediately. In 1936 there was political process over the opposition. In fact, Lenin's closest associates, Zinoviev and Kamenev, were in the dock. They were accused of the murder of Kirov, as well as the attempt on Stalin's life. A new stage of political repression against the Leninist Guard began. This time Bukharin was subjected to repression, as was the head of government, Rykov. The socio-political meaning of repression in this sense was associated with the strengthening of the cult of personality.

Repression in the army

Beginning in June 1937, repressions in the USSR affected the army. In June, the first trial of the high command of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), including the commander-in-chief Marshal Tukhachevsky, took place. The army leadership was accused of trying coup d'etat. According to prosecutors, the coup was supposed to take place on May 15, 1937. The accused were found guilty and most of them were shot. Tukhachevsky was also shot.

An interesting fact is that out of 8 members judicial trial, who sentenced Tukhachevsky to death, later the five themselves were repressed and shot. However, from then on, repressions began in the army, which affected everything management team. As a result of such events, 3 marshals of the Soviet Union, 3 army commanders of the 1st rank, 10 army commanders of the 2nd rank, 50 corps commanders, 154 division commanders, 16 army commissars, 25 corps commissars, 58 divisional commissars, 401 regiment commanders were repressed. In total, 40 thousand people were subjected to repression in the Red Army. These were 40 thousand army leaders. As a result, more than 90% command staff was destroyed.

Increased repression

Beginning in 1937, the wave of repressions in the USSR began to intensify. The reason was order No. 00447 of the NKVD of the USSR dated July 30, 1937. This document stated the immediate repression of all anti-Soviet elements, namely:

• Former kulaks. All those whom the Soviet authorities called kulaks, but who escaped punishment, or were in labor camps or in exile, were subject to repression.
• All representatives of religion. Anyone who had anything to do with religion was subject to repression.
• Participants in anti-Soviet actions. These participants included everyone who had ever actively or passively opposed Soviet power. In fact, this category included those who new government did not support.
• Anti-Soviet politicians. Domestically, anti-Soviet politicians defined everyone who was not a member of the Bolshevik Party.
• White Guards.
• People with a criminal record. People who had a criminal record were automatically considered enemies of the Soviet regime.

• Hostile elements. Any person who was called a hostile element was sentenced to death.
• Inactive elements. The rest, who were not sentenced to death, were sent to camps or prisons for a term of 8 to 10 years.

All cases were now considered in an even more accelerated manner, where most cases were considered en masse. According to the same NKVD orders, repressions applied not only to convicts, but also to their families. In particular, the following penalties were applied to the families of those repressed:

• Families of those repressed for active anti-Soviet actions. All members of such families were sent to camps and labor camps.
• The families of the repressed who lived in the border strip were subject to resettlement inland. Often special settlements were formed for them.
• A family of repressed people who lived in major cities of the USSR. Such people were also resettled inland.

In 1940, a secret department of the NKVD was created. This department was engaged in the destruction of political opponents of Soviet power located abroad. The first victim of this department was Trotsky, who was killed in Mexico in August 1940. Subsequently, this secret department was engaged in the destruction of participants in the White Guard movement, as well as representatives of the imperialist emigration of Russia.

Subsequently, the repressions continued, although their main events had already passed. In fact, repressions in the USSR continued until 1953.

Results of repression

In total, from 1930 to 1953, 3 million 800 thousand people were repressed on charges of counter-revolution. Of these, 749,421 people were shot... And this is only according to official information... And how many more people died without trial or investigation, whose names and surnames are not included in the list?

WHAT WAS THE SCALE OF “STALIN’S REPRESSIONS”?

Introduction - How much was repressed - Number of prisoners - How many of the prisoners were “political” - Mortality among prisoners

All kinds of exposers of “Stalin’s crimes,” starting from A. Solzhenitsyn with E. Radzinsky and ending with R. Conquist, name an absolutely fantastic number of “victims of repression”: 60, 80, finally 100 million dead. However, this is not the limit. Recently, in a speech by Yuri Karyakin, we talked about 120 million. It is easy to see the absurdity of these figures. It is enough to open any demographic directory and make simple calculations. And for those who are too lazy to do this, we will give a small illustrative example.

According to the population census conducted in January 1959, the population of the USSR was 208.827 thousand Human.

By the end of 1913, people lived within the same borders 159.153 thousand person (1).

Thus, the average annual population growth of our country

between 1914 and 1959 was 0.60%.

For comparison, we present data on how the population of England, France and Germany grew during this period - countries that also took an active part in both world wars (2).

1913 1959 Annual increase

RUSSIA 160 million 210 million 0,60

1920, thousand 1960, thousand annual growth, %

England 43718 52559 0,46

France 38750 45684 0,41

Germany 61794 72664 0,41

(GDR: 17241, West Berlin: 2199, Germany: 53224)

So what do we see? The population growth rate in the Stalinist USSR is almost one and a half times higher than in the “Western democracies”, although for these countries we excluded extremely unfavorable demographically, the years of the 1st World War.

Could this have happened if under Stalin half the country’s population (100 million) or at least a third (60 million) had been destroyed?

Almost all publications addressing the issue of the number of repressed people can be classified into two groups. The first of them includes works by denouncers of the “totalitarian regime”, calling astronomical multi-million dollar figures shot and imprisoned. At the same time, the “truth seekers” are trying hard ignore archived data, including and published, pretending that they do not exist. However, it has long been known that in addition to “eyewitness memories” there is a lot of documentary sources. In the funds of the Central State Archive of the October Revolution, the highest bodies of state power and government bodies of the USSR (TsGAOR USSR) it was revealed several thousand document storage units related to the activities of the Gulag.

Having studied archival documents, the researcher is surprised to discover that the scale of repression that we “know” about thanks to the media is not only at odds with reality, but inflated tenfold. After this, he finds himself in a painful dilemma: professional ethics requires him to publish the data found, on the other hand, he does not want to be known as a defender of Stalin. The result is usually some kind of “compromise” publication, containing both a standard set of anti-Stalinist epithets and curtsies addressed to Solzhenitsyn and Co., and information about the number of repressed people, which, unlike publications from the first group, is not taken out of thin air and not pulled out of thin air, and are confirmed by documents from the archives.

How much has been repressed?

In connection with signals received by the Central Committee of the CPSU from a number of persons about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report: for the time from 1921 to present for counter-revolutionary crimes

was convicted 3,777,380 people, including

to VMN (to execution - NM) - 642,980 people,

Of the total number of convicts, approximately the following were convicted:

2,900,000 people- Collegium of the OGPU, troikas of the NKVD and the Special Meeting and

877.000 people - by courts, military tribunals, the Special Board and the Military Board.

It should be noted that created on the basis of the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR from November 5, 1934 Special meeting at the NKVD USSR that lasted before September 1, 1953,

was convicted 442.531 people, including

to VMN - 10,101 people,

to imprisonment — 360.921 Human,

to other penalties (credit of time spent in custody, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) - 3,970 people …

Prosecutor General R. Rudenko

Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov

Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin

So, as is clear from the above document, total from 1921 to early 1954% were sentenced on political charges

642,980 people to death penalty,

It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, from July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940 for disorganizing camp life and production he was sentenced to capital punishment 201 prisoners, but then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years (3). Prisoners were kept in the camps sentenced to capital punishment with the replacement of imprisonment: in 1934― 3849, in 1935 ― 5671 , in 1936 - 7303, in 1937 - 6239, in 1938 - 5926 , in 1939 - 3425, in 1940 - 40374.

Number of prisoners

“Are you sure that the information from this memo is true?” the skeptical reader will exclaim. Well, let’s turn to more detailed statistics, especially since, contrary to the assurances of dedicated “fighters against totalitarianism,” such data is not only available in the archives, but also published several times.

Let's start with data on the number of prisoners in the Gulag camps. Let me remind you that those sentenced to a term of over 3 years, as a rule, served their sentence in forced labor camps(ITL), and those sentenced to short terms - in correctional labor colonies(ITK).

However, those who are accustomed to accepting the opuses of Solzhenitsyn and others like him as Holy Scripture are often not convinced even by direct references to archival documents. “These are NKVD documents, and therefore they are falsified. - they say. “Where did the figures given in them come from?” Two specific examples, where “these numbers” come from. So, year 1935:

Year of Prisoners Year of Prisoners Year of Prisoners

1930 179.000 1936 839.406 1942 1.415.596 1948 1.108.057

1931 212.000 1937 820.881 1943 983.974 1949 1.216.361

1932 268.700 1938 996.367 1944 663.594 1950 1.416.300

1933 334.300 1939 1.317.195 1945 715.505 1951 1.533.767

1934 510.307 1940 1.344.408 1946 746.871 1952 1.711.202

1935 725.483 1941 1.500.524 1947 808.839 1953 1.727.970

NKVD camps, their economic specialization

Camp Economic specialization Number of workers

DMITROVLAG Construction of the Moscow-Volga canal 192.649

BAMLAG Builds the second tracks of Transbaikal

and Ussuriyskaya railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline 153.547

White Sea-Baltic Combine. Construction of Belomor. channel 66.444

SIBLAG Construction in the Gorno-Shorskaya railway. d.;

coal mining in the mines of Kuzbass; construction of the Chuisky and Usinsky tracts;

provision work force Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant,

Novsibles and others; own pig farms 61.251

DALLAG(later Vladivostoklag ) Construction railway

"Volochaevka-Komsomolsk"; coal mining at the Artem mines and

"Raichikha"; construction of the Sedan water pipeline and oil storage facilities

"Benzostroya"; construction work of “Dalpromstroy”, “Reserves Committee”,

aircraft buildings No. 126; fisheries 60.417

SVIRLAG. Procurement of firewood and commercial timber for Leningrad 40.032

SEVVOSTLAG Trust "Dalstroy", work in Kolyma 36.010

TEMLAG, Mordovian ASSR Procurement of firewood and industrial timber for Moscow 33.048

SAZLAG (Central Asian) Providing labor to Tekstilstroy, Chirchikstroy, Shakhrudstroy, Khazarbakhstroy, Chuysky Novlubtrest, and the Pakhta-Aral state farm; own cotton state farms 26,829

Karaganda camp (Karlag) Livestock state farms 25.109

Ukhtpechlag. Works of the Ukhto-Pechora trust: coal mining,

oil, asphalt, radium, etc. 20.656

Prorvlag (later Astrakhanlag) Fishing industry 10.583

Sarov camp NKVD Logging and sawmilling 3.337

Vaygach. Mining of zinc, lead, platinum spar 1.209

Okhunlag. Road construction 722

On the way to camps 9.756

Total 741,599

1939

Number of prisoners in NKVD camps

See the table in the book

Total 1,317,195

However, as I wrote above, in addition to ITL there were also ITK - correctional labor colonies. Until the fall of 1938, they, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD. Therefore, for the years 1935-1938 we have so far managed to find only joint statistics:

Year of Prisoners Year of Prisoners Year of Prisoners

1930 179.000 1936 839.406 1942 1.415.596 1948 1.108.057

1931 212.000 1937 820.881 1943 983.974 1949 1.216.361

1932 268.700 1938 996.367 1944 663.594 1950 1.416.300

1933 334.300 1939 1.317.195 1945 715.505 1951 1.533.767

1934 510.307 1940 1.344.408 1946 746.871 1952 1.711.202

1935 725.483 1941 1.500.524 1947 808.839 1953 1.727.970

Year of the Prisoners

Since 1939, penitentiary colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD.

Year of Prisoners Year of Prison. Year of the Prisoners

1939 335.243 1944 516.225 1949 1.140.324

1940 315.584 1945 745.171 1950 1.145.051

1941 429.205 1946 956.224 1951 994.379

1942 361.447 1947 912.704 1952 793.312

1943 500.208 1948 1.091.478 1953 740.554

Number of prisoners in prisons (10 )

MARCH: 350.538 190.266 487.739 277.992 235.313 155.213 279.969 261.500 306.163 275.850

MAY 281.891 195.582 437.492 298.081 237.246 177.657 272.113 278.666 323.492 256.771

JULY 225.242 196.028 332.936 262.464 248.778 191.309 269.526 268.117 326.369 239.612

SEPTEMBER: 185.514 217.819 216.223 217.327 196.119 218.245 263.819 253.757 360.878 228.031

DECEMBER 178.258 401.146 229.217 201.547 170.767 267.885 191.930 259.078 349.035 228.258

186.278 434.871 247.404 221.669 171.708 272.486

235.092 290.984 284.642 230.614

The information in the table is given for the middle of each month. In addition, again for particularly stubborn anti-Stalinists, a separate column provides information for January 1 of each year (highlighted in red), taken from an article by A. Kokurin posted on the Memorial website. This article, among other things, contains links to specific archival documents. In addition, those interested can read an article by the same author in the magazine “Military Historical Archive” (11).

SUMMARY TABLE

number of prisoners in the USSR under Stalin:

Year of the Prisoners

1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

965.742 1.296.494 1.196.369 1.881.570 2.004.946

Year of the Prisoners

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944

1.846.270 2.400.422 2.045.575 1.721.716 1.331.115

Year of the Prisoners

1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1.736.186 1.948.241 2.014.678 2.479.909 2.587.732

Year of the Prisoners

1950 1951 1952 1953

2.760.095 2.692.825 2.657.128 2.620.814

It cannot be said that these figures are some kind of revelation. Since 1990, this type of data has been presented in a number of publications. Yes, in the article L. Ivashova And A. Emelin, published in 1991, it is stated that the total number of prisoners in camps and colonies

on 1.03. 1940 was 1,668,200 people,

on June 22, 1941 - 2.3 million( 12);

as of July 1, 1944 - 1.2 million (13).

V. Nekrasov in his book “Thirteen “Iron” People’s Commissars” reports that

"in places of deprivation of liberty"

in 1933 there was 334 thousand prisoners, prisoners

in 1934 - 510 thousand, in 1935 - 991 thousand,

in 1936 - 1296 thousand14;

According to A. Kokurina and N. Petrova(especially significant, since both authors are associated with the Memorial society, and N. Petrov is even an employee of Memorial), at 1.07. 1944. in the camps and colonies of the NKVD they were kept about 1.2 million. prisoners (17), and in NKVD prisons on the same date - 204. 290 (18).

As of 12/30/1945 There were about 640 thousand prisoners in NKVD forced labor camps, about 730 thousand in forced labor colonies, about 250 thousand in prisons, about 38 thousand in correctional centers, about 21 thousand in juvenile colonies ., in special camps and prisons of the NKVD in Germany - about 84 thousand (19).

Finally, here is data on the number of prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty, subordinate territorial authorities Gulag, taken directly from the already mentioned Memorial website:

January 1935 307.093

January 1937 375.376

1.01.1939 381.581

1.01.1941 434.624

1.01.1945 745.171

1.01.1949 1.139.874

So, let's summarize. During the entire period of Stalin's reign, the number of prisoners simultaneously held in places of deprivation of liberty never exceeded 2 million 760 thousand (naturally, not counting German, Japanese and other prisoners of war). Thus, there can be no talk of any “tens of millions of Gulag prisoners.”

Number of prisoners per capita.

On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, total number prisoners in the USSR amounted to 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190-195 million.

We get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population.

In January 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people. This the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at that time was 178 million 547 thousand (20).

We get 1546 prisoners per 100 thousand population.

Now let's calculate similar figure for modern USA.

Currently, there are two types of prisons:

jail is an approximate analogue of our temporary detention centers; jails house those under investigation, as well as serve sentences for those sentenced to short terms, and

prison - the prison itself.

As of mid-1998 (when this article was first published) per 100 thousand American population accounted for 693 prisoners. N and the end of 1999 kept in prisons 1.366.721 man in jails - 687.973 (see: Bureau of Law Statistics website), which adds up to 2.054.694. US population at the end of 1999: approx. 275 million(see: US population), therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.

Average annual 1990-1998 the increase in the number of inhabitants was in jails — 4,9%, in prisons - 6,9%. So, at the end of 1999 this figure in the USA half as much as in the USSR under Stalin, but not tenfold. And if we take into account the growth rate of this indicator , then, you see, in ten years the USA will catch up and overtake the Stalinist USSR.

By the way, here in one Internet discussion an objection was raised - they say that these figures include all arrested Americans, including those who were detained for several days. Let me emphasize again: by the end of 1999, there were more than 2 million prisoners in the United States who were serving time or in pre-trial detention. As for the arrests, they were made in 1998 14.5 million(see: FBI report).

Now a few words about the total number of visitors under Stalin in places of detention. Of course, if you take the table above and add up the rows, the result will be incorrect, since Most Gulag prisoners were sentenced to more than a year. However, in to a certain extent The following note (21) allows us to estimate the number of people who went through the Gulag:

To the head of the Gulag of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Major General Egorov S.E.

In total, the GULAG units store 11 million units of archival materials, of which 9.5 million make up personal files of prisoners.

Head of the Gulag Secretariat of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Major Podymov

How many of the prisoners were “political”?

It is fundamentally wrong to believe that the majority of those imprisoned under Stalin were “victims of political repression”:

Number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary and other crimes

especially dangerous state crimes (22)

Years 1921 to 1953 capital punishment, camps, colonies and prisons, exile and expulsion other measures total convicted %

Total 799 455 2 634 397 413 512 215 942 4 060306

capital punishment 799 455

camps, colonies and prisons 2 634 397

other measures 215 942

Total convicted 4 060 306

By “other measures” we mean credit for time spent in custody, forced treatment and deportation abroad.

For 1953, information is provided only for the first half of the year.

From this table it follows that there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the above report addressed to Khrushchev - 799.455 sentenced to death instead of 642.980 and 2,634,397 sentenced to imprisonment instead of 2,369,220. However, this difference is relatively small - the numbers are of the same order.

In addition, there is one more point - it is very possible that a fair number of criminals were included in the above table. The fact is that on one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which this table was compiled, there is a pencil note:

"The total number of people convicted of 1921–1938 - 2,944,879 people, of them 30% (1,062 thousand) are criminals” (23). In this case the total number of “repressed” does not exceed 3 million. However, to finally clarify this issue, it is necessary extra work with sources."

PERCENTAGE of “repressed” from the total number of GULAG inhabitants:

Composition of the NKVD Gulag camps for counter-revolutionary crimes (240)

Year quantity % to the entire composition of the camps

1939 34.5

1940 33.1

1941 28.7

1942 29.6

1943 35.6

1944 40.7

1945 41.2

1946 59.2

1947 54.3

1948 38.0

1949 34.9

* In camps and colonies.

The composition of the inhabitants of the Gulag at some moments of its existence.

Composition of prisoners in correctional labor camps for the crimes charged

Charged crimes Number %

Counter-revolutionary crimes 417381 32,87

including:

Trotskyists, Zinovievites, rightists 17,621 1.39

treason 1,473 0.12

terror 12,710 1.00

sabotage 5,737 0.45

espionage 16,440 1.29

sabotage 25,941 2.04

manager counter-rev. organizations 4,493 0.35

anti-Soviet propaganda 178 979 14.10

other counter-rev. crimes 133 423 10,51

family members of traitors to the Motherland 13,241 1.04

without instructions 7,323 0.58

Particularly dangerous crimes

against the order of government 46374 3,65

including:

banditry and robbery 29514 2.32

defectors 13924 1.10

other crimes 2936 0.23

Other crimes

against the order of government 182421 14,37

including:

hooliganism 90291 7.11

speculation 31652 2.50

violation of the law on passporting 19747 1.55

other crimes 40731 3.21

Theft of social property Quantity %%

Official and economic crimes 96193 7.58

Crimes against the person 66708 5.25

Property crimes 152096 11.98

Social harmful and socially dangerous element 2 20835 17.39

Military crimes 11067 0.87

Other crimes 41706 3.29

Without instructions 11455 0.90

Total 1269785 100.00

REFERENCE on the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and banditry held in camps and colonies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as of July 1, 1946(26)

By nature of crime In camps In colonies % Total %

Total number of convicted 616.731 755.255 1.371.986

Of these, for counter-revolutionary crimes, 354,568 26%

including:

58–1. Treason to the Motherland (Article 58-1)

Espionage (58-6)

Terrorism

Sabotage (58-7)

Sabotage (58-9)

Kr sabotage (58-14)

Participation in an anti-Soviet conspiracy (58 - 2, 3, 4, 5, 11)

Anti-Soviet agitation (58 -10)

Political banditry (58-2, 5, 9)

Illegal border crossing

Smuggling

Family members of traitors to the Motherland

Socially dangerous elements

Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Aleshinsky

Pom. Head of the Gulag Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Yatsevich

Composition of Gulag prisoners by nature of crimes

Counter-revolutionary crimes:

Treason to the Motherland(Art. 58- 1a, b)

Espionage(Art. 58- 1a, b, 6; Art. 193-24)

Members of the families of traitors to the Motherland (Art. 58-1v)

Participation in a/c conspiracies, a/c organizations and groups (Article 58, paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, 11)

Insurgency and political banditry(Article 58, paragraph 2; 59, paragraphs 2, 3, 3b)

Sabotage(Art. 58- 7 )

Terror and terrorist intent(Art. 58- 8 )

Sabotage(Art. 58- 9 )

Anti-Soviet agitation(Art. 58- 10, 59 -7)

Counter-revolutionary sabotage(vv. 58-14)

sabotage (for refusing to work in the camp) (vv. 58-14)

sabotage (for running away from places of detention) (Article 58-14)

Socially dangerous element

Other counter-revolutionary crimes

Total number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes: in 1951― 334 538

in 1948― 103942

Criminal offenses

Speculation

Banditry and armed robbery(Article 59-3, 167), committed not in places of detention

Banditry and armed robberies (Articles 59-3, 167), committed while serving a sentence

Premeditated murders(Articles 136, 137, 138), committed outside of prison

Intentional murders (Articles 136, 137, 138) committed in places of detention

Illegal border crossing(vv.59-10, 84)

Smuggling activities(vv.59-9, 83)

Cattle stealing(Article 166)

Repeat thieves(Article 162-c)

Property crimes(vv. 162-178)

Violation of the passport law(Article 192-a)

For harboring deportees, fleeing places of compulsory settlement, or complicity

Socially harmful element

Desertion(Article 193-7)

Self-harm(Article 193-12)

Marauding(vv. 193-27)

Other military crimes (Article 193, except paragraphs 7, 12, 17, 24, 27)

Illegal possession of weapons (Article 182)

Official and economic crimes (Article 59-3c, 109-121, 193 paragraphs 17, 18)

According to the Decree of June 26, 1940(unauthorized departure from enterprises and institutions and absenteeism)

By Decrees of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR (except those listed above)

Other criminal offenses

Total criminal convictions

Total: 2.528146 1.533767 994.379

Thus, among the prisoners held in the Gulag camps, the majority were criminals, and As a rule, there were less than 1/3 of the “repressed”.

The exception is 1944-1948 years when this category received a worthy addition in the person of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” ones in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.

Mortality among prisoners

Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.

Mortality of prisoners in Gulag camps28

Year Average number

Prisoners Died %

The average number of prisoners is taken as the arithmetic mean between the figures for January 1 and December 31.

Mortality in the colonies on the eve of the war was lower than in the camps. For example, in 1939 it was 2.30% (30).

Mortality of prisoners in Gulag colonies (31)

Year Wed. number of s/c Died %

1949 1.142.688 13966 1,22

1950 1.069.715 9983 0,93

1951 893.846 8079 0,90

1952 766.933 7045 0,92

Thus, the mortality rate of prisoners under Stalin was kept at a very low level. However, during the war the situation of Gulag prisoners worsened. Nutritional standards were significantly reduced, which immediately led to a sharp increase in mortality. By 1944, the nutritional standards for Gulag prisoners were slightly increased, but even after this they remained approximately 30% lower in caloric content than pre-war nutritional standards (32).

However, even in the most difficult years of 1942 and 1943, the death rate of prisoners was about 20% per year in camps and about 10% per year in prisons, A not 10% per month, as stated, for example , A. Solzhenitsyn. By the beginning of the 1950s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1% per year, and in prisons - below 0.5%.

In conclusion, a few words should be said about the notorious Special Camps (special camps). They were created by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss dated February 21, 1948 In these camps, as well as in the Special Prisons that already existed by that time, all those sentenced to imprisonment were to be kept for espionage, sabotage, terror, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “persons who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special prisons should have been used on heavy physical work (33).

February 15, 1952 Certificate of the presence of a special contingent held in special camps on January 1, 1952.

No. Name of special camp

1 Mineral 4012 284 1020 347 7 36 63 23 11688 46 4398 8367 30292

2 Gorny 1884 237 606 84 6 5 4 1 95 46 24 2542 5279 20218

3 Dubravny 1088 397 699 278 5 51 70 16 7068 223 4708 9632 24235

4 Stepnoy 1460 229 714 62 — 16 4 3 10682 42 3067 6209 22488

5 Beregovoi 2954 559 1266 109 6 - 5 - 13574 11 3142 10363 31989

6 Rechnoy 2539 480 1 429 164 — 2 2 8 14683 43 2292 13617 35459

7 Ozerny 2350 671 1527 198 12 6 2 8 7625 379 5105 14441 32342

8 Sandy 2008 688 1203 211 4 23 20 9 13987 116 8014 12571 38854

9 Kamyshevy 174 118 471 57 1 1 2 1 3973 5 558 2890 8251

Spies: 18475

Saboteurs: 3663

Terror 8935

Trotskyists 1510

Mensheviks 41

Right Socialist Revolutionaries 140190

Anarchists 69

Nationalists 93026

Beloeitgrants 884

Antisov participants. organizations 33826

Dangerous element 83369

TOTAL: 244,128

Deputy Head of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Directorate of the Gulag, Major Maslov (34)

As can be seen from the table, in 8 special facilities according to which information is given, out of 168,994 prisoners died in the fourth quarter of 1950 487 (0,29%), which, in annual terms, corresponds to 1,15%. That is, only slightly more than in ordinary camps. Contrary to popular belief, special camps were not “death camps” in which dissident intellectuals were supposedly exterminated, and the largest contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” are forest brothers and their accomplices.

Notes

1. A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, no. 7. P.24. 2. Ibid. P.26.

3. V.N.Zemskov. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological research. 1991, no. 6. P.15.

4. V.N.Zemskov. Prisoners in the 1930s : socio-demographic problems // Domestic history. 1997, no. 4. P.67.

5. A. Dugin. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990, no. 7. P.23;

Stalin's order Mironin Sigismund Sigismundovich

How many people were repressed?

"Repressions" are those undertaken government agencies punitive measures. This is according to explanatory dictionary. In Stalin's time, they were used as punishment for what they had done, and not as a punishment adequate to the gravity of the crime.

How many people were repressed? Anti-Stalinists are still trumpeting about tens of millions of people executed. But let's see how justified this opinion is. When analyzing this issue It is useful to know the population of the USSR. For information: in 1926 the USSR had 147 million inhabitants, in 1937 - 162 million, and in 1939 - 170.5 million.

According to Yu. Zhukov, the victims were not tens of millions, but one and a half million. This opinion is confirmed by the doctor's data historical sciences Zemskova. At the same time, according to Zhukov, he checked and double-checked the documents a hundred times; they were analyzed by his colleagues from other countries. The results of studies on the number of repressed people, carried out based on archival data of the CPSU Central Committee by Zemskov, Dugin and Klevnik, began to appear in scientific journals since 1990. These results completely contradicted the statements of the “free press” - they say that the number of victims will exceed all expectations. However, the reports were published in hard-to-find scientific journals, virtually unknown to the vast majority of society.

For a long time, these figures were completely hushed up by “democrats” and “liberals.” Books by these researchers have appeared today. The reports became known in the West as a result of collaboration between researchers various countries and refuted the inventions of early Sovietologists - such as Conquest. For example, it was established that in 1939 the total number of prisoners was close to 2 million. Of these, 454 thousand were convicted of political crimes. But not 9 million, as R. Conquest claims. There were 160 thousand who died in labor camps from 1937 to 1939, and not 3 million, as R. Conquest claims. In 1950, there were 578 thousand political prisoners in labor camps, but not 12 million.

Contrary to popular belief, the bulk of those convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes were in the Gulag camps not in 1937–1938, but during and after the war. For example, there were 104,826 such convicts in the camps in 1937, and 185,324 in 1938. I. Pykhalov convincingly proved that during the entire period of Stalin’s reign, the number of prisoners simultaneously imprisoned never exceeded 2 million 760 thousand (naturally, not counting German, Japanese and other prisoners of war). He clearly demonstrated that the mortality rate in the camps was relatively low.

Yes, at the peak moments of history, especially after the war, about 1.8 million people were in prisons and camps of the USSR, which amounted to a little more than one percent: in other words, every hundredth citizen was imprisoned. Let me note that today in the “citadel of democracy” - the USA - almost every 100th American (more than 2 million people) is also behind bars. By the way, every 88th Svidomo now sits in “democratic and free” Ukraine.

The most interesting thing is that before today in fact, the only source on the number of those executed and repressed in 1937 and 1938. is the “Certificate of the special department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR on the number of those arrested and convicted by the Cheka-OGPU-NKVD of the USSR in 1921–1953,” which is dated December 11, 1953. The certificate was signed by the acting. the head of the 1st special department, Colonel Pavlov (the 1st special department was the accounting and archival department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). In 1937, 353,074 people were sentenced to death, in 1938 - 328,618. About one hundred thousand people were sentenced to death in all other years from 1918 to 1953 - of which the absolute majority were during the war years. These figures are used by serious scientists, “memorial” activists, and even such outright traitors to Russia as academician. A. N. Yakovlev comrades.

In February 1954, Rudenko et al., in a memo addressed to Khrushchev, named the number of 642,980 people sentenced to capital punishment (CM) for the period from 1921 to February 1954. This number has already entered the history books and has not yet been disputed by anyone. The collection “Military Historical Archives” (number 4 (64) for 2005) provides data that in 1937–1938, 1,355,196 people were convicted by all types of judicial bodies, of which 681,692 were sentenced to military violence. In the future, this the number tended to increase. Already in 1956, the Ministry of Internal Affairs certificate listed 688,238 people executed (not sentenced to military punishment, but executed) from among those arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activity in the period 1935–1940 alone. In the same year, Pospelov's commission put the number at 688,503 executed during the same period. In 1963, the report of the Shvernik Commission named an even larger number - 748,146 sentenced to VMN for the period 1935–1953, of which 631,897 in 1937–1938. by decision of extrajudicial authorities. In 1988, a certificate from the USSR KGB presented to Gorbachev listed 786,098 people executed in 1930–1955. Finally, in 1992, signed by the head of the department of registration and archival forms of the IBRF for 1917–1990. information was reported on 827,995 people sentenced to VMN for state and similar crimes.

Although the above numbers seem to be accepted by most researchers, doubts remain about their accuracy. A. Reznikova tried to analyze 52 publications containing information about prisoners in 24 regions of Russia. The sample included 41 Memory Books from the Library of the Moscow Scientific Information and Educational Center "Memorial", 7 books from the State Public Historical Library and 4 books from the State Public library them. Lenin. And I found that in total 275,134 people were included in these memory books.

Let me bring you long quote from an article by P. Krasnov, who analyzes the figures of repression.

“According to a certificate provided by the Prosecutor General of the USSR Rudenko, the number of people convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes for the period from 1921 to February 1, 1954 by the OGPU Collegium, the NKVD troikas, the Special Meeting, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals was 3,777,380 people , including capital punishment - 642,980. Zemskov gives slightly different numbers, but they do not fundamentally change the picture: “In total, there were 1,850,258 prisoners in camps, colonies and prisons by 1940... There were about 667 thousand." As a starting point, he apparently took Beria’s certificate presented to Stalin, so the number is given with an accuracy of one person, and “about 667,000” is a number rounded with incomprehensible precision. Apparently, these are simply rounded data from Rudenko, which relate to the entire period 1921–1954, or include data on criminals who are recorded as criminal. The statistical assessments that I carried out showed that Rudenko’s numbers are closer to reality, and Zemskov’s data are overestimated by about 30–40%, especially in the number of people executed, but I repeat, this does not change the essence of the matter at all. The significant discrepancy in the data of Zemskov and Rudenko (approximately 200–300 thousand) in the number of those arrested may occur because a significant number of cases were revised after the appointment of Lavrentiy Beria to the post of People's Commissar. Up to 300 thousand people were released from places of detention and temporary detention (the exact number is still unknown). It’s just that Zemskov considers them victims of repression, but Rudenko does not. Moreover, Zemskov considers “repressed” everyone who has ever been arrested by state security agencies (including the Cheka after the revolution), even if he was released shortly after that, as Zemskov himself directly states. Thus, the victims include several tens of thousands of tsarist officers, whom the Bolsheviks initially released under the “officer’s word of honor” not to fight against Soviet power. It is known that then the “noble gentlemen” immediately broke the “officer’s word”, which they did not hesitate to declare publicly.

Please note that I use the word “convicted” and not “repressed”, because the word “repressed” implies a person innocently punished.”

P. Krasnov also writes: “In the late 80s, by order of Gorbachev, a “rehabilitation commission” was created, which in an expanded form continued its work in “ democratic Russia“. Over the decade and a half of her work, she rehabilitated 120 thousand people, working with extreme bias - even obvious criminals were rehabilitated. The attempt to rehabilitate Vlasov, which failed only because of the massive indignation of veterans, speaks volumes. Excuse me, where are the “millions of victims”? The mountain gave birth to a mouse."

Further, P. Krasnov very convincingly refutes the fictitious figures of repression by using common sense. I quote his text in its entirety. Judge for yourself. He writes: “Where did such an incredible number of prisoners come from? After all, 40 million prisoners are the population of the then Ukraine and Belarus taken together, or the entire population of France, or the entire urban population of the USSR in those years. The fact of the arrest and transportation of thousands of Ingush and Chechens was noted by contemporaries of the deportation as a shocking event, and this is understandable. Why was the arrest and transportation of many times more people not noted by eyewitnesses? During the famous “evacuation to the east” in 41–42. 10 million people were transported to the rear. The evacuees lived in schools, temporary shelters, wherever. Everyone remembers this fact. older generation. It was 10 million, what about 40 and even more so 50, 60 and so on? Almost all eyewitnesses of those years note the massive movement and work of captured Germans on construction sites; they could not be ignored. People still remember that, for example, “this road was built by captured Germans.” There were about 3 million prisoners on the territory of the USSR - this is a lot, and it is impossible not to notice the fact of the activities of such a large number of people. What can we say about the number of “prisoners,” which is approximately 10–20 times greater? Only that the very fact of moving and working on construction sites of such an incredible number of prisoners should simply shock the population of the USSR. This fact would be passed on from mouth to mouth even after decades. Was it? No.

How to transport such a huge number of people off-road to remote areas, and what type of transport available in those years was used? Large-scale construction of roads in Siberia and the North began much later. Moving huge multi-million (!) masses of people across the taiga and without roads is generally unrealistic - there is no way to supply them during a multi-day journey.

Where were the prisoners housed? It is assumed that in the barracks, hardly anyone will build skyscrapers for prisoners in the taiga. However, even a large barracks cannot accommodate more people than an ordinary five-story building, which is why multi-story buildings are built, and 40 million is 10 cities the size of Moscow at that time. Traces of gigantic settlements would inevitably remain.

Where are they? Nowhere. If such a number of prisoners are scattered across a huge number of small camps located in inaccessible, sparsely populated areas, then it will be impossible to supply them. In addition, transport costs, taking into account off-road conditions, will become unimaginable. If they are placed close to roads and large populated areas, then the entire population of the country will immediately become aware of the huge number of prisoners. In fact, around cities there should be a large number of very specific structures that are impossible to miss or confuse with anything else.

The famous White Sea Canal was built by 150 thousand prisoners, the Kirov hydroelectric complex - 90,000. The whole country knew that these objects were built by prisoners. And these numbers are nothing compared to the tens of millions. Tens of millions of “prisoner slaves” must have left behind truly cyclopean buildings. Where are these structures and what are they called? Questions that will not be answered can be continued.

How were such huge masses of people supplied in remote, difficult areas? Even if we assume that the prisoners were fed according to standards besieged Leningrad, this means that to supply prisoners a minimum of 5 million kilograms of bread per day is needed - 5000 tons. And this is assuming that the guards do not eat anything, do not drink anything and do not need weapons or uniforms at all.

Probably everyone has seen photographs of the famous Road of Life - one and a half and three-ton trucks go one after another in an endless line - practically the only vehicle of those years outside railways(it makes no sense to consider horses as a vehicle for such transportation). The population of besieged Leningrad was about 2 million people. Road through Ladoga lake- approximately 60 kilometers, but delivering goods even over such a short distance has become a serious problem. And this is not the point German bombings- The Germans did not manage to interrupt supplies for a day. The trouble is that throughput the country road (which, in essence, was the Road of Life) is small. How do proponents of the “mass repression” hypothesis imagine supplying 10–20 cities the size of Leningrad, located hundreds and thousands of kilometers from the nearest roads?

How were the products of the labor of so many prisoners exported, and what type of transport available at that time was used for this? You don't have to wait for answers - there won't be any.

Where were the detainees housed? Detainees are rarely held together with those serving sentences; there are special pre-trial detention centers for this purpose. It is impossible to keep arrested people in ordinary buildings - they need special conditions Consequently, large numbers of investigative prisons, each designed to accommodate tens of thousands of prisoners, had to be built in every city. These must have been structures of monstrous size, because even the famous Butyrka housed a maximum of 7,000 prisoners. Even if we assume that the population of the USSR was struck by sudden blindness and did not notice the construction of giant prisons, then a prison is a thing that cannot be hidden and cannot be quietly converted into other buildings. Where did they go after Stalin? After Pinochet's coup, 30 thousand arrested had to be placed in stadiums. By the way, the very fact of this was immediately noticed by the whole world. What can we say about millions?

To the question “where is mass graves innocently killed, in which millions of people are buried?“ you will not hear any intelligible answer at all. After perestroika propaganda, it would be natural to open secret places mass grave millions of victims, obelisks and monuments should have been erected in these places, but there is no trace of any of this. Please note that burial in Babi Yar Now the whole world knows about this fact of mass extermination by the Nazis Soviet people The whole of Ukraine immediately recognized it. According to various estimates, from seventy to two hundred thousand people were killed there. It is clear that if it was not possible to hide the fact of the execution and burial of such a scale, what can we say about numbers 50–100 times larger?”

I will add from myself. So far, despite all the efforts of current liberals, burials of this scale have not been found.

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The history of Russia, as well as other former post-Soviet republics in the period from 1928 to 1953, called the “era of Stalin”. He is positioned as a wise ruler, a brilliant statesman, acting on the basis of “expediency.” In reality, he was driven by completely different motives.

When talking about the beginning of the political career of a leader who became a tyrant, such authors bashfully hush up one indisputable fact: Stalin was a repeat offender with seven prison sentences. Robbery and violence were the main form of his social activity in his youth. Repression became an integral part of the government course he pursued.

Lenin received a worthy successor in his person. “Having creatively developed his teaching,” Joseph Vissarionovich came to the conclusion that the country should be ruled by methods of terror, constantly instilling fear in his fellow citizens.

A generation of people whose lips can speak the truth about Stalin’s repressions is leaving... Are not newfangled articles whitening the dictator a spit on their suffering, on their broken lives...

The leader who sanctioned torture

As you know, Joseph Vissarionovich personally signed execution lists for 400,000 people. In addition, Stalin tightened the repression as much as possible, authorizing the use of torture during interrogations. It was they who were given the green light to complete chaos in the dungeons. He was directly related to the notorious telegram of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated January 10, 1939, which literally gave the punitive authorities a free hand.

Creativity in introducing torture

Let us recall excerpts from a letter from Corps Commander Lisovsky, a leader bullied by the satraps...

"...A ten-day assembly-line interrogation with a brutal, vicious beating and no opportunity to sleep. Then - a twenty-day punishment cell. Next - forced to sit with your hands raised up, and also stand bent over with your head hidden under the table, for 7-8 hours..."

The detainees' desire to prove their innocence and their failure to sign fabricated charges led to increased torture and beatings. Social status the detainees did not play a role. Let us remember that Robert Eiche, a candidate member of the Central Committee, had his spine broken during interrogation, and Marshal Blucher in Lefortovo prison died from beatings during interrogation.

Leader's motivation

The number of victims of Stalin's repressions was calculated not in tens or hundreds of thousands, but in seven million who died of starvation and four million who were arrested (general statistics will be presented below). The number of those executed alone was about 800 thousand people...

How did Stalin motivate his actions, immensely striving for the Olympus of power?

What does Anatoly Rybakov write about this in “Children of Arbat”? Analyzing Stalin's personality, he shares his judgments with us. “The ruler whom the people love is weak because his power is based on the emotions of other people. It's another matter when people are afraid of him! Then the power of the ruler depends on himself. This is a strong ruler! Hence the leader’s credo - to inspire love through fear!

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin took steps adequate to this idea. Repression became his main competitive tool in his political career.

The beginning of revolutionary activity

Joseph Vissarionovich became interested in revolutionary ideas at the age of 26 after meeting V.I. Lenin. He was engaged in robbery Money for the party treasury. Fate sent him 7 exiles to Siberia. Stalin was distinguished by pragmatism, prudence, unscrupulousness in means, harshness towards people, and egocentrism from a young age. Repressions against financial institutions - robberies and violence - were his. Then the future leader of the party participated in the Civil War.

Stalin in the Central Committee

In 1922, Joseph Vissarionovich received a long-awaited opportunity for career growth. The ill and weakening Vladimir Ilyich introduces him, along with Kamenev and Zinoviev, to the Central Committee of the party. In this way, Lenin creates a political counterbalance to Leon Trotsky, who really aspires to leadership.

Stalin simultaneously heads two party structures: the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee and the Secretariat. In this post, he brilliantly studied the art of party behind-the-scenes intrigue, which later came in handy in his fight against competitors.

Positioning of Stalin in the system of red terror

The machine of red terror was launched even before Stalin came to the Central Committee.

09/05/1918 Council People's Commissars issues the Decree “On Red Terror”. The body for its implementation, called the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), operated under the Council of People's Commissars from December 7, 1917.

The reason for this radicalization of domestic politics was the murder of M. Uritsky, chairman of the St. Petersburg Cheka, and the assassination attempt on V. Lenin by Fanny Kaplan, acting from the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Both events occurred on August 30, 1918. Already this year, the Cheka launched a wave of repression.

According to statistical information, 21,988 people were arrested and imprisoned; 3061 hostages taken; 5544 were shot, 1791 were imprisoned in concentration camps.

By the time Stalin came to the Central Committee, gendarmes, police officers, tsarist officials, entrepreneurs, and landowners had already been repressed. First of all there was hit classes that are the support of the monarchical structure of society. However, having “creatively developed the teachings of Lenin,” Joseph Vissarionovich outlined new main directions of terror. In particular, a course was taken to destroy the social base of the village - agricultural entrepreneurs.

Stalin since 1928 - ideologist of violence

It was Stalin who turned repression into the main instrument of domestic policy, which he justified theoretically.

His concept of intensifying class struggle formally becomes the theoretical basis for the constant escalation of violence by state authorities. The country shuddered when it was first voiced by Joseph Vissarionovich at the July Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1928. From that time on, he actually became the leader of the Party, the inspirer and ideologist of violence. The tyrant declared war on his own people.

Hidden by slogans, the real meaning of Stalinism manifests itself in the unrestrained pursuit of power. Its essence is shown by the classic - George Orwell. The Englishman made it very clear that power for this ruler was not a means, but a goal. Dictatorship was no longer perceived by him as a defense of the revolution. The revolution became a means to establish a personal, unlimited dictatorship.

Joseph Vissarionovich in 1928-1930. began by initiating the fabrication by the OGPU of a number of public trials that plunged the country into an atmosphere of shock and fear. Thus, the cult of Stalin’s personality began its formation with trials and the instillation of terror throughout society... Mass repressions were accompanied by public recognition of those who committed non-existent crimes as “enemies of the people.” People were brutally tortured to sign charges fabricated by the investigation. A brutal dictatorship imitated class struggle, cynically violating the Constitution and all norms of universal morality...

Three global trials were falsified: the “Union Bureau Case” (putting managers at risk); “The Case of the Industrial Party” (the sabotage of the Western powers regarding the economy of the USSR was imitated); “The Case of the Labor Peasant Party” (obvious falsification of damage to the seed fund and delays in mechanization). Moreover, they were all united into a single cause in order to create the appearance of a single conspiracy against Soviet power and provide scope for further falsifications of the OGPU - NKVD organs.

As a result, the entire economic management was replaced national economy from old “specialists” to “new personnel” ready to work according to the instructions of the “leader”.

Through the lips of Stalin, who ensured that the state apparatus was loyal to repression through the trials, the Party’s unshakable determination was further expressed: to displace and ruin thousands of entrepreneurs - industrialists, traders, small and medium-sized ones; to ruin the basis of agricultural production - the wealthy peasantry (indiscriminately calling them “kulaks”). At the same time, the new voluntarist party position was masked by the “will the poorest strata workers and peasants."

Behind the scenes, parallel to this “general line,” the “father of peoples” consistently, with the help of provocations and false testimony, began to implement the line of eliminating his party competitors for supreme state power (Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev).

Forced collectivization

The truth about Stalin's repressions of the period 1928-1932. indicates that the main object of repression was the main social base of the village - an effective agricultural producer. The goal is clear: the entire peasant country (and in fact at that time they were Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic and Transcaucasian republics) was supposed to, under the pressure of repression, turn from a self-sufficient economic complex into an obedient donor for the implementation of Stalin’s plans for industrialization and maintaining hypertrophied security forces.

In order to clearly identify the object of his repressions, Stalin resorted to an obvious ideological forgery. Economically and socially unjustifiably, he achieved that party ideologists obedient to him singled out a normal self-supporting (profit-making) producer into a separate “class of kulaks” - the target of a new blow. Under the ideological leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich, a plan was developed for the destruction of centuries-old social foundations villages, destruction of the rural community - Resolution “On the liquidation of ... kulak farms” of January 30, 1930.

The Red Terror has come to the village. Peasants who fundamentally disagreed with collectivization were subjected to Stalin's “troika” trials, which in most cases ended with executions. Less active “kulaks”, as well as “kulak families” (the category of which could include any persons subjectively defined as a “rural asset”) were subjected to forcible confiscation of property and eviction. A body of permanent operational management of evictions was created - secret operational management under the leadership of Efim Evdokimov.

Migrants to the extreme regions of the North, victims of Stalin's repressions, were previously identified on a list in the Volga region, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals.

In 1930-1931 1.8 million were evicted, and in 1932-1940. - 0.49 million people.

Organization of hunger

However, executions, ruin and eviction in the 30s of the last century are not all of Stalin’s repressions. A brief listing of them should be supplemented by the organization of famine. Its real reason was the inadequate approach of Joseph Vissarionovich personally to insufficient grain procurements in 1932. Why was the plan fulfilled by only 15-20%? The main reason there was a bad harvest.

His subjectively developed plan for industrialization was under threat. It would be reasonable to reduce the plans by 30%, postpone them, and first stimulate the agricultural producer and wait for a harvest year... Stalin did not want to wait, he demanded immediate provision of food to the bloated security forces and new gigantic construction projects - Donbass, Kuzbass. The leader made a decision to confiscate grain intended for sowing and consumption from the peasants.

On October 22, 1932, two emergency commissions under the leadership of the odious personalities Lazar Kaganovich and Vyacheslav Molotov launched a misanthropic campaign of “fight against the fists” to confiscate grain, which was accompanied by violence, quick-to-death troika courts and the eviction of wealthy agricultural producers to the Far North. It was genocide...

It is noteworthy that the cruelty of the satraps was actually initiated and not stopped by Joseph Vissarionovich himself.

Well-known fact: correspondence between Sholokhov and Stalin

Mass repressions of Stalin in 1932 -1933. have documentary evidence. M. A. Sholokhov, author “ Quiet Don", addressed the leader, defending his fellow countrymen, with letters exposing the lawlessness during the confiscation of grain. The famous resident of the village of Veshenskaya presented the facts in detail, indicating the villages, the names of the victims and their tormentors. The abuse and violence against the peasants is horrifying: brutal beatings, breaking out joints, partial strangulation, mock executions, eviction from houses... In his response Letter, Joseph Vissarionovich only partially agreed with Sholokhov. The real position of the leader is visible in the lines where he calls the peasants saboteurs, “secretly” trying to disrupt the food supply...

This voluntaristic approach caused famine in the Volga region, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Siberia, and the Urals. A special Statement of the Russian State Duma published in April 2008 revealed previously classified statistics to the public (previously, propaganda did its best to hide these repressions of Stalin.)

How many people died from hunger in the above regions? The figure established by the State Duma commission is terrifying: more than 7 million.

Other areas of pre-war Stalinist terror

Let's also consider three more directions Stalin's terror, and in the table below we present each of them in more detail.

With the sanctions of Joseph Vissarionovich, a policy was also pursued to suppress freedom of conscience. A citizen of the Land of Soviets had to read the newspaper Pravda, and not go to church...

Hundreds of thousands of families of previously productive peasants, fearing dispossession and exile to the North, became an army supporting the country's gigantic construction projects. In order to limit their rights and make them manipulable, it was at that time that passporting of the population in cities was carried out. Only 27 million people received passports. The peasants (still the majority of the population) remained without passports, did not enjoy the full scope of civil rights (freedom to choose a place of residence, freedom to choose a job) and were “tied” to the collective farm at their place of residence with prerequisite fulfillment of workday norms.

Antisocial policies were accompanied by the destruction of families and an increase in the number of street children. This phenomenon has become so widespread that the state was forced to respond to it. With Stalin's sanction, the Politburo of the Country of Soviets issued one of the most inhumane regulations - punitive towards children.

The anti-religious offensive as of April 1, 1936 led to a reduction in Orthodox churches to 28%, mosques to 32% of their pre-revolutionary number. The number of clergy decreased from 112.6 thousand to 17.8 thousand.

For repressive purposes, passportization of the urban population was carried out. More than 385 thousand people did not receive passports and were forced to leave the cities. 22.7 thousand people were arrested.

One of the most cynical crimes of Stalin is his authorization of the secret Politburo resolution of 04/07/1935, which allows teenagers from 12 years of age to be brought to trial and determines their punishment up to capital punishment. In 1936 alone, 125 thousand children were placed in NKVD colonies. As of April 1, 1939, 10 thousand children were exiled to the Gulag system.

Great Terror

The state flywheel of terror was gaining momentum... The power of Joseph Vissarionovich, starting in 1937, as a result of repressions over the entire society, became comprehensive. However, their biggest leap was just ahead. In addition to the final and physical reprisals against former party colleagues - Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev - massive “cleansings of the state apparatus” were carried out.

Terror has reached unprecedented proportions. The OGPU (from 1938 - the NKVD) responded to all complaints and anonymous letters. A person’s life was ruined for one carelessly dropped word... Even the Stalinist elite were repressed - statesmen: Kosior, Eikhe, Postyshev, Goloshchekin, Vareikis; military leaders Blucher, Tukhachevsky; security officers Yagoda, Yezhov.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, leading military personnel were shot on trumped-up cases “under an anti-Soviet conspiracy”: 19 qualified corps-level commanders - divisions with combat experience. The cadres who replaced them did not adequately master operational and tactical art.

Not only showcase facades Soviet cities characterized by Stalin's personality cult. The repressions of the “leader of the peoples” gave rise to a monstrous system of Gulag camps, providing the Land of Soviets with free labor, mercilessly exploited labor resources to extract the wealth of the underdeveloped regions of the Far North and Central Asia.

The dynamics of the increase in those kept in camps and labor colonies is impressive: in 1932 there were 140 thousand prisoners, and in 1941 - about 1.9 million.

In particular, ironically, the prisoners of Kolyma mined 35% of the Union's gold, while living in terrible conditions. Let us list the main camps included in the Gulag system: Solovetsky (45 thousand prisoners), logging camps - Svirlag and Temnikovo (43 and 35 thousand, respectively); oil and coal production - Ukhtapechlag (51 thousand); chemical industry- Bereznyakov and Solikamsk (63 thousand); development of the steppes - Karaganda camp (30 thousand); construction of the Volga-Moscow canal (196 thousand); construction of the BAM (260 thousand); gold mining in Kolyma (138 thousand); Nickel mining in Norilsk (70 thousand).

Basically, people arrived in the Gulag system in a typical way: after a night arrest and an unfair, biased trial. And although this system was created under Lenin, it was under Stalin that political prisoners began to enter it en masse after mass trials: “enemies of the people” - kulaks (essentially effective agricultural producers), and even entire evicted nationalities. The majority served sentences from 10 to 25 years under Article 58. The investigation process involved torture and the breaking of the will of the convicted person.

In the case of the resettlement of kulaks and small nations, the train with prisoners stopped right in the taiga or in the steppe and the convicts built a camp and a special purpose prison (TON) for themselves. Since 1930, the labor of prisoners was mercilessly exploited to fulfill five-year plans - 12-14 hours a day. Tens of thousands of people died from overwork, poor nutrition, and poor medical care.

Instead of a conclusion

The years of Stalin's repressions - from 1928 to 1953. - changed the atmosphere in a society that has ceased to believe in justice and is under the pressure of constant fear. Since 1918, people were accused and shot by revolutionary military tribunals. The inhumane system developed... The Tribunal became the Cheka, then the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, then the OGPU, then the NKVD. Executions under Article 58 were in effect until 1947, and then Stalin replaced them with 25 years in camps.

In total, about 800 thousand people were shot.

Moral and physical torture of the entire population of the country, essentially lawlessness and arbitrariness, was carried out in the name of the workers' and peasants' power, the revolution.

The powerless people were terrorized by the Stalinist system constantly and methodically. The process of restoring justice began with the 20th Congress of the CPSU.