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Pipeline – Forced Labor – USSR (3)
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Pipeline – Forced Labor – USSR (3)
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Records of the National Security Council, Directorate of European and Soviet Affairs (Reagan Administration)
Jack F. Matlock, Jr.'s Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) Subject Files
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Matlock, Jack F.: Files
Folder Title: Pipeline - Forced Labor - USSR (3)
Box: 31
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
SELECTED STATEMENTS BY WITNESSES
-FROM THE WEST
PETER BERGMANN, aged 62, zoological technician (retired) by profession, was sen-
tenced to 3 years (1974-77) imprisonment in a camp because his attempts to
emigrate. He has been in Germany since July 7th, 1980.
Address: Eutiner Straße 14, 4800 Bielefeld 17, West-Germany
I was in prison camp JaZ 34/2 in Tyumen. Many fellow prisoners told me that there
were several camps along the route of the pipeline. I cannot remember the addresses
of these camps any more, but my fellow prisoners did tell me that they were in the
Taiga and Tundra regions. The prisoners were taken there in handcuffs by helicopter
and aeroplane. Many of them work on the construction of the railway line from
Surgut to the north as well as on the earthworks for the gas pipeline.
The most dangerous and most difficult work is done along the gas pipeline by the
prisoners. They clear the trees through the Taiga for the pipeline, build roods
and bridges, barracks and camp buildings.
There are no more prisoners in the areas where foreign experts are admitted. They
have already been taken away to build other stretches. All that remain are the
volonteer Komsomol brigades and the prisoners under limited supervision.
These prisoners, or "Chemists" as we called them are really seasonal workers.
In the autumn they are usually taken back to their camps. The months they have
worked are not counted towards their total sentence, and so most of them serve
a double sentence. Neither are they put to work of their own volition. On the
contrary, an administrative order determines where and when they will be sent to
the "Great Economic Projects". They themselves have no influence on the decision
and this is reserved for the camp commandants. Such prisoners were despatched from
my camp to all the towns along the pipeline. They went to Surgut, Urengoy,
Salechard and even to the Yamal Peninsula where there are many prison camps,
often with especially strict regimes.
Prisoners under limited supervision are accommodated in barracks in rooms of
two or more persons. Bedclothes are only provided if they are directly in a
town. Sometimes the prisoners also get work clothes.
They are issued
with identity cards and their work pays for their keep. They are always under the
authority of the commandant and are not entitled to leave the settlement without
permission. There is also a curfew - at 10.30 PM they have to be in their rooms.
These prisoners are forbidden to absent themselves from their work and cards and
alcohol are prohibited. At all times these forced labourers are at the disposition
of the authorities.
Huge projects, such as the hydro-electric works on the Dnieper, the Volga-Don
Canal, the BAM and the Taischet-Abakan railway etc. were built with the aid of
forced labourers.
Every year 30% of all those sentenced in the courts are sent to these so called
"Great Economic Projects".
Prisoners under limited supervision and banished persons are applied to the work
which the volontary workers refuse to do. This is normally the most difficult
and most dangerous work, demanding the greatest physical exertion. For example,
loading and unloading ships, railway wagons and other forms of transport,
clearing vegetation in the Taiga, digging the trenches with shovels and
spades etc.
The physical overexertion and the inadequate diet lead to exhaustion and disease.
Doctors can only be visited with the permission of the supervisor. Many of these
forced labourers were brought back to the camp because they had spent up to a
fortnight in hospital.
Those who do not meet production targets are put into a special isolation (de-
tention).
Bielefeld, August 1982
MACHMET KULMAGAMBETOV, aged 52, former teacher of Marxism-Leninism, sentenced to
prison camp and banishment because of civil rights activities in Kazachstan
(1964 - 1972),
Address: Orsinistraße 6, 8000 München 81, West-Germany
Inmates of prison camps are always used as forced labourers on large projects.
Naturally the gas pipeline is no exception. Between 1969 and 1972 I worked as
a banished
on the construction of compressor station KS 12 in Mikun,
Komi ASSR, as well as on the construction of the pipëline in the Wukty1 settlement.
There are many prisoners under limited supervision who have been transported there
as forced labourers.
Such compressor stations as the one above are found every 100 - 200 km along the
whole pipeline. The forced labourers also manufactured concrete bearers and
supports for the pipes.
Between 1973 and 1974 I worked as an engineer in a concrete factory in Surgut.
This factory produces concrete for the construction sites along the pipeline.
960 forced labourers under strict control worked in this factory. Both the facotry
and the camp were surrounded by a wall. New camps also arouse in the area of the
Tyndinskii settlement during the construction of the BAM (Baikal-Amur-Magistrale
railway). I know - I have worked there. It is widely known, but I can repeat it,
that when prisoners do not fulfill their work quotas they are punished with
confinement in the punishment cell. If this happens they are permitted neither
visits from relatives nor letter contact.
In the Komi ASSR such prisoners lived in railway wagons. In the Wukty1 settlement
they lived in barracks. They are always under the control of the authorities and
are not able to move freely.
Forced labourers are also used on the construction of the gas pipeline from
Siberia to Europe. For this reason I consider the use of Russian natural gas
immoral.
Munich, August 1982
AVRAHAM SHIFRIN, aged 58, profession lawyer, now runs the "Research Centre
for Prisons, Psychoprisons and Forced Labour Concentration Camps of the USSR".
In 1953 he was sentenced to death for political reasons, but his sentence was
commuted to 25 years in a camp. Of these 25, he served 10 in a camp and 4 in
banishment
before being granted permission to emigrate to Israel.
Address: 4 Hateena Street, Zikhron Yaakov, Israel
There is no doubt that forced labour is used in the construction of the Siberian
gas pipeline. This was already the case in other large construction projects.
Besides, it is otherwise impossible to find sufficient workers in areas with
unpleasant climatic conditions, unless they are offered special incentives, such
as above average high wages.
There are whole centres of forced labour, towns and regions full of camps along
the gas pipeline which leads from Urengoy to Tavda. There are 3 camps in Surgut,
8 in Tavda, 4 in Kungur and several others in Verchoturye, Irbid and Hanty-
-Manssiiskii. Each of these camps holds between 700 and 2500 prisoners.
There are single camps as well as whole complexes all along the pipeline which
leads from the Yamal Peninsula through the Komi ASSR: for example the complex
at Sochvlag near Medveshye, Salechard nearby and 36 camps in the area of Syktyvkar
in Mikun. There are also camps in Ust-Ussa, Workuta and Kotlas between Vuktyl and
Salechard, but these camps are not directly on the pipeline itself.
Prison camps for women, where work clothes for forced labourers are produced are
distributed throughout the whole country. I know of at least 68 such camps (see
page 29: A. Shifrin, USSR Reiseführer, 1980). There are similar camps near the
Siberian pipeline to Europe: in Arkangel, Suyevka (in the region of Kirov),
Dobruye Wody (in the Perm region), Kopitschilitsy (Perm) and Nishnii Tagil.
Because of the use of forced labourers on the construction of the pipeline and
their great suffering, I consider the construction of the pipeline to be immoral.
I should also like to bring to the attention of Western governments that prisoners
of conscience are found in each camp destined purely for common criminals. These
prisoners are mostly members of various national minorities, Christians or simply
they are seeking permission to emigrate.
Israel, August 1982
Note: You can find more information relating to his topic in the publications
of the Res. Centre etc., which we indicated in our list of further reading
(page 28).
5
EINAR KOMP, aged 50, computer programmer, former political prisoner: 7 years
in a camp and 3 years banishment - 1969 to 1979.
Address: Storgatan 64 läg 923, 17 163 Solna, Sweden
Forced labourers are used to build the gas pipeline from Siberia to Europe. I
personally know of the camp complexes at Vorkutinskii Lagernii Komplex JuS-34/22
and Permskii Komplex WS 389.
During the 1970's prisoners were continually been sent to work on "Great Economic
Projects", known as "Chemistry" in the slang of the prison camps.
I disapprove of the gas pipeline deal and suggest that West European governments
should demand explanations from the Russians about the use of prison camp inmates
to build the pipeline.
Sweden, August 1982
GEORGII DAVYDOV, aged 40, geologist, sentenced to 7 years in a camp and 3 to
banishment for activities connected with printing. He served the full sentence.
Address: Hauptstraße 4, 8045 Ismaning, West-Germany
It is reasonable to assume that at least prisoners under limited supervision are
employed on the building of the gas pipeline from Siberia to Europe.
I know of at least 2 such cases:
1. V. M. Burzev, on the pipeline "Drushba", in 215 633 Smolensk, Region of Cholm-
-Shirkov; the forced labourers are accommodated in 16 small railway wagons
(1980-1981).
2. R. Kadiyev, in 169 400 Komi ASSR, Uchta, in the settlement of Stroitel KS-10,
SMV-13, working on the construction of the oxygen station for the gas pipe-
line (1981).
In the town of Mikun, Region of Ust-Vym, Komi ASSR a large number of prisoners
under limited supervision are used on building the pipeline.
I am categorically opposed to the completion of this project if forced labour is
the price of such completion. Western governments should make their participation
in the project conditional upon the prohibition of further forced labour.
Ismaning, August 1982
railway
railway
crane
SCETCH
barbed wire fence
he camp JaZ-34/2
(Tyumen)
X
watc
:ale: 1mm - 4,2m
North
factory
factory
South
fac-
tory
work zone
- barracks
- washroom
work zone
- laundry
gate to
factory
living zone
¥
1
1
1
penalty
eating
block
room
2
1
0
storage
magazine
main entrance gate
X
ne village
street
to Tiuman
1
BORIS WEIL, aged 43, librarian, former political prisoner. Sentenced to 5 years
in a camp followed by 5 years banishment for civil rights activities.
Address: Lundtoftegade 59, III, tv., 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Prisoners under limited supervision are used to build the gas pipeline from
Siberia to Europe, as are prisoners from camps.
I lived with such forced labourers in the city of Tobolsk, region of Tyumen,
at the end of the 1960's and early 1970's. (I was in banishment there). Then they
numbered about 500 and were employed in the construction region SU-34 (later
renamed Tyumen Industrial Construction SU 1). There they built the oil refinery
at Tobolsk. This was a huge project of great importance. There were also volunteer
brigades of the Komsomol there. The forced labourers were accommodated in a
5 storey block in the Klara Zetkin Street.
Their forced labour was governed by corresponding quotas. If a labourer was
absent thrice, he was sentenced in court to be taken back to his camp. This is
what happened to a good many of them.
There are many camps in the region of Tyumen, however I should imagine that only
the labourers from the camps at Salechard or Surgut are directly or indirectly
concerned with the construction of the pipeline.
My information is restricted to the time between 1970 and 1975.
I am not predisposed to bless the construction of this pipeline using forced
labourers.
Denmark, August 1982
8
JULIA VOSNESSENSKAYA, aged 42, poetess, sentenced to 5 years banishment for
participating in the "2nd Culture" movement, the movement of independent writers.
Her sentence was converted to 2 years in a camp. After serving her sentence she
was forced to emigrate and has lived since that time in Germany.
Address: Rembrandtstraße 5, 6090 Rüsselsheim-Haßloch, West-Germany
The town of Kungur lies on the route of the pipeline, and there is a prison camp
for women near there. The camp is designed for 800 but normally upwards of 2000
women live there. There is a factory producing working clothes in the camp,
whose produce is destined for the nearby construction sites and the workers there.
Why do the women in particular sew the clothes for the "Great Economic Projects"?
Because they work for a pettance, and because the work quotas are 5 - 8 times as
high as those of the free clothing factories.
I myself have been in two prison camps, and have gathered information from dozens
of such camps.
In no camp do the women work less than 12 hours a day, and do so on a diet better
fitted for a 2 year old child than an adult. The women consider it a great mis-
fortune to be situated near a "Great Economic Project", for in Russia things are
built the way the pyramides were: not so much with knowledge and technology but
with the use of hordes of slaves. The more difficult the work, the more people
who are sent to work: Prisoners, called "chemists" (prisoners under limited super-
vision used as forced labourers), builders, free workers. All these men need clothes.
Camps with clothing factories are always overfilled as a consequence. There are
too few beds. Women sleep on the floor, under the bunks. They live in tents pitched
between the barracks. Factories ever have sewing machines set up in the corridors
which are never switched off. The next shift is always standing ready.
Rüsselsheim-Haßloch, August 1982
DESCRIPTION OF THE CAMP JAZ-34/2 IN TYUMEN
alongside the Siberia - - Europe gas pipeline.
Camp Address: 625 014 Tyumen Region, Tyumen, utsch. JaZ-34/2,
which has been in existence since 1966. The camp is situated approximately
3 - 5 kilometers North of the town of Tyumen, about 8 - 10 km from the
station. According to the second in command of the political department,
the first prisoners lived in tents. They were succeeded byone-storeyed-
-barrack blocks, which in turn were replaced by two-storeyed-houses built
of bricks.
In 1966 the prisoners numbered about 600. In 1974 the total reached 3000
and it had increased to 4000 by 1977.
The exact number of prisoners in the camp varies. Each spring (April-May)
600-700 prisoners are despatched to work on the so-called "Great Economic
Projects", known as "Chemistry" in the prisoner's slang. In autumn more
than half ot them are sent back to the camp. Quite apart from this, each
autumn there are prisoners from the transit prisons to accommodate.
In the camp the prisoners are assigned to columns, each containing between 50
and 200 persons and arranged according to letters. The fourth column is
called "Column G" for example, and the twelveth "M". There were 17 columns
in the camp in 1974, and in 1977 23 (perhaps even 24). Each column is
again divided into work brigades. Two to three brigades, designated by
numbers, constitute a column.
The organisation of the camp:
Lt.bd. Kasakov is in charge of the camp. His deputy is Major Saporoschtschenko.
The Operations Department is Major Onischtschenko, nicknamed
"cockroach". by the prisoners. The deputy commander of the Production
Department ist Captain Sergeyev and his second in command Petuchov. The
first-aid section is lead by a Lieutenant, a medical assistant by profession.
The camp itself, about 54 'hectares in area, is surrounded by a "forbidden zone "
consisting of a four-fold fence: a thick double wooden fence, with barbed
wire coils on both sides. Watchtowers guard the corners of this prohibited
area. At the north-west part of the area there are double gates with the
main guard house which controls those entering and leaving. To the left of
10
this is the "Visitors House", a two-storeyed building for relatives
of the prisoners.
The interior of the camp is divided into three by fences. Living
accommodation is in the north-west section; the south-eastern section
houses the working area and stores and a saw-mill are situated in the
north-eastern part. Gates, guarded by watch-towers separate the living
areas from the working areas.
The various barrack blocks are each surrounded by a 2-metre high fence
as an attempt to keep contact between the columns to a minimum. On the
top of the fence there is a further metre of barbed wire, making the
fence 3 metres high altogether.
Production:
According to official documents, Camp JaZ-34/2 is a branch of the
Tyumen Engine Factory. What the prisoners achieve is counted towards the
production figures of the engine factory. According to the camp's economist,
production has risen steadily and reached a total of 18 million roubels
in 1976. The factory produces electric lights and grid batteries as well
as defence equipment.
Working condition and accident prevention:
As very little is done in the way of accident prevention, accidents are
a fact of daily life. The machinery is obsolete. Often they are junk parts,
rejected by free factories, such as the big stamps which were extremely
noisy and made the ground tremble. Their mechanism tended to fail at the
critical moment, so that the press would drop and sever the fingers or the
hand of the operators.
Many accidents are caused by the inexperience of the operators, often un-
trained, young prisoners put to work there for "offences against camp
discipline". The work quotas also constrain the prisoners to greate haste,
so that the safety rules are ignored.
The machines are generally defective and lack safety devices. Lathes,
drills and polishing machines lack safety screens, no protective goggles
are distributed with the result that prisoners frequently lose an eye.
In the galvanizing plant the prisoners suffer from skin-wounds caused by
acid materials. There have even been cases. where prisoners have fallen, or
sometimes been pushed into vats of sulphuric acid.
In the paint-shop working without masks frequently leads to cases of poisoning.
This work is recognized as being damaging to the health, and should be
compensated by the issue of a pint of milk per day. However the milk, admittedly
several litres at a time, is distributed once or twice a month.
The more dangerous or harmful forms of work, such as working on the stamps,
painting or cleaning the outside lavatories are handed out as punishments for
Infringements against the camp rules.
The authorities combat accidents in their own way: they are not officially registered
and the victims are punished. There are permitted no visits, parcels and
sometimes no letters.
Prisoner's living conditions - Accommodation
The prisoners are accommodated in two-storeyed houses. Each column occupies one
storey, which is divided into 4 rooms - 2 larger rooms of between 50-80sq. metres
and 2 smaller ones of about 40-50 sq. metres.
Lavato ries are outside. The blocks are furnished with double bunks, mostly
arranged in narrow rows of two, and small bedside tables. Normally each table
is shared by four men. Each prisoner normally has about 1 sq. metre to call his
own, but in autumn, when the prisoners return from the "Great Economic Projects"
en masse, there is not even this much space. Then the prisoners must sleep
whereever they can find a space for themselves.
The above refers only to the two larger rooms. In the smaller rooms each
prisoner has about 2-3 sq. metres. In there are the "priviledged" - brigade
leaders, those employed in the organization or cultural committees, in short
anyone with some sort of a function in camp life, and who can classify themselves
as the "clean ones".
Care of the Prisoners - Average menu
Breakfast: 200 9 of bread, soup, mostly cabbage or potato soup(that is to say -
fresh cabbage is available only on the summer, in winter the prisoners are
served with an almost inedible sauerkraut). There are sometimes soups made
of fish heads. Special days and the visits of control commissions are marked by
the issue of noudle or barley soups
Lunch: 250 9 of bread, barley or dried potato soup, sometimes containing a few
pigs' bones or thin cereal but always prepared without fat and frequently
unsalted.
Supper: 200 g of bread, thin soup, as at breakfast, occasionally fish soup.
Pigs, bred nearly, are also sometimes slaughtered for the benefit of the prisoners,
but only the bones ever make their way into the prisoners' kitchen. They only
receive fresh potatoes in the autumn during the harvest. After that they must
make do with the rotting remains. There provisions are used up during the winter,
and so all that remains is the overpickled, almost inedible cabbage. Sometimes,
in the spring dried potatoes and tinned vegetables find their way into the cooking
pots after they have been withdrawn from shops as inedible. In the meantime
the administrative organs of the camp are well supplied with the products of the
camp's side Industries.
Clothing
The prisoners receive new clothing every two years. Special work clothes are
only issued to those who work outside in winter. They receive felt boots, padded
jackets and trousers and warm gloves. All others are obliged to work in their
normal prisoners' clothes, for which they are charged. Parcels or visitors'
gifts may only consist of winter or summer underclothing, and socks or gloves.
Needles are treasured items in a camp, as their possession is illegal. Knives
or needles are therefore carefully hidden. Should a prisoner lose, or have
confiscated a piece of clothing with a needle sewn into it, then he is sorrier for
the loss of the needle than for the article of clothing. Many prisoners own home
made needles of thin copper wire which they have salvaged from the rubbish in
the working zone.
Washing facilities
Prisoners are entitled to weekly, scheduled visit to the wash room. Sometimes
there is no warm water there, sometimes no clear. There are always queues
and several prisoners will frequently have to use the same water to wash in.
The arrival of prisoners' transports results in the closure of the wash rooms
and barbers' shops for the established prisoners, as they are reserved for the
new arrivals. There are showers in the work zone, but they are reserved for
the men in the heating plant.
Laundry
The prisoners must wash their own clothes, in a room set aside for the purpose.
However there are only 6 wash troughs - there is no room for more. Consequently
it is rarely possible to wash everything at once, and they are obliged to use
the smaller wash-basins in the barracks or at their place of work. This is an
offence punishable with the withholding of parcels or writing rights. Not infre-
quently the newly washed clothes will be torn up in front of them.
Insects
As they cannot change their clothes often enough, the prisoners are often lice-
infected, particularly at the end of each quarter when there is so much to do,
that they can rarerly bath themsalves.
The overcrowded barracks are irredeemable infected with bugs. They are.
imported with the convoys of new arrivals. (The cells of the transit prisons
of Tyumen are full of bugs).
Epidemics
There are always flu epidemics or outbreaks of other infectious diseases in
the camps. The worst epidemic (of dysentery) occured between 1975 and 1976.
During the first hot days of the summer of 1975, a few prisoners, employed
in the forest on the banks of the river Tobol, contracted dysentery. They were
accused of having drunk water from the river, and instead of releasing them
from work duties, the camp leader, Kasakov, punished all the "germ-carriers"
by withholding their parcels, prohibiting them from making purchases in the
camp shop and withdrawing their right to receive visits. Nevertheless the
epidemic spread, the number of sick rose, and first prisoners died
The cause of this terrible epidemic is easily found. On hot days there is no
water in the camp, because all the supplies in the pump house are used by
members of the staff and their families to water their private gardens or for
other purposes of their own. No account is taken of the prisoners and their needs.
Not only water for laundry and personal hygiene is reducted, but also drinking
water becomes scarce. Finally, there was only water to be had during the
night and the prisoners had to get up in order to quench their thirst from the
taps in the wash rooms. When the authorities became aware of this, they locked
the wash rooms up. This caused'a frantic search for water amongst the prisoners
who were reduced to drinking river water, or waste water from the workshops
etc.. Then came the epidemic.
Punishments
One should emphasize the withdrawal of the right to correspondence, which is
incidentally not mentioned in article 53 of the law for corr ective labour of the
RSFSR at all. This punishment is imposed for the following infringements of camp
rules: smuggling uncensored letters out of the prison, suspicion of preparing
an escape, corresponding with "undesirable persons" (inmates of other camps,
friends abroad, etc.). Withdrawal of the right to receive letters is always
accompanied by the withdrawal of visiting facilities and the priviledge of making
purchases in the camp shop. The punishment is imposed upon the orders of the
camp commandant or his deputy.
Officially the punishment only concerns letters which have been sent from the
camp. Post sent to the camp is treated differently: massive censorship or simple
confiscation. There is a further mean of exerting pressure on prisoners: they
are only given the letters of their nearest relatives, and threatened with
withdrawal of correspondence if they continue to receive letters from non-related
persons.
Other camp punishments consist in beatings, special work (especially difficult
or dangerous work), hunger rations, usually in combination with hard physical
labour, and finally PKT and SCHISO (camp prison and solitary confinement).
Two examples: Two prisoners from Minsk were suspected of having smuggled
letters to the outside world. After a long period in the PKT they were beaten
so much that they were both prepared to admit to an offence that they had not
committed, and to give testimony against one another. Finally they were
confined to the PKT again and sentenced to heavy labour on the stamp.
Another example: A Tartar prisoner had been wounded in a skirmish on the
Chinese border and possessed a doctors note releasing him from heavy labour.
Nevertheless he had to drag heavy crates and load onto lorries. At the end
of his strenght he finally refused to work on a Sunday, which had been declared
a nórmal workday. As a result he was beaten unconscious and confined in the
SCHISO. Upon leaving the SCHISO he began a hunger strike and was again
beaten. Totally at a loss he attempted one evening to cut his arteries. He was
taken to the camp hospital and when he had recovered to the SCHISO for. 15 days.
He cut his wrists again and was again sentenced to 15 days in SCHISO. This
happened three times in all, SO that he spent 45 days in solitary confinement.
This was too much for him and at length even the camp authorities had to admit
that he was only fi for light work. He finally left the camp as a complete
invalide.
The camp prison with its special cells for PKT and SCHISO is situated in the
living area surrounded by a three-fold fence. The prison is divided into cells
for short term inmates, who only spend one or two days there, cells for longer
term but not dangerous inmates and cells for especially dangerous prisoners.
These last cells are reserved for serious offenders who fight each other, and
especially the weaker ones among them horribly.
Not infrequently there are frightful murders in these cells.
SELECTED STATEMENTS BY WITNESSES
-FROM THE SOVIET UNION
WRITTEN REPORT BY MRS A. P. FROM MOSCOW (JULY 1982):
My family and I, that is to say, my husband, my children and I have been
trying for 5 years to acquire permission to leave Russia. Our applications are
always rejected, because my uncle is an officer serving in the north in a depart-
ment of the Hanty-Manssiiskii-Rayon.
My uncle is officially merely a simple engineer in a pioneer unit. Even so the
authorities declare that he is party to military secrets and so even 20 years
after his period of service is terminated, we will still not be issued with
emigration papers.
Towards the end of last year, my uncle appeared unexpectedly in Moscow, saying
that he had been released from the army owing to illness: In the course of the
conversation I learned the following facts:
My uncle had in fact worked as an engineer on various projects, ranging from
the new harbour on the Yamal Peninsula to Perm in the Urals. The officers and
men were openly told that the construction of the gas pipeline from Siberia to
Europe would strengthen the defensive capacity of the north of the Soviet Union.
In the first place the size of the work force would be increased, and then the
pipeline would considerably ease the difficulties of supplying fuel to the
military installations in the far north. We don't even need to do anything our-
selves. The first stage of the work would be completed by prison camp inmates
and work brigades would only need to continue the work.
My uncle was astounded at Western naivité. He could not understand how the other
side would wish to contribute to the military programme of the Soviet Union by
delivery of their latest technology. The Russian defence ministry had been saved
millions through this.
In my uncles opinion, along the entire pipeline there are branch lines for
supplying military installations with gas. There are basis, launching pads for
rockets and even weapons factories, as well as their grid network.
I am not harming my uncle by disclosing this information. He was transferred to a
nuclear missile base and suffered a severe exposure to radiation. He is now dying.
Nor is he an isolated case - there are hundreds like him.
The worst sight to bear was that of the many female prisoners, who were
obliged to perform the same work as the men. Every evening they returned filthy
and soaked to their barracks, and had no chance to change or to wash their
clothes.
In winter the MWD guards warmed their hands around a fire, clad in sheepskin
jackets. The prisoners worked on, in their working trousers and scarcely padded
jackets.
TELEPHONE ACCOUNT OF MR I. P. FROM TYUMEN, JUNE 1982:
On the 15th of June, Mr. I. P. telephoned a friend in the West and related
the following account:
Ever when I was in the camp, I had heard about the possibility of working on
the gas pipeline to Europe.
Because of the hard conditions in the camps, many inmates are prepared to
exchange camp life for the relatively "freer"life of a prisoner under limited
supervision, who can be sent to work on special projects.
I did this and travelled with 50 other prisoners under limited supervision to
Tyumen. Together with prisoners from other camps we waited in the transit camp
for 10 days, whilst the militia and MWD arranged the areas of work. I with
several others, formed part of "Special Group 7" and was taken to Kirpitschnii,
a small place near Tyumen. As a prisoner under limited supervision I came under
the authority of the Area Commander. There I lived with 4 others in a railway
wagon, with just enough room for 4 cots. We had electricity but no water. Others
lived in barracks, dating from the Stalin era, while others again lived in rapidly
erected hostels, usually two storied buildings with no comforts.
Such places rarely have names. They are mostly known as "Special Group No
=
with an indication of the camp authorities for the respective areas.
Such prisoners as we had to accept any work which was detailed to us. Prisoners
under limited supervision work together with banished or "parasites". There are
about 6000 in Kirpitschnii.
Our work consisted mostly of producing glass wool, wrapping the pipes, digging
the trenches, transporting the armatures and pipe bearers, laying electricity
or telephone cables and various tasks in the petro-chemical sector.
TELEPHONE ACCOUNT FROM MR P.S., MOSCOW, JULY 1982:
Because of my criticism of the government I was released from my position at the
Institute of Mining in Moscow. There was no-one in the entire city who was pre-
pared to employ me. The KGB man said to me: "You can always volunteer to work on
the pipeline, before we send you there anyway. You still have the chance to
volunteer".
So I travelled to Tyumen, where I was told to register as an electrician at
the distributor station at Urengoy. I worked there for a year. Urengoy is a
small, dirty town with lastily built, barrack like buildings. I shared a room
in a hostel with three other workers. On my first day at work I was officially
informed that camp inmates were also at work on the pipeline. Unless I wanted
to join them I was not to speak to them or speak about them at all. For eleven
months I was able to observe how badly and injustly the prisoners were treated.
They were subordinate to the volunteer workers, who of course only had to do the
easier work. If the work was dangerous, then again the prisoners were made to do it.
However they were then promised a reduction of their sentences.
In those eleven months I witnessed many fatal accidents, caused by exploding
gas or toxic fumes. During the summer concrete was delivered in open lorries.
It often became so hard en route that the prisoners received lacerated hands as
they attempted to remove it. Ever the heavy equipment delivered from abroad was
unloaded by unaided prisoners.
There were always accidents during the test runs. Poor servicing led to many
breakdowns and the prisoners were made, with inadequate equipment, to put the
damage right. They had to move the heavy pipes. It often happened that weak
ropes broke and killed someone. I often tried to raise the matter with the trade
union but always received the answer that: "You shouldn't feel sorry for them -
- they should have been killed long ago. They are happy to be given the chance.
to 'improve' themselves".
The camp itself. was not in Urengoy, but a few kilometers out in the Tundra, so
that the inhabitants of the town remained unaware of their existence. But I had
plenty of opportunity to speak with their guards, young soldiers serving there.
They told me of the high rate. of mortality of the prisoners and also of the frequent
suicides among the young soldiers who could not stand the sight of so much misery.
Young soldiers were known to turn their own weapons against themselves in their
watch-towers.
18
Armed soldiers and dogs guardspecific areas, which are also fenced and wired
off, where the perma frost is worked or rocks blasted. Inmates of camp No. 34/2 "x"
are transported here in closed railway wagons. These areas are laid out to
correspond with the progress of the project.
Food is poor, there is no medical attention, the barracks and wagons are cold
and there are frequent cases of drunkeness amongst the workers.
There are also frequent cases of prisoners under limited supervision receiving
fresh sentences and being taken back to camps, to continue working behind
barbed wire.
At this moment there are 14 prison camps which belong to the complex of
TYUMENLAG: Nishnaya Tavda, Ussetsk, Jalutorovsk, Savodoukovsk Ipim, Malitza,
two camps in Tobolsk and two more in Tyumen itself.
All related tasks, such as digging trenches, laying railway tracks, mixing
concrete and preparing grids for the frames are not only done by men, but by
women and minors. It is estimated that about 100 000 forced labourers are
employed on various tasks associated with the gas pipeline from Siberia to
Europe.
One related task is the manufacture of work clothes. Women, or the inmates
of psychological institutions are used for this. Ever so work clothes are
still scarce. For example protective gloves are only distributed every six
months. Most prisoners wrap rags around their hands, but there are still frequent
injuries or eczemas occured by working with barbed wire, concrete, glass wool
or asbestas. Accidents are a part of life. However when the medical orderlies
are called, they demand to know who is injured, whether the victim is a
volonteer or an ZEK (the name for prisoners, prisoners under limited supervision,
banished persons). Where an ZEK is concerned, the orderlies never bother
to hurry.
Sacharov, Andrej
Stellungnahme. Verlag Fritz Molden, München,
1974.
Scholmer, Joseph
Arzt in Workuta. Bericht aus einem sowjetischen
Straflager. München, 1963.
Shifrin, Avraham
UdSSR Reiseführer durch Gefängnisse und Konzen-
trationslager in der Sowjetunion. Stephanus Edition,
Uhldingen/Seewis, 1980.
(obtainable at the ISHR (IGFM)Francfort/M.)
Shymko, Yuri R.
For this was I born. The human conditions in USSR
Slave Labor Camps. Toronto, 1973.
Solomon, Michael
Magadan. Sieben Jahre in sowjetischen Straflagern.
Bergisch Gladbach, 1978.
Solschenizyn, Alexander
Der Archipel GULag. 3 Bände. Bern, München,
1974-1976.
Tchornovil, Viatcheslav
Je ne vous demande rien! Editions Piuf, Paris,
1977. (inFrench)
Vins, Georgii P.
Der Familie entrissen. Uhldingen - Mühlhofen, 1975.
LITERATURE
20
Conquest, Robert
Stalins Völkermord. Frankfurt/M., 1970.
Harasowska, Marta (Hrsg.)
The International Sakharov Hearing. Smoloskyp
Olhovych, Drest
Publishers, Baltimore-Toronto, 1977.
Heller, Michael
Stacheldraht der Revolution. Die Welt der Kon-
zentrationslager in der sowjetischen Literatur.
Stuttgart, 1975.
Helsinki Watch (Hrsg.)
U.S. Helsinki Committee Marks Seventh Anniver-
Committee
sary of Helsinki Accords with Report on Status
of Soviet Political Prisoners. New York,
Juli 1982.
Jaspers, Karl
Die Schuldfrage. Für Völkermord gibt es keine
Verjährung. Piper Verlag, München, 1979.
Kaminski, Andrzej J.
Konzentrationslager 1896 bis heute. Eine Analyse.
Verlag w. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1982.
Keston College (Hrsg.)
Christian Prisoners in the USSB 1979. Keston
Book No. 11, Keston College, 1979.
Kosyk, Volodymyr
Concentration Camps in the USSR. London, 1962.
Kusnezov, Eduard
Lagertagebüch. Aufzeichnungen aus dem Archipel
des Grauens. München, 1974.
Martschenko, Anatolii
Meine Aussagen. Bericht eines sowjetischen
Häftlings 1960-1966. F rankfurt/M., 1969.
Pollock, John
The Siberian Seven. Hodder and Stoughton,
London, 1979.
Radygin, Anatolii
Das Leben in den mordwinischen Konzentrations-
lagern aus der Nähe betrachtet. München, 1974.
Research Centre for Prisons,
- Transportation of Prisoners to Places of
Psychprisons and Forced-
Confinement.
Labor Concentration Camps
- The Death Camps in the USSR.
of the USSR (Hsg.)
- Work, Salary and Safety Measures in Soviet
(A. Shifrin)
Forced-Labor Camps.
- The Work of Soviet Prisoners for Export.
- The Work of Prisoners in Soviet Oil-Industry.
- The Work of Prisoners in Soviet Military Industry.
- Places of Confinement in the USSR and the diffe-
rent regimes there.
- How many Camps are in the USSR?
- The Death Route.
- Women and Children in Soviet Concentration Camps.
Research Centre for Prisons, Psychprisons and
Forced-Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR.
P.O.B. 32, Zikhron Yaakov, Israel. (1976-79)
LITERATURE-COMPILED BY PROF. KAMINSKI
21
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ABOUT SOVIET CONCENTRATION CAMPS
PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH (BOOKS ONLY)
ATHOLL, (Katherine) Duchess of, The Conscription of o People.
Philip Allan, London; Columbia University Press, New York; 1931
BEAUSOBRE, Julia de [Lady MANIER7, The Woman Who Could Not Die,
London 1948
BEGIN, Menachem, White Nights, The Story of a Prisoner in Russia.
Third English Edition, Steimatzky's Agency Limited, Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv, Haifa (1977, C 1957)
CILIGA, Anton, The Russian Enigma, London 1940.
CONQUEST, Robert, Kolyma, The Arctic Death Comps
Macmillon, London 1978; Reprinted by Billing & Sons, Guildford,
London and Worcester, 1978
DALLIN, David J., The Economics of Slave Labor
Henry Regnery Co., Chicago 1949
DALLIN, David J., NICOLAEVSKY, Boris I., Forced Labor in Soviet
Russia
Yale University Press, New Haven 1947
The DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. (Foreword by Helena SIKORSKA). with o
preface by T(homas) S(tearns) ELIOT
Faber & Faber, London (1946)
DOLGUN, Alexander, with WATSON, Patrick, Alexander Dolgun's Story.
An American in the GULAG
Alfred A.Knopf, New York 1975; Ballantine Books, New York (1976)
FITZ GIBBON, Constantine, When the Kissing had to Stop.
GINSBURG, Evgenia Semyonovna, Into the Whirlwind
London and New York 1967
GLIKSMAN, Jerzy, Tell the West
Gresham Press, New York 1948
GULAG, The Documentary Map on Forced Labor Camps in Soviet Russia
New York 1951
HERLING, Gustow, A World Apart
New York 1951
HUBBARD, Leonard, Soviet Labor
London 1942
KOSYK, v., Concentration Camps in the USSR, in: Russian Oppression
in the Ukraine
London 1962
KRASNOV, N(icolai Nicolaevitch). The Hidden Russia
Henry Holt & Co., 1960
LARSEN, Otto, Nightmare of the Innocents
Andrew Melrose, London 1955
LENGYEL, Jószef, From" Beginning to End
London 1966
LIPPER, Elinor, Eleven Years in Soviet Prison Camps
Chicago 1951
LITTLEPAGE, J., and BESS, D., In Search of Soviet Gold
New York 1938
- 31 -
22
MARCHENKO, Anatole, My Testimony
The Pall Moll Press, London 1969
MORA, Silvester (i.e. ZAMORSKI, Kazimierz), Kolyma-Gold and
Forced Labor in the USSR
Foundation für Foreign Affairs, Washington, D.C., 1949
MOWRER, Lilion, with o foreword by KOCHANSKA, Olga, Arrest and
Exile
W.Morrow & Co., New York 1941
NOBLE, John, I Was a Slave in Russia
The Devin-Adair Co., New York 1958
PETROV, Vladimir, It happens in Russia
Eyre & Spottiswoode, Lodnon 1951
PETROV, Vladimir, Soviet Gold
Forrar, Strouss & Co., New York 1949
PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN THE USSR: THEIR TREATMENT AND CONDITIO
Amnesty International Publications (AIP), London 1980
ROUSSET, David (under the direction of), Coercion of the Worker
in the Soviet Union. Edited by Jerzy G. GLIKSMAN
The Beacon Press, Boston (1953)
The Same, Police-State Methods in the Soviet Union,
As above.
SHIFRIN, Avrom, USSR Guide to the Prisons.,and Concentration Camps
in the Soviet Union
Stephanus Edition, Uhldingen/Seewis (1980)
SLAVE LABOR IN RUSSIA
American Federation of Labor, New York 1949
SOLOMON, Michael, Magadan
Toronto 1971
SOLONEVICH, Ivan, Russia in Chains - Escape from Russian Chains
London and New York 1938
SOLZHENITSYN, Alexander, The Gulag Archipelogo
London and New York 1973-77
SWIANIEWICZ, Stanislow, Forced Labor and Economic Development,
An Inquiry into the Experience of Soviet Industrialization
Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International
Affairs. Oxford University Press, London-New York-Toronto 1965
TCHERNAVIN, Vlodimir, I speak for the Silent, Prisoners of the
Soviets.
Ralph T.Hale & Co., Boston 1935
TCHERNAVIN, Tatiana, Escape from the Soviets
Hamish Hamilton, London 1933 & 1934
KITCHIN, George, Prisoner of the OGPU
New York 1935
MALSAGOFF, S.A., An Island Hell
London 1926
NORK, Karl, Hell in Siberia
Robert Hale, London 1957
RED GAOLS
London 1935
INTERNATIONALE
We Believe
GESELLSCHAFT FÜR MENSCHENRECHTE e.V.
International Society for Human Rights - Association Internationale pour les Droits de l'Homme
Int. Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte, Postfach 2965, D-6000 Frankfurt/M. 1
Kalserstr. 72
To
D-6000 Frankfurt/Main 1
Tel. 0611-236971/72
The Chancellor
of the Federal Republic of Germany
Gemeinnützige Körperschaft
Assoziiert mit The International League
Mr. Helmut Schmidt
for Human Rights, New York
Konrad-Adenauer-Allee
Spendenkonten: Deutsche Bank AG,
D-5300 Bonn
Frankfurt am Main, Kto. 405 2031
Postscheckamt: Kto. 3269 66-602 Ffm.
Kreissparkasse
Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe
BLZ 50052009, Kto.-Nr. 023000733
Francfort/M., 23 June 1982
OPEN LETTER TO THE CHANCELLOR
(Translation)
Dear Mr. Chancellor!
When Western States co-operate with the Soviet Government in economic
projects within the USSR, the effects of such co-operation are unfortunately
always considered in their relation to the States and people in the West.
With regard to the envisaged gas-pipeline Siberia-Europe, for instance,
the preservation of jobs in Germany, the expected benefit and the risk of
Western Credit-Investments, the possible dependency of our energy supply,
and other problems are discussed publicly. This is, of course, justified.
However, neither politicians nor the managers of banks and firms who are
dealing with that project in the Federal Republic of Germany, give any
thought to the consequences which the gas-pipeline might have on the population
of the USSR. It is presupposed that this is a matter of the Soviet Government
only. But this is not SO. According to reports from the USSR, available to
the IGFM, there are about 100 000 prisoners employed along the gas-pipeline
under inhuman conditions, many of them are political prisoners (see attached
Press Release). We share the guilt in the exploitation of these people and
the "Preservation of Jobs" - according to press releases about 6 000 - is
morally questionable.
When German firms are accused to support the apartheid policy of South Africa
by employing black workers, then any co-operation with a Government who
forces political prisoners to work appears in a dubious light.
The fact that the Soviet Government compels political prisoners to forced labour
is wellknown for a long time and it has been documented in numerous publications
and should also not be a secret to Western Governments.
-2-
Ehrenvorsitzender:
Ludwig Martin
Prof Dr. Affred Domes
Vorstand des Vereins:
Generalbundesanwalt D.
Bundeskanzier a. D Prof Dr. Ludwig Erhard 1
Prof. Dr Hellmuth Nitsche
Vorsitzender:
Prof Andrej Sacharow.
Prof. Dr Felix Ermacora. Österreich
Ludek Pachman
Dr. med Reinhard Gnauck
Friedensnobeipreisträger.UdSSR.
Alexander Ginsburg. Frankreich
Prof Laszió Révész. Schweiz
Geschäftst. Vorsitzender: I.I. Agrusow
Ehrenpräsidium:
Constantin Frhr von Heeremann
Prof. Dr Gotthold Rhode
Schatzmeister. Leonid Müller
Ludmilla Alexeiewa. USA
Prof. Dr Walter Hoeres
Dr Peter Sager, Schweiz
Sprecher des Vorstandes:
Prof Dr Urs von Balthasar. Schweiz
Prof Dr Otto Kimminich
Viadimir Skulina. Schweiz
Jorn Ziegler
Prof Wiadyslaw Bartoszewski, Polen
Prof Stefan Kisielewski, Polen
Niklas Frhr von Schrenck-Notzing
Beisitzer.
Dr Jorg B. Bilke
Prof Dr Martin Kriele
Dr Josef Stimpfle. Bischof von Augsburg
Katrin Bornmüller, Wittlich
Prof Dr Dieter Blumenwitz
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddhin, Osterreich
Werenfried van Strasten o. praem.
Hans-Jurgen Caspar, Henstedt
Prof Dr Nikolaus nhkowits
Raymond Marie Tchidimbo. Erzbischof/Vatikan
Ehrhard Gohl, Darmstadt
- 33 -
Are we, in our selfishness, allowed to tolerate maltreatment and exploitation
of these innocent people?
This is both morally and legally not acceptable!
Therefore, we request the Federal Government to cancel the gas-pipe deal
with the Soviet Union out of solidarity with the supressed people in that
country.
We appeal to the Members of the Deutsche Bundestag to adopt a resolution
(as done in a similar action on 18 December 1982 in respect to Poland)
to request the Federal Government to do SO.
Dear Mr. Chancellor,
Please be the speaker of those silenced people in the USSR and of all free
people in the West who reject this gas-pipe deal for humanitarian and
moral reasons.
Yours respectfully,
International Society for Human Rights
Reinbard R./Man Gnauck, M.D.
&
President
Annex: IGFM Press Relase of 23 June 1982
Over-riding priority
Daily Telegraph,
The Soviet Government has
given an over-riding priority to
14.8.1932
completing the line on time,
with exclusively Soviet equip-
ment if necessary.
PIPELINE
The Soviet system makes it
possible for the Government to
focus all necessary resources on
achieving this goal, regardless
DRIVE
of the cost in terms of money
or disruption to other industrial
sectors.
More than 200 miles of pipe
BY RUSSIA
was welded into place by the
beginning of August. according
to Mr Grigory Sudobin. a
By NIGEL WADE
Deputy Minister for Oil Industry
in Moscow
Construction. An average of
four-and-a-half miles of pipe
WHILE
Transatlantic
was being added daily.
wrangling intensifies
Officials say 58 mechanised
over President Reagan's
teams are working on the line.
efforts to stop European
Moscow has reiected specula-
firms supplying equipment
tion by a West German human
for the Siberian gas pipe-
rights group that labour camp
prisoners mav be involved. and
line, Soviet officials report
Western diplomats in Moscow
progress on early construc-
say they know of no evidence
tion along the pipeline
to support this suggestion.
route.
Visits not allowed
Optimistic claims are also
being made about the develop.
But requests by Western
ment by Soviet industry of 25.
diplomats and newsmen to visit
megawatt gas-pumping turbines
the pipeline or factories mak-
which Soviet officials say are
ing parts for it have been
the equal of Western equip.
repeatedly refused.
ment blocked by American
A recent Moscow Radio
sanctions.
broadcast said young East
Germans would work on the
In a move which has created
serious friction between the
project in Western Russia. The
initial section of the route.
United States and Western
starting near Urengoy in West.
Europe, Mr Reagan has barred
ern Siberia, crosses about 100
European companies using
miles of permafrost and 400
American licences from deliver-
miles of marshland.
ing parts for the pipeline
because of Soviet involvement
Soviet newspapers describe
in the Polish crisis.
convoys of lorries carrying
workers and supplies hattling
The Kremlin has publicly
to get through the " notorious
undertaken to complete the
Taiga swamps stretching for
Woman on forced-labour
2.900-mile pipeline as planned.
hundreds of miles."
in the first quarter of 1984. It
Planning for the most difficult
is designed to deliver 40,000
northern sections has been
million cubic metres of gas to
finished " much earlier than
Western Europe annually,
expected. thanks to photography
bringing Bussia an estimated
from outer space, according to
annual income of £4,500 million
Soviet engineers.
pounds.
PRESS REVIEW
Die "Welt" 9.8.82
Die "Welt" 9.8.82
DER KOMMENTAR
Zwangsarbeiter:
Beweislast
Tass spricht von
ENNO von LOEWENSTERN
Vielleicht bewirkt eine
Blei- und Goldgruben. Denn
dreckiger Lüge
Mitteilung der Frankfur-
schaufeln können sie alle-
AFP/DW. Moskau
ter Gesellschaft für Men-
mal, bis sie selber einge-
Informationen über den angebli-
schenrechte, was keine War-
schaufelt werden. Jeder ver-
chen Einsatz politischer Häftlinge
nung vor den Konsequen-
nünftige Mensch weiß auch,
in der Sowjetunion für den Bau der
zen im Bündnis oder vor der
daß die Geheimpolizei be-
europäisch-sibirischen Erdgaslei-
tung haben in Moskau erste pole-
Gefahr, Moskaus Rüstung
reit steht, nach Bedarf jeder-
mische Reaktionen ausgelöst. Offi-
zu stärken, erreicht hat: ein
zeit neue Arbeitssklaven
zielle Stellungnahmen wurden da-
ernsthaftes Überdenken des
einzufangen. Jeder vernünf-
zu abgelehnt. Von offiziöser Seite
Gas-Röhren-Geschäfts. Was
tige Mensch hat vermerkt,
hieß es jedoch, der Bericht der
in Bonn erst einmal als un-
daß Tass nicht einmal zu
Internationalen Menschenrechts-
bewiesen vom Tisch ge-
dementieren wagt, daß es
gesellschaft in Frankfurt, wonach
wischt wurde, hat nun die
Konzentrationslager und
mehrere tausend Polithäftlinge an
französische Regierung zu
Häftlinge für Arbeitseinsät-
dem Pipeline-Bau beschäftigt sind,
einer Weisung an ihre Mos-
habe die Unterminierung des Gas-
ze gibt.
leitungsprojekts zum Zweck, nach-
kauer Botschaft veranlaßt:
dem das amerikanische Embargo
nachzuprüfen, ob die So-
D
ie französische Regie-
gescheitert" sei. Die sowjetische
wjetunion beim Bau der
rung hat viel weltpoliti-
Nachrichtenagentur Tass sprach
Gasleitung KZ-Häftlinge
schen Unfug getrieben, aber
von einer dreckigen Lüge".
einsetzen wird.
sie besteht darauf, die Men-
In den westlichen Botschaften in
Moskau selber hat durch
schenrechte ernst zu neh-
Moskau wird die Angelegenheit je-
ein kraß utilitaristisches
men. Mit Recht wird von
doch sehr ernst genommen. Die
Tass-Dementi den Verdacht
Beobachtern in Moskau dar-
französische Regierung forderte
noch verstärkt: Jeder ver-
auf hingewiesen, daß das
am Freitag ihre diplomatische Ver-
tretung auf, über die Anschuldi-
nünftige Mensch wird einse-
Sowjetsystem ein freies
gungen der Menschenrechtsgesell-
hen, daß ein solches Riesen-
Herumreisen und Nach-
schaft zu ermitteln. Die Existenz
projekt die Ausarbeitung
schauen nicht zuläßt. Aber
von Arbeitslagern wird in der
und die Anstrengung durch
in Paris weiß man genau so
UdSSR offiziell zugegeben. Nach
eine starke Industrie zwin-
gut wie in Bonn, daß die
Angaben von Regimekritikern
gend macht, die die modern-
Beweislast bei den Arbeit-
werden dort politische Häftlinge
sten Errungenschaften von
gebern vom Weißmeerkanal
interniert. Die Lager bleiben ein
Reservoir für billige Arbeitskräf-
Wissenschaft und Technik
liegt. Inspektionen gehören
te", versicherte ein Dissident ge-
zum Einsatz bringt."
zu den vertrauensbilden-
genüber AFP.
Jeder vernünftige Mensch
den Maßnahmen", von den
Mehrere Oppositionsgruppen ha-
weiß, daß dieses System
Kernwaffen bis zu den Kon-
ben in den vergangenen Jahren
dennoch halbverhungerte
zentrationslagern. Wer sie
versucht, verurteilten Dissidenten
und technisch wenig ver-
verweigert, der weiß, war-
in die verschiedenen Lager zu fol-
sierte Arbeitssklaven seit je-
um. Wer die Verweigerung
gen. Von ihnen hat die Internatio-
her bei technisch aufwendi-
mitgeteilt erhält, weiß auch,
nale Menschenrechtsgesellschaft
gen Vorhaben einsetzte, ehe
warum. Eine Regierung, die
die Informationen über Häftlings-
einsatz am Pipeline-Bau erhalten.
die Ingenieure antreten;
dennoch das Röhrenge-
Wie sie versichern, können sie ihre
vom Weißmeerkanal mit sei-
schäft machte, dürfte sich
Behauptungen durch direkte Zeu-
nen hunderttausenden To-
nie mehr als Hort der Men-
genaussagen belegen.
ten bis zu den sibirischen
schenrechte darstellen.
FAZ 9.8.82
Paris läßt Berichte über
wärtigen Regierung massenweise große
Mensch wird einsehen, daß ein solches
Lügen produziert". Washington wolle
Riesenprojekt die Ausarbeitung und die
Gefangenen-Einsatz prüfen
mit allen Mitteln das Erdgas-Röhren-
Anstrengungen durch eine starke Indu-
MOSKAU, 8. August (dpa). Westliche
Geschäft mit westeuropäischen Firmen
strie zwingend macht, die die modern-
Berichte über den Einsatz von Gefan-
zum, Scheitern bringen. Uber den an-
sten Errungenschaften von Wissen-
geblichen Einsatz von Gefangenen hat-
schaft und Technik zum Einsatz
genen beim Bau der neuen Erdgaslei-
te im letzten Monat erstmals die in
bringt." Unterdessen wurde bekannt,
tung von Sibirien an die Westgrenze
Frankfurt ansässige Internationale
daß die französische Botschaft in Mos-
der Sowjetunion sind am Sonntag von
Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte" be-
kau prüfen soll, ob an der sowjetischen
der Moskauer Nachrichtenagentur
richtet. Danach sind mindestens 10 000
Erdgasleitung nach Westeuropa wirk-
Tass als dreckige Lüge" zurückge-
Strafgefangene sowie mehrere zehntau-
lich unter schwersten Bedingungen po-
wiesen worden. Tass bezog sich unter
send weitere Häftlinge anderer Katego-
litische Häftlinge aus der Sowjetunion
anderem auf einen Bericht der franzö-
rien beziehungsweise Verbannte im
arbeiten müssen. Das Außenministe-
sischen Zeitung France Soir" vom
zwangsweisen Einsatz", schrieb Vor-
rium in Paris beauftragte die Botschaft,
Vortag und äußerte den Verdacht, daß
standssprecher Ziegler. Tass dazu:
den Angaben der Internationalen Ge-
Washington Urheber dieser Sensation"
Diese dreckige Lüge erfordert eigent-
sellschaft für Menschenrechte nachzu-
sei. dort werden unter der gegen-
lich kein Dementi: Jeder vernünftige
gehen.
ISHR ORGANIZES HELP:
"EURO-PARCELS FOR THE POOREST OF THE POOR"
Since many years IGFM sends food parcels to relatives of convicted
and exiled people in the USSR. The European Parliament supports
these actions and have recently appealed by resolution to citizens
of all EC-Memberstates to participate in this parcel action by donation.
Dear Reader,
if you want to help these poorest of the poor, you can do so by
following ways:
1. We shall be pleased to mail a parcel for you (minimum costs for
a food parcel, including mailing and insurance: DM 180.- ; a
parcel containing clothes: DM 500.-), in case the relevant amount
or even a part of it you may transfer to one of our following accounts:
Transfer from abroad: IGFM, Deutsche Bank A.G.
D-6000 Frankfurt/M.
Code-No. 500 700 10
Acc. No. 405 2031
IGFM, PSA Frankfurt/M., Acc. No. 4221-608
IGFM, Kreissparkasse, D-6380 Bad Homburg v.d.H.
Code-No. 500 520 09, Acc. No. 86
Upon your request we provide you with the name and address of the recipient.
2. We provide you with the addresses of relatives of convicted or exiled to
whom you may wish to send a parcel or letter, if possible.
3. To protest against the use of forced labour and to write to the
following addresses:
The
The
Minister of Petroleum-
Ambassador of the USSR
and Gas-Industries,
Mr. Semionov
Mr. Costandov
Waldstr. 42
Moscow
D-5300 Bonn
USSR
Federal Republic of Germany
Arab News - June 26, 1982
28
Soviets said using forced labor
FRANKFURT, June 25 (AP) - The
in camps un suitable to protect them from the
Soviets force about 100,000 persons, at least
freezing winter cold. Their supply situation
10,000 of them prison inmates, to help build
was very bad, the statement said.
the controversial Siberian natural gas
The forced labor was made up of about
pipeline to Western Europe, the Frankfurt-
10,000 persons serving prison sentences for
based International Society for Human
crimes, the remainder are prisoners of other
Rights said Friday.
catagories, including banned persons,
In a giant gas for hard currency deal, vigor-
among them many women and elderly peo-
ously opposed by President Ronald Reagan,
ple, the statement said.
the Soviet plan to complete the 3,000 mile
pipeline next year despite a Washington-
ordered embargo on American-designed
equipment for the project.
"Along the construction sites many new
centers with forced labor camps sprung up in
the past two years," a society statement said.
"In Ust Ishim alone one of these centers is
made up of eight camps," it added. Others
are near Surgut, Tavda, Tyumen, Irbit and
-ysva, the statement said.
In the camps, prisoners are accommodated
The Soviet news agency TASS de-
nounced the accusations as "dirty lies." In
THE TIME MAGAZIN
a letter to the Times of London, Novosti
Press Agency Editor Sergei Snegov said
30.8.1982
that pipeline workers have to be highly
skilled and are paid higher than normal
wages to make up for the difficult working
conditions.
The charges have embarrassed West-
ern European governments, whose partic-
ipation in the pipeline project is opposed
SOVIET UNION
by the Reagan Administration. Alois
Gulag Gas?
Mertes, foreign policy spokesman for
West Germany's opposition Christian
Democrats, has asked Schmidt whether
New charges on the pipeline
his government would "unwittingly be-
come an accomplice" of a concentration-
T
he Soviet Union has not allowed
camp system. Washington has not taken
Western correspondents to visit sites
advantage of the latest accusations to
in Siberia where workmen are building
press its view that Western European gov-
the controversial 3,000-mile natural gas
erninents are giving unwarranted assis-
pipeline to Western Europe. Frankfurt's
tance to the Soviet economy.
respected International Association for
Human Rights has suggested a chilling
ndeed, State Department analysts say
explanation for that refusal. In letters
that "there are no hard facts at this
mailed to West German Chancellor Hel-
point" to substantiate the human rights
mut Schmidt, French President François
organizations' charges. West German and
Mitterrand and the Frankfurter Allge-
French officials are similarly cautious but
meine Zeitung, the association charged
have asked their embassies in Moscow to
that the Soviet Union is using up to
look into the matter. The allegations are
100,000 prisoners to build the pipeline.
quite plausible. The Soviet Union has re-
The claim is based on information from
lied on prison-camp labor for massive
smuggled letters and from interviews with
construction projects in the past, includ-
contacts inside the Soviet Union. The Co-
ing the trans-Siberian railroad, the White
penhagen-based International Sakharov
Sea Canal and the Moscow subway. Dissi-
Committee, which was founded to uphold
dent Author Vladimir Bukovsky, who was
human rights and defend Soviet dissi-
released from a Soviet prison in 1976 and
dents, including Physicist and Nobel
now lives in England, says that while
Peace Prizewinner Andrei Sakharov, has
skilled workers probably are needed to as-
made similar allegations. The committee
semble the pipeline, prisoners can be used
has warned that "conditions in these
for such tasks as clearing a way through
camps are such that a large number of the
vast forests. Says he: "Gulag labor is an
prisoners will not survive."
integral part of the Soviet economy."
WHAT IS
29
the ISHR (IGFM)?
Several organizations around the world are active in de-
those doing it in their country without the use of vio-
fence of human rights, and, each in their own way, they
lence; to those who are persecuted for 'exercising'
are accomplishing excellent results. Nevertheless, this
these rights. Our help is not limited to political prisoners
activity has a certain number of gaps. The International
alone. We also intervene in cases of separated families,
Society for Human Rights tries to fill these gaps.
for example.
Our activities are based primarily on the Universal Declara-
- Active support of requests drawn to our attention,
tion of Human Rights, proclaimed by the General Assembly
whether in general, or in partioular cases. Public disclo-
of the United Nations on 10 December 1948:
sure and denunciation of all violations of human rights.
Development of projects and suggestions for politicians
- Active support of requests drawn to our attention,
and state institutions. Collaboration with international
whether in general, or in partioular cases. Public disclo-
organizations. Improvement of international tolerance
sure and denunciation of all violations of human rights.
and understanding. Setting a personal example to mo-
Development of projects and suggestions for politicians
tivate citizens to fight for human rights. Recruitment
and state institutions. Collaboration with international
of new members to the Society. We are acting indivi-
organizations. Improvement of international tolerance
dually and do not wait for the state to intervene.
and understanding. Setting a personal example to mo-
HOW CAN YOU HELP IN THE FIGHT
tivate citizens to fight for human rights. Recruitment
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS?
of new members to the Society. We are acting indivi-
dually and do not wait for the state to intervene.
«My time is my life. In giving a part of my time to some-
one, I give him a part of my life», says a proverb. Too often
HOW CAN YOU HELP IN THE FIGHT
we waste our time, and therefore our lives, with trifles OT
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS?
futile amusements which bring us nowhere and give us no
satisfaction. Use the time given to you to help other people
«My time is my life. In giving a part of my time to some-
obtain a little more justice and dignity. Contribute to the
one, I give him a part of my life», says a proverb. Too often
we waste our time, and therefore our lives, with trifles or
realisation of this great undertaking, HUMAN RIGHTS
FOR ALL PEOPLES - join our organization.
futile amusements which bring us nowhere and give us no
satisfaction. Use the time given to you to help other people
obtain a little more justice and dignity. Contribute to the
Our Society is free and independent and we attach particu-
lar importance to what you can personally achieve, by
realisation of this great undertaking, HUMAN RIGHTS
carrying out your own ideas and initiatives in your own
FOR ALL PEOPLES - join our organization.
way. We will do our best to help you.
Our. Society is free and independent and we attach particu-
lar importance to what you can personally achieve, by
You can participate in the activities of the Society in the
following ways:
carrying out your own ideas and initiatives in your own
way. We will do our best to help you.
- Individual activity where no group exists.
- Working together with a group.
You can participate in the activities of the Society in the
- As a member of a working group.
following ways:
- Individual activity where no group exists.
A working group consists of a number of people working to-
gether, regardless of where they live. Their activities are as
- Working together with a group.
follows: aid in individual cases, writing and circulating ap-
- As a member of a working group.
peals, documents etc..., organization and participation of
A working group consists of a number of people working to-
multi-regional demonstrations and press conferences, run-
gether, regardless of where they live. Their activities are as
ning an information service..
follows: aid in individual cases, writing and circulating ap-
Anyone over the age of 16 can become a member of the
Society. Active members are asked to pay an annual fee
The International Society for Human Rights is an humani-
of £12.- / US $24.-. The fee for students is £6.- / US $
tarian organization. Consequently, our activities are as fol-
12.-, and for couples £10.- US
lows:
If you cannot become an active member of the Society, a
- Assistance to all those isolated individuals or groups
fee of not less than £20.- / US $ 40.- will make you a
who are striving for the realisation of human rights; to
supporter-member.
ISHR-Adresses for further information:
USA:
International Society for Human Rights Section USA - Mr. S. Padukow
P.O. Box 2175 - Grand Central Station - New York, N. Y. 101163
FRANCE:
Association Internationale pour les Droits de l'Homme - AIDH -
Comité Français M. J.-C. Pivert- 9, rue du Bouloi- F-75001 PARIS
Great Britain:
Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies - Mr. G. Miller
address
12 a Golden Square, London W 1 R 3 AF Tel. 01-439 8719
for contacts
18 Korea Herald, Seoul, 26.6.82
France Soir, Paris, 6.8.82
100,000 people said in forced
Göteborgs Handels-
«100.000
och Sjöfarts-Tidning,
labor for Russ gas pipeline
2.7.82
RANKFURT (AP) - The Soviets
:e about 100,000 persons, at least
00 of them prison inmates, to help
bagnards
d the controversial Siberian natural
pipeline to Western Europe, the
nkfurt-based International Society
Human Rights said Friday.
1 a giant gas for hard currency deal,
KGB utnyttjar
prously opposed by President Reagan,
Soviets plan to complete the 3,000
travaillent
e pipeline next year despite a
shington-ordered embargo on
erican-designed equipment for the
ject.
ong the construction sites may new
10.000 fångar
ters with forced labor camps sprung
in the past two years," a society
tement said. "In Ust Ishim alone one
augazoduc
these centers is made up of eight
nps," it added. Others are near
gut, Tavada, Tyumen, Irbit and
för gasledning
va, the statement said.
n the camps, prisoners are ac-
nmodated in shaky waggons un-
table to protect them from the
Från den Internationella föreningen för de mänsk-
sibérien
ezing winter cold. Their supply
liga rättigheterna i Frankfurt am Main kommer
ation was very bad, the statement
skrämmande rapporter om hur tiotusentals politiska
d.
accusent des dissidents.
'he forced labor was made up of about
fångar under svåra umbäranden utnyttjas för byg-
000 persons serving prison sentences
gandet av den omtalade och ödesdigra gasledningen
Parmi ceux-là, 10.000
crimes, "the remainder are prisoners
other catagories, including banned
Sibirien-Västeuropa.
rsons," among them any women and
Bland "slavarbetarna" märks många kända intel-
prisonniers politiques
lerly people, the statement said.
These persons were selected to do the
lektuella som fängslats för avvikande politiska upp-
Yvon SAMUEL
sont dépeintes comme
avy earth moving work. Only when this
fattningar.
OUP de théâtre à
dramatiques. C'est ce que
S finished, were Western journalists
Bilden ovan är hämtad ur filmen "En dag i Ivan
C
vient de révéler avec de
propos du fa-
owed in to inspect the construction
meux gazoduc si-
nombreux détails l'Asso-
ies, the statement said.'
Denisovitjs liv", och har sålunda ingenting med den
bérien qui sème
ciation Internationale
uppseendeväckande rapporten att göra.
la discorde entre l'Europe
pour les Droits de
et les Etats-Unis : des di-
l'Homme basée à Franc-
Sid. 3
zaines de milliers de pri-
fort.
sonniers des goulags so-
Premiers destinataires de ces
viétiques y travailleraient
révélations deux des chefs
dans des conditions qui
Suite page 4
ACTIONS TAKEN
BY
OTHER GOVERNMENTS AND
INTERNATIONAL LABOR BODIES
The democratic trade union federation of France (FO)
requested that President Mitterand undertake an investigation
of the charges of forced labor being used on the export pipeline
in the USSR. President Mitterand responded positively to the
FO request. The Federal Republic of Germany also initiated an
inquiry, through its embassy in Moscow, to ascertain the facts,
to the degree possible, regarding Soviet labor practices on the
Siberian project.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(ICFTU), based in Brussels, formally requested that the
International Labor Organization (ILO) inquire directly of the
Soviets about those alleged labor practices which violate
various ILO Conventions, to which the USSR is a party. In
early September 1982, the ILO complied with the ICFTU request
and so notified the Soviet mission in Geneva. (The earliest
formal discussion of these charges against the USSR would take
place in March 1983 by the ILO Committee of Experts.)
Finally, the EC-10 Foreign Ministers discussed the forced
labor allegations at their October 13 plenary in Strasbourg.
719A
UNCLASSIFIED
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. 20505
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM
SUMMARY
Forced labor is at the core of the Soviet penal system and we currently
estimate that it encompasses some 4 million Soviet citizens in its ranks, at
least half of whom are incarcerated in over a thousand heavily-secured forced
labor camps scattered throughout the USSR. Most of the remainder are parolees
and probationers--unconfined in the strictest sense, but forced to work,
usually at construction projects far from their homes. Recent trends indicate
an increase in unconfined forced laborers while the number of confined
prisoners remains about the same as during the last decade. (U)
Unconfined forced laborers are sentenced (in the case of probationers) or
are released (parolees) to perform mostly low skill labor on large
construction projects, often in remote regions where labor is scarce and
incentives for attracting and keeping free laborers are expensive. Thousands
of these unconfined forced laborers, for example, were used on construction of
the huge Kama River truck plant (the world's largest) and the Baykal-Amur
Mainline (BAM) railroad. Recent evidence--including reports from the
International Society for Human Rights--confirms the present use of parolees
and probationers on large domestic pipelines, in particular for construction
of compressor stations. (U)
Because of the use of forced laborers in the past and because of current
labor shortages in the USSR, it is likely that forced laborers will be used on
almost any large construction project in the USSR, including pipelines such as
the West Siberia-to-Europe natural gas export line. In addition, because of
their widespread distribution, forced labor camps can be found near most major
construction projects or pipeline routes. For 'example, 90 to 100 camps are
close to the proposed route of the export pipeline (see Map 1). Heavily
secured prisoners could be tapped for work because of their proximity, even
though the problems of controlling and guarding them would be difficult and
there is little historical precedent for their use. The International Society
for Humar Rights alleges that this is so, but we cannot independently confirm
their reports. (U)
While large-scale use of forced laborers on the export pipeline is
unlikely because many of the jobs require special skills, some forced labor
will probably be used unless the Soviets depart from their usual practice
because of the exposure the issue has received in the Western media. If
historical precedent is followed, the unskilled forced laborers will be used
in construction of compressor stations and auxillary buildings--most of which
are in an early stage of construction. Recent estimates by the International
Society for Human Rights that 100,000 forced laborers are being used to
construct the pipeline are exaggerated in view of the limited numbers of
unskilled workers required for such tasks. (U)
GI M 82-10241
November 1982
UNCLASSIFIED
33
UNCLASSIFIED
THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM
Contents
Page
Preface
i
The Soviet Forced Labor System
1
How Many Forced Laborers?
2
Forced Labor With Confinement
3
Payment of Prisoners
4
Incentives and Penalties
5
Working Conditions
6
Forced Labor Without confinement
6
Role of Forced Labor in the Economy
10
Construction
10
Pipeline Construction
12
Siberian Gas Export Pipeline
12
Manufacturing
13
Logging and Other Activities
13
Appendix
1. Crime and Sentencing
2. Regimes in Effect in Correctional Labor Facilities
3. Types of Prisons
4. Eligibility for Parole
Maps
1. Soviet Union: Forced Labor Camps and Selected Pipelines
2. Soviet Union: Economic Utilization of Prisoners
Figure 1
Sketch of Typical Corrective (Forced) Labor Camp
UNCLASSIFIED
34
UNCLASSIFIED
PREFACE
To enable observers of the Soviet Union to better assess the reports of
use of forced labor in the USSR, especially reports of its use on the gas
export pipeline to Western Europe, this study has been prepared on the overall
system of forced labor in the Soviet Union. Various aspects of the system as
outlined in Soviet official documents, such as the The Russian Soviet
Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR) Criminal Code, are examined in the light
the accounts by former prisoners and other emigres that have been published in
Western news media about the realities of the system. The report has been
prepared from a broad array of documents, scholarly studies, and other source
materials relating to the subject of the Soviet penal system in general and
forced labor in particular.
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM
The Soviet penal system is remarkable for its huge size and its
systematic employment of labor. The labor camps so vividly described by
Solzhenitsyn are only one element of a system that also includes prisons as
well as a growing cadre of forced labor without confinement. The Soviets have
an ideological commitment to the rehabilitative role of labor in the social
adjustment of the individual, and accordingly refer to the forced labor camps
as "correctional" labor colonies.*
Correctional labor colonies were first established in 1919 on the
Solovetskiy Islands in the White Sea, but until Stalin assumed power the
system grew rather slowly. Stalin's forced labor system reached a peak of
perhaps 15 million persons in 1947. After Stalin's death liberal reforms
reduced the camp population, and in 1957 P.I. Kudryavtsev, Deputy Procurator
General of the Soviet Union, asserted that the number had been reduced to
about 800,000 to 900,000, 1 to 2 percent politicals. Toward the end of the
Khrushchev era, criminal penalties were toughened, and the camp system began
to expand again. Although many of the old camps in Siberia and the Far East
were abandoned, others were built closer to population centers.
In addition, an extensive system of forced labor without confinement had
its inception in the early 1960s and has grown rapidly in scope since then;
the number of non-confined forced laborers now more than equals the number of
those confined, and it is continuing to rise. Given the worsening labor
shortage in parts of the Soviet Union, this relatively efficient, flexible
method of deriving some economic benefit from an increasing crime rate is
*The term forced labor camps is used in this report as a general appellation
for correctional labor colonies, educational labor colonies, and correctional
labor colony settlements; the specific terms will be used when particular
types of facilities are being discussed.
UNCLASSIFIED
36
UNCLASSIFIED
likely to continue to grow.
In the Soviet Union nine out of every 10 persons convicted of crimes (see
Appendix 1) more serious than misdemeanors receive sentences that include
forced labor. About half of these sentences also include confinement.
Although approximately half of all criminals sentenced to confinement are
paroled from confinement, they continue in the forced labor system until they
finish their terms.
How Many Forced Laborers?
We currently estimate that some 4 million Soviet citizens--about 1.5
percent of the population--are now serving sentences of forced labor.
-- About 2 million of these are confined, 85 percent in forced labor
camps-of which there are over 1,100--and the remainder in prisons.
-- Approximately 1.5 million, convicted of crimes for which they could
have received sentences of confinement, have been sentenced instead to
probation with "compulsory involvement in labor." Most of them are
working at construction jobs far from their homes.
-- About 500,000 have been paroled from confinement but remain obligated
to perform forced labor for the remainder of their terms. Many of
them also are working at construction sites.
-- In addition an undetermined number are sentenced to "correctional
tasks" without confinement; they are working at their own jobs for
reduced pay or in more menial jobs for low pay while continuing to
live at home.
Among these forced laborers are dissidents (political prisoners) whose
numbers may reach as high as 10,000, the figure claimed by Sakharov and
Amnesty International. A former Soviet official reports that Ministry of
2
UNCLASSIFIED
37
UNCLASSIFIED
Internal Affairs (MVD) records listed 10,358 political prisoners at the
beginning of 1977. Aleksandr Ginsburg, a prominent political dissident,
estimated that there were 5,000 political prisoners in 1979.
Forced Labor With Confinement
The Correctional Labor Code of the RSFSR establishes four basic types of
confinement facilities: correctional labor colonies, educational labor
colonies (for juveniles), colony settlements, and prisons. Each type of
facility is differentiated by the amount of freedom and privileges granted to
the prisoners; the degree of supervision, regimentation, and restraint to
which they are subjected; the difficulty of their labor; and the conditions
under which they must live and work. The regimes (see Appendix 2) in effect
at prisons are the most harsh; the ones in effect at correctional labor
colonies and educational labor colonies somewhat less harsh; and the regime at
colony settlements is the mildest in the system.
The gravity of the offender's crime and whether or not he is a recidivist
determines in which of the following facilities incarceration will occur.
Correctional labor colonies constitute the bulk of the traditional
Soviet confinement system where convicts are closely guarded,
supervised, and regimented. Labor colonies are enclosed by as many as
six or seven fences and walls with towers on each corner manned by
armed guards (Figure 1). A typical one-story wooden barracks houses a
detachment of 140 to 160 prisoners divided into two sections. The
legal minimum living area per prisoner (2.0 square meters in prisons;
2.5 square meters in camps) is not much larger than an American-style
twin bed.
3
UNCLASSIFIED
38
UNCLASSIFIED
Educational labor colonies are correctional institutions for juvenile
criminals aged 14 through 17. Inmates of educational labor colonies
are usually transferred to correctional labor colonies when they reach
age 18. Those who have less than two years of a sentence remaining
and who seem well on the way to rehabilitation however, may be allowed
to remain at the educational labor colony.
Correctional labor colony settlements are milder forms of confinement
that were introduced in 1977. Often referred to by prisoners as the
"fifth regime", these colony settlements are located in areas where
new industries are being built and at other construction sites. Many
regular camps--especially in Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Far East, and
the Far North-have associated colony settlements. Colony settlements
are the least onerous facilities in the penal system and the only ones
in which the sexes are not segregated. For instance, prisoners must
observe a curfew and perform the labor designated for them, but they
may wear ordinary clothing, and few restrictions are placed on their
private behavior or their privileges.
Soviet prisons are urban facilities, most of which have been expanded
and reconstructed since Czarist times, and present the harshest
confinement in the system. All major cities have at least one large
prison. Major prisons number about 300 and house some 300,000 inmates
at any one time. Prisons are differentiated by primary function; four
types may be distinguished: penitentiaries, transit prisons,
investigatory prisons and psychiatric prisons (see Appendix 3).
Payment of Prisoners
Soviet law stipulates that inmates in prisons and labor colonies are to
be paid at least the minimum wage for their work. Since inmates are not
4
UNCLASSIFIED
39
UNCLASSIFIED
permitted to keep money in their possession (a rule constantly abused), wages
are credited to the prisoners' accounts. Theoretically, after deductions for
their upkeep have been made, the balance is credited to their accounts and
paid to them when they depart; however, many prisoners reportedly have no
money when they are released.
Prisoners are allowed as much as 5 rubles monthly in credit at the prison
or colony commissary on what are termed "food items and basic necessities."
Soap, tooth powder, envelopes, postage stamps, tobacco, cigarettes, black
bread, margarine, candy, jam and canned fish are typical commissary items, but
reportedly many of these are frequently unavailable. There are no
restrictions placed on the amount of money a prisoner may spend on books,
educational supplies, and stationery. The number of letters prisoners may
send and receive and the number of packages and parcels they may receive are
closely regulated.
Incentives and Penalties
The Correctional Labor Code specifies incentives that "may be employed to
encourage convicts' good behavior and honest attitude toward work and
training." These incentives include the granting of additional privileges--
perhaps permission to spend an extra couple of rubles in the commissary. More
significant measures entail transfer of prison inmates to labor colonies, or
transfer of inmates of labor colonies of other than special regime to colony
settlements. Such transfers may not take place until at least half the
sentence has been served.
The Correctional Labor Code also specifies penalties that "may be applied
to convicts for violating the requirements of the regime." Not surprisingly,
most of the penalties are mirror images of the incentives: a warning or
reprimand, withdrawal of privileges, and transfer to harsher confinement
5
UNCLASSIFIED
40
UNCLASSIFIED
conditions. For major infractions, inmates of both labor camps and prisons
may be put in "punitive isolation." First offenders are sentenced for as long
as 15 days to a punishment isolation cell, better known as the shizo, or
cooler.
Working Conditions
The RSFSR Correctional Labor Code provides guidelines on the general work
conditions of prisoners, while specific conditions are established by the
prison and colony administrators. Work is compulsory, and those who do not
work receive a reduced food ration and no pay. Inmates are required to work
eight hours per day, six days a week. Prisoners who must travel to work
sites, such as those in logging or construction areas, "donate" this extra
time to the state. Most camps work two shifts, from 0800 to 1700 and from
1700 to 0100.
According to many former prisoners from many different camps, violations
of good safety and health practices are common throughout the system, even
though the Correctional Labor Code stipulates that "convicts' work is
organized so as to observe labor protection rules and industrial safety
measures as established by labor law." At a sawmilling camp in Riga, for
example, serious accidents were reported to occur frequently. Prisoners in
this camp work without helmets, gloves, or safety goggles.
Forced Labor Without Confinement
Persons sentenced to forced labor without confinement fall in two
categories: those assigned to correctional tasks without confinement, an
administrative penalty that amounts to little more than a fine, and those
sentenced to correctional labor without confinement. The latter comprises two
6
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
sub-categories: parolees (also known as khimiki*) and probationers with
compulsory labor.
The penalty of correctional tasks without confinement is meted out to
offenders whose crimes are deemed not serious enough to justify sentences of
confinement. The compulsory tasks may be performed either at the offender's
regular workplace or at some other nearby place so that he may continue to
live at home. The offender's pay is docked as much as 20 percent, and the
time spent performing correctional tasks (maximum sentence: one year) may not
count towards his job seniority. The number of Soviet citizens who receive
such sentences annually is difficult to estimate but could number about a half
million, judging from fragmentary information.
In 1964 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decreed that certain prisoners
then under confinement could be released--in effect, paroled--from penal
institutions and sent to construction sites to work out the balance of their
sentences without confinement. Article 44 of the Criminal Code was amended to
establish eligibility requirements for this program. Those not eligible
include prisoners undergoing compulsory treatment for alcoholism, drug
addiction, or venereal disease; foreign prisoners, and prisoners "who
systematically or maliciously" violate the terms of their confinement. All
others were eligible--those confined for the most serious offenses
(intentional homicide, crimes against the state) after serving three-quarters
of their time, and those serving for lesser offenses after lesser amounts of
time (See Appendix 4).
*When the parole program started, most parolees were sent to
construction sites of the chemical industry, which was then
undergoing a major expansion. The prisoners therefore referred
to the program as khimiya--chemistry--and to the parolees (and,
later, also to the probationers) as khimiki--chemists. The term
khimiya remains in use to this day.
7
UNCI ASSIFIED
42
UNCLASSIFIED
The MVD serves as a clearing house-a kind of employment agency-keeping
track on the one hand of requests from other ministries for forced laborers,
and on the other of eligible prisoners who might be paroled to fulfill these
requirements. Periodically (perhaps two or three times a year), groups of
eligible prisoners are freed from confinement in what are called "amnesties"
and sent in guarded batches to the forced labor sites. Until recently,
prisoners convicted of especially dangerous crimes against the state had
little chance of being granted parole. However, demands for forced laborers
have become so insistent that even some political prisoners are being allowed
to take part in the program. Overall, roughly one-half of all persons under
confinement are now being paroled before the end of their terms and are
serving an average of two years at compulsory labor without confinement.
Approximately 500,000 parolees are currently performing forced labor under
this system.
In 1970, another decree of the Supreme Soviet authorized courts to issue
sentences of "probation with compulsory labor" as an alternative to
"confinement with compulsory involvement in labor." In such sentences, the
confinement portion is suspended but the labor portion remains. The new
decree greatly widened the scope of the program of forced labor without
confinement, for now the entire sentence could be so served. The stated
intent of the decree was to allow courts more latitude in determining the
sentence when they decided that an offender could be reformed without
confinement. Perhaps not coincidentally, however, treating offenders in this
way permits the state to extract maximum economic benefit from their labor at
minimum cost.
Estimating the number of persons serving sentences of probation with
compulsory involvement in labor is difficult. In 1973 the Chief Justice of
8
UNCI ASSIFIED
43
UNCLASSIFIED
the Lithuania Supreme Court commented that nearly 20 percent of the court
sentences issued in Lithuania fell into this category and that this percentage
was rising. A Ukrainian court lawyer until 1979 estimated at least 30 percent
of all criminal court cases received sentences to compulsory labor. Recent
information suggests that this has risen to about half of current sentences.
Assuming this is correct, and that the average sentence is 3 to 4 years, there
are now 1.4 million to 1.8 million persons on probation with compulsory
involvement in labor.
Persons sentenced to correctional tasks without confinement never leave
home and suffer minimal disruption in their lives, but the parolees and
probationers sentenced to correctional labor without confinement may be sent
to large construction sites far from their homes. When assigned to work
outside their immediate home areas, parolees are usually transported to their
assigned work sites in guarded groups on trains, and if they travel long
distances, they spend several periods in transit prisons en route.
Probationers are usually permitted to make their own travel arrangements and
travel to their assigned work sites unescorted.
At the work sites the forced laborers live in barracks similar to those
in correctional labor colonies. The facilities are not guarded, but the
convicts must observe a daily curfew, normally at 2200 hours. As a rule a
laborer's special skills will be utilized as much as possible at the work
site, but there are reports that some laborers are required to perform heavy
manual labor regardless of their skills. They are paid the Soviet minimum
wage for such labor and after paying for room and board (no more than 50
percent) are allowed to keep or spend the rest of their money as they wish.
They are permitted to eat wherever they wish. It is not unusual for such
convicts, especially probationers, to be granted permission to leave the work
9
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
44
site to visit relatives, conduct personal business, or even to take vacations.
The time spent at forced labor without confinement counts toward
fulfillment of the confinement sentence at the rate of one day for one day.
But if the parolee or probationer violates the terms of his sentence or
commits a new crime at his work site, he is sent back to the penal institution
from whence he came (or would have gone, in the case of a probationer) and
forfeits all of the time spent outside confinement. Authorities apparently
try to avoid applying this drastic punishment to convicts nearing the ends of
their sentences.
Role of Forced Labor in the Economy
Forced laborers engage in nearly all forms of economic activity. They
constitute about 3 percent of the total Soviet labor force, which now is
estimated at 147 million. In the 1980s, labor force growth will be less than
half of what it was in the 1970s. Forced labor is thus likely to become a
more important means of relieving serious manpower shortages, particularly in
inhospitable areas, and there is likely to be much greater use of forced
laborers who are not confined. Unconfined forced labor provides a flexible
and inexpensive source of labor for hazardous or unhealthy duty or for work in
remote locations.
Most inmates of prisons, correctional labor colonies, and colony
settlements work full time in a broad variety of economic activities,
including manufacturing, construction, logging and wood processing, mining,
producing building materials, and agriculture (Map 2).
Construction. Under Stalin, forced labor was used heavily in the
development of remote areas of the Far North, Siberia, and the Far East.
Cities such as as Noril'sk, Vorkuta, Magnitogorsk, and Magadan were built
10
UNCLASSIFIED
45
UNCLASSIFIED
largely by forced labor. Major construction projects such as the Baltic-White
Sea and Volga-Don Canals, as well as parts of the Trans-Siberian and Kotlas-
Vorkuta Railroads, relied heavily upon forced labor.
In recent years, more than 100 camps, or approximately 10 percent of the
total, have been associated with construction activities. Construction camps
are scattered throughout the USSR, most of them in or near cities. The
heaviest concentrations are in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The inmates
usually work at sites throughout the cities in which the camps are located;
hence they are more visible to the general populace than those in other kinds
of camps. One source reported watching 40 trucks, each loaded with 40
prisoners, drive off daily from the labor colony at Nizhnekamsk to nearby
sites where a petrochemical complex, a large automotive repair facility, and a
concrete products plant were under construction. In many large cities
apartment houses, hotels, hospitals, government office buildings, and the like
have been built by convict labor.
The practice of using forced labor for the clearing and construction work
for entire new towns continues. Examples include Shevchenko, a showplace city
on the Caspian Sea containing a nuclear-powered desalination plant, and Navoi,
a petrochemical city in Central Asia near a large deposit of natural gas.
Both cities still contain major concentrations of forced labor.
Forced laborers on probation or parole from confinement are being
employed at a multitude of major construction projects throughout the
country. Especially large concentrations of them, numbering in the thousands,
have been used in construction of the huge Kama River truck plant (the world's
largest) and the Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad. Parolees and
probationers are also employed in industrial production and other economic
activities, including pipeline construction.
11
UNCLASSIFIED
46
UNCLASSIFIED
Pipeline Construction. Forced labor has been used as an integral part of
pipeline construction work crews in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the central
RSFSR. The forced laborers in pipeline construction have come largely from
parolees and probationers, and have been used in unskilled jobs such as
clearing forests, draining swamps, and preparing roads. Forced labor crews
are usually removed before skilled workers arrive, minimizing contact between
the groups. In some areas, however, unconfined forced laborers have worked
directly with free workers doing low-skilled jobs. Parolees are usually
released to a specific work site, for example, a construction site for a
compressor station, where they must remain until completion of their
assignment. They often live in trailers or barracks similar to those of other
workers. If local labor is not available, construction authorities may appeal
to the oblast executive committee and the local organs of the MVD to assign
paroled prisoners to a work site. Paroled prisoners and probationers are not
generally employed in laying pipe, which requires mobile crews. They
reportedly are used in the construction and repair of gas compressor stations,
service roads, and workers' housing. Many of these unconfined forced laborers
are young people who have been convicted of petty crimes and are serving
relatively light sentences.
Siberian Gas Export Pipeline
In view of the past use of unconfined forced laborers and the current
shortage of labor, it seems that some forced labor would be used along the
export pipeline route for compressor station and auxiliary construction unless
the Soviets depart from their usual practice because of the exposure in the
Western media. There are about 100 heavily secured forced labor camps close
to the proposed route, all of which existed before the start of construction
of the export pipeline. Prisoners in the camps are engaged in a variety of
12
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
activities, but they could be tapped for pipeline construction work if
needed. However, it is more likely that forced laborers will come from the
ranks of parolees and probationers.
Manufacturing. Well over half of the USSR's forced labor camps and
numerous large prisons contain some type of manufacturing facility. These
institutions associated with manufacturing are most heavily concentrated in
the western USSR, especially in the Ukraine. Industrial camps tend to be
larger and more complex than the other types, and there is a great diversity
of manufacturing activities, for example:
-- 17 camps in the Mordovskaya ASSR Complex produce a variety of
manufactures including metal products, clothing, clocks, automotive
parts, furniture, and souvenirs;
- 12 Latvian camps produce metal goods, wooden furniture and souvenirs,
clothing, footwear, and electrical equipment;
-- eight camps in Lithuania produce electrical sockets and plugs, home
appliances, clothing, plastic and rubber products, and furniture;
-- in a Siberian camp near Ulan-Ude, 1,500 prisoners produce furniture,
glass, and clothing.
Typically, the prisoner work force at a manufacturing camp is
supplemented by free laborers, some of them former prisoners, who may account
for as much as 15 percent of the total. Most of this latter group serve as
foremen, technicians, engineers, and quality control experts.
Logging and Other Activities. About 350 camps are engaged in logging,
sawmilling, and related activities. These operations are concentrated in the
Urals, the Northwest, the Volga-Wyatka, and the Siberian economic regions.
Most logging camps are by nature temporary and crude in construction; they are
abandoned as surrounding areas are depleted of trees. In the past, abandoned
13
UNCLASSIFIED
48
UNCLASSIFIED
logging camps were usually replaced by new ones elsewhere. Now, however, the
use of forced labor in logging and wood processing seems to be declining, and
relatively few new camps of this type are being constructed.
Approximately 50 camps are associated with mineral extraction, far fewer
than in former years when forced labor was extensively used in mining,
especially in the Kolyma Basin, where gold mining and some lead and coal
mining were carried on by prisoners. Coal mining was also pursued in
Kazakhstan and in the Russian North at Vorkuta and on Novaya Zemlya. Today
coal is still mined by forced laborers at Vorkuta and Karaganda as is uranium
at Zheltyye Vody in the Ukraine, gold at Zarafshan in Central Asia, iron ore
at Rudnyy, and bauxite at Arkalyk--the last two in Kazakhstan. At Vasalemma,
Estonia, prisoners work a large limestone deposit.
Camps producing construction materials have in recent years increased
slightly, to about 60, and are scattered throughout the USSR. Camps in this
category engage primarily in producing bricks and blocks used in the
construction industry.
Agricultural camps number about 20 and play a small and decreasing role
in the Soviet forced labor system. Conditions in agricultural camps are less
severe than in other camps: the work is less strenuous, and agricultural
camps are located in more hospitable regions of the USSR, such as the North
Caucasus.
UNCLASSIFIED
49
UNCLASSIFIED
APPENDIX 1
Crime and Sentencing
Crime is a major problem in the Soviet Union, and it appears to be
getting worse. These conclusions are supported by many sources--diplomats,
businessmen, tourists, emigre accounts published in the West, and even Soviet
journals and news media. The most prevalent crimes are hooliganism and theft
of state and personal property. Juvenile crime is reaching serious
proportions. Alcoholism has reached epidemic proportions and is blamed for
much crime, especially the violent forms. The murder rate (in 1976, 6 per
100,000 people) is below that in the US, but much higher than in Western
Europe. The crime rate is generally higher in urban areas than in rural
areas, with the exception of several of the largest cities such as Moscow and
Leningrad, where ex-convicts are denied residence permits. It is highest of
all in the remote cities of Siberia and the Far North, where many convicts
have been forced to resettle after completing terms of forced labor.
Crimes that are categorized as "especially dangerous crimes against the
state" are considered among the most serious in the USSR; they include
treason, terrorism, sabotage, and anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda--the
last an offense with which political dissidents are often charged. Persons
convicted of such crimes receive some of the harshest punishment the penal
system offers. Legal punishments range from a public expression of censure or
a small fine to death by shooting. The death penalty is authorized for some
25 crimes, including a number of economic offenses. Several hundred
executions are carried out annually.
Some of the most comprehensive data were provided by a former official of
15
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
50
the Procurator's office in Moscow who has published in the West what appear to
be official records on criminal convictions in the USSR: in 1976, Soviet
courts sentenced 976,000 persons for serious crimes, and another 1,684,355
lesser crimes and misdemeaners were handled administratively or by comrades
courts (see table below).
16
UNCLASSIFIED
51
UNCLASSIFIED
TABLE
USSR Criminal Convictions, 1976
Serious Crimes - Tried by Peoples' Courts No. Sentenced
Percent
Hooliganism
235,215
24.1
Crimes against persons
168,013
17.2
Theft of state and public property
156,451
16.0
Crimes against personal property
151,934
15.6
Motor vehicle crimes
97,388
10.0
Economic crimes
43,653
4.5
Crimes against administrative order
38,445
3.9
Malfeasance in office
37,669
3.9
Crimes against justice
13,892
1.4
Other serious crimes
33,430
3.4
Total serious crimes
976,090
100.0
Minor Crimes (petty larceny, moonshining, poaching,
petty hooliganism, and others)
Handled administratively
879,265
Reviewed by comrades' courts
805,070
Total minor crimes
1,684,335
TOTAL CRIMES
2,660,425
Source: The official described in the previous paragraph.
17
UNCLASSIFIED
51
UNCLASSIFIED
APPENDIX 2
Regimes in Effect in Labor Colonies and Prisons
Correctional Labor Colonies
Correctional labor colonies are by far the dominant form of incarceration
in the USSR. Four confinement regimes are in effect at correctional labor
colonies; in order of increasing severity they are defined as the general,
intensified, strict, and special regimes.
-- general regime: for adult male first offenders who have been
sentenced to confinement for three years or less for premeditated
felonies or for more than five years for crimes of negligence; and for
all adult female offenders except especially dangerous recidivists,
women whose death sentences have been commuted, and those who have
committed especially dangerous crimes against the state;
- intensified regime: for adult male first offenders who have been
sentenced to terms of confinement for more than three years for
premeditated felonies;
-- strict regime: for men and women who have committed especially
dangerous crimes against the state, men who have previously served
sentences of confinement (recidivists), especially dangerous female
recidivists, and women whose death sentences have been commuted;
-- special regime: for especially dangerous male recidivists and men
whose death sentences have been commuted.
UNCLASSIFIED
53
UNCLASSIFIED
Educational Labor Colonies
These colonies are correctional institutions for juvenile criminals aged
14 through 17. Only two regimes are in effect.
-- general regime: for male first offenders who have been sentenced to
confinement for three years or less and all females;
-- intensified regime: for males who have previously served sentences of
confinement and first offenders who have been sentenced to confinement
for more than three years.
Prisons
Persons temporarily confined in investigatory and transit prisons live
under a light regime akin to the mildest of the regimes in effect at
correctional labor colonies. But criminals serving sentences of confinement
in penitentiaries live under much harsher conditions.
-- general regime: inmates live in communal cells from which they are
released only to work or to exercise outside, the latter activity
limited to one hour a day. Privileges are very limited.
-- strict regime: inmates also live in communal cells (in special cases,
in individual cells), but their privileges are more restricted than
under general regime. Prisoners under the strict regime are kept
separate from prisoners under general regime.
19
UNCLASSIFIED
54
UNCLASSIFIED
APPENDIX 3
Types of Prisons
Prisons in the Soviet Union are differentiated by primary function; four
types may be distinguished:
-- Penitentiaries serve primarily as places of incarceration for
criminals and political prisoners specifically sentenced to terms of
confinement in prison--an exceptional punishment which may be assigned
by the courts only to persons convicted of especially dangerous crimes
against the state or certain other grave crimes, and to persons
serving in correctional labor colonies who maliciously violate camp
rules. Examples of such prisons are the ones at Vladimir and
Chistopol', both associated with male political prisoners. The
central prison for women is in Minsk. Prisoners are required to
perform labor full time in industrial facilities in the prison
complex.
-- Transit prisons where prisoners are organized into groups for shipment
to their destinations are located at regional transportation hubs such
as Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. The Correctional Labor Code
limits to 10 days the time a person sentenced to forced labor without
confinement or to exile may be held in any transit prison, but a trip
from the European USSR to the remote regions of Siberia or the Far
East may entail several sojourns in transit prisons. According to
some former prisoners the huge facility at Sverdlovsk (which is also a
penitentiary) can hold thousands of prisoners when, as is common, it
is filled beyond legal capacity.
20
UNCLASSIFIED
55
UNCLASSIFIED
-- Investigatory prisons are used to incarcerate suspects awaiting trial
on serious charges and other persons already sentenced to confinement
in correctional labor colonies who are needed to testify as witnesses
at upcoming trials. Lefortovo Prison in Moscow is an example of such
a prison; the regime in an investigatory prison is less harsh than
that at other prisons.
-- Psychiatric prisons, otherwise known as "special psychiatric
hospitals" (SPHs), are used to hold and treat persons who have been
declared criminally insane. (They are to be distinguished from
"ordinary psychiatric hospitals"--OPHs--run by the Ministry of
Health.) Some SPHS have been repeatedly associated with maltreatment
of dissidents.
21
UNCLASSIFIED
56
UNCLASSIFIED
APPENDIX 4
Eligibility for Parole
In 1964 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decreed that certain prisoners
then under confinement could be released--in effect, paroled--from penal
institutions and sent to construction sites to work out the balance of their
sentences without confinement. Article 44 of the Criminal Code was amended to
establish eligibility requirements for this program.
-- Not eligible: prisoners undergoing compulsory treatment for
alcoholism, drug addiction, or venereal disease; foreign prisoners,
and prisoners "who systematically or maliciously" violate the terms of
their confinement.
-- Eligible after serving three-quarters of the confinement sentence:
especially dangerous recidivists; prisoners convicted of especially
dangerous crimes against the state; prisoners convicted of intentional
homicide under aggravating circumstances; prisoners whose death
sentences have been commuted.
-- Eligible after serving two-thirds of their confinement sentences:
prisoners convicted of certain serious crimes (especially if committed
under aggravating circumstances) including counterfeiting, currency
speculation, embezzlement, taking or giving bribes, banditry, robbery,
endangering the life of a policeman, disrupting a penal institution,
hijacking, rape, drug trafficking, and particularly malicious
hooliganism.
-- Eligible after serving half of their sentences: prisoners, other than
those listed above, sentenced to confinement for more than 10 years.
22
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
57
-- Eligible after serving one-third of their sentences: prisoners, other
than those listed above sentenced to confinement for not more than 10
years.
23
UNCLASSIFIED
The
has
not
the
the
ARCTIC OCEAN
Murmansk
Kaliningrad
Tallinn
Riga
Visnius
Daugavpils
Pskov
Lening ad
Petrozavodak
Novgared
Arkhangel'sk
inve
Minsk
Vitebsk
Rovno
Teroopol
Magiley
Gomel
Smolewsk
Vinnitsa
Rybinsk
Vologda
Klev.
Vorkuta*,
*Ukhta
Kaluga
Bryans
Mescow
Kostroma
Susuman
Kishinev
Tula
añovo
Syktyvkar
"Noril'sk
Oxel
Vladimir
Magadan.
Odessa
Poltaya
Kursk
Lipetsk
Kirov
Kherson
Khar'kov
Pot'mp'
Petropavlovsk
Dnepropetroysk
Voranazh
Cheboksar
Yoshkar Ola
Gas Export Line
Urengoy
Kamchatskiy.
Zaporozh'ye
Valuyki
Tamber
Saranska
gasfield
Kazan
"Simferopol"
Dongsk
**Izhevsk
Nlyanovsk
Yakutsk
Black
Saratov
Nizhni
Surgut
Krasnodar
Sverdlovsk
Volgogra
lifa
Stavropol'
Ural'sk,
Elista
Chelyabinsk
Sukhumi
"Orenburg
Magnitogorsk
urgan
Mal'chile
Astrakhan
Kustanay,
Ishonikidze
Aktyubinsk
Petropavlovsk
Tbilisi
Groznyy
Omsk
Gur'yev
Jomsk
Makhachkala
Kokchetav
Yerevan
Novosibirska
Kemerovo
Krasnoyarsky
Komsomol'
Sovetskaya
Carpon
Shevchenko
Gavan'
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Arkalykt
Tselinograd
Sea
Pavlodar
Barnaul
Khabarovsk
Baku
Blagoveshchensk
Karaganda
и
Chita
Irkuts
Semipalatinsk
Ulan-Ude
*Krashovodsk
Kyzyl
Ust'
Kzyl-Orda
Kamenogors
Tashaus
Vladivostok
Ashkhabad
Chimkent
Dzhambul
Bukhara
Navoi
Soviet Union
*Chardzhou
"Tashkent
Alma-Ata
Mary
Forced Labor Camps
*Karshi
Fergana"
and Selected Pipelines
Dushanbe
121,800,000
Gas
Oil
200
400 Kilometers
Wider lines represent multiple pipelines.
200
400 Miles
60
MAP 1
85
The United States Government has not recognized
the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuanis
into the Union. Boundary representation
is not necessarily authoritative.
Baltic
Belorussia
Northwest
Southwest
Moldavia
Central
South
Volga-Vyatka
Central
Donets-Dnepr
Chernozem
NV
Far East
West Siberia
North
Volga
East Siberia
Caucasus
Ural
Transcaucasus
Agriculture, 1% Unknown, 1%
Kazakhstan
Mining and
construction
materials
8%
Soviet Union
Economic Utilization of Prisoners
Construction
Central Asia
849
10%
Circles and segments indicate relative importance
Economic region boundary
200
400 Kilometers
Total U.S.S.R
0
200
400 Miles
Excluding colony settlements and all prisons except penitentiaries
504674 (543733) 8-81
MAP 2
I. Living Zone
A. Barracks
B. Mess Hall
C. Support buildings
D. Isolation building
E. Entrance control building
F
F. Latrines
I
G. Outdoor Lecture Area
II. Industrial Zone
G
E
II
and
This typical corrective (forced) labor camp
may house as many as 1,000 prisoners.
Security measures may include as many as
six or seven rows of fencing surrounding
the camp. Prisoners in large, diverse industrial camps
such as these may never leave the compound
during their confinement.
Figure 1
60
The United States Government has not recognize
180
the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
into the Soviet Union. Other boundary representa
is not necessarily authoritative.
Chukchi
Sea
NS
st
Siberian
Sea
180
Baltic
Sea
Kaliningrad
Tallinn
Riga
Vilnius
Leningrad
Daugavpils
Pskov
20
Indigirka
Novgorod
vov.
Minsk O
Vitebsk
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Yarosla
Kaluga
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Moscow
Kishinëv
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Iva
Orël
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Kursk
Ryazan'Oka
Odessa
Lipetsk
Petropavlovsk
00
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160
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Sea of
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40
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Vo
Nal'chik
Astrakhan
Central Asia Center
rdzhonikidze
Groznyy
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40
Tbilisi
Makhachkala
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Komsomol'sk
Yerevan
Sovetskaya
Caspian
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Sea
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lien any
of
Mary
Japan
1:21,800,000
0
200
400 Kilometers
140
0
200
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60
120
The
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and
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120
140
160
so
180
into
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MS
Sea
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OCEAN
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C
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Baltic
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180
Kaliningrad
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Riga
Kara Sea
Sea
Lake
A
Vilnius
Ladoga
Leningrad
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;
Vorkuta
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Moscow
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Kotlas
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Zaporozh'y
is
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Ullyanovsk
Sea
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Yakutsk
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Black
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R
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Orenburg
Magnitogorsk
(urgan
& Mal'chika
Astrakhang
Kustanay
Ordzhonikidze
Aktyubinsk
Petropavloysk
Dmsk
Tbilisi
Groznyy
Gur'yev.
Tomsk
Makhachkala
Kokchetav
Urals
Novosibirsk
Kemerovo
Yerevan
Krasnoyarski
Komsomol
sk
Caspian Shevchenko
Asia.
Sovetskaya
Central
Gavan'
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Arkalyk Tselinograd
Sea
Pavlodar
SRD
Barnaul
Khabarovsk,
Baku
Blagoveshchensk
Karaganda
Ob
Lake
Baikal
Chita
Aral Sea
Irkutsk
Semipalatinsk
Ulan-Ude
Krasnovodsk
Kyzyl
Ust'
2
Kzyl-Orda
Kamenogorsk
Tashaur
Lake Balkhash
Vladivostok
Ashkhabad
Chimkent
Dzhambul
Sea
Bukhara Navoi
Soviet Union
Chardzhou
Tashkent
Frunze
of
Alma-Ata
Mary
Dzhizak
Forced Labor Camps
5
"Karshi
Fergana*
and Selected Pipelines
Japan
Dushanbe
1:21,800,000
Gas
Oil
NW
?
200
400 Kilometers
Wider lines represent multiple pipelines.
140
200
400
Miles
120
MAP 1
The United States Government has not recognized
the of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
into the Union. Boundary
is not necessarily authoritative.
Baltic
Belorussia
Northwest
Southwest
Moldavia
OF
Central
South
Volga-Vyatka
Central
Donets-Dnepr
Chernozem
Far East
West Siberia
North
Volga
East Siberia
Caucasus
Ural
Transcaucasus
Agriculture, 1% Unknown, 1%
Kazakhstan
Mining and
construction
materials
9%
Logging
and wood
processing
Soviet Union
15%
Economic Utilization of Prisoners
Manufacturing
Construction
Central Asia
64%
10%
Circles and segments indicate relative importance
Economic region boundary
0
200
400 Kilometers
200
400 Miles
Total U.S.S.R
0
Excluding colony-settlements and all prisons except penitentiaries
504674 (543733) 8-81
MAP
I. Living Zone
A. Barracks
B. Mess Hall
C. Support buildings
D. Isolation building
E. Entrance control building
F
F. Latrines
I
G. Outdoor Lecture Area
II. Industrial Zone
D
B
G
E
II
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
This typical corrective (forced) labor camp
may house as many as 1,000 prisoners.
Security measures may include as many as
six or seven rows of fencing surrounding
the camp. Prisoners in large, diverse industrial camps
such as these may never leave the compound
during their confinement.
Figure
Historic Summan
U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of International Labor Affairs
64
DIPARTMENT
OF
Washington, D.C. 20210
LABOR
October, 1982
UNITED STATES OF DEPARTMENT
The International Labor Organization:
FORCED LABOR IN THE SOVIET UNION
For close to thirty years the Soviet Union has been under
more or less constant pressure from the International Labor
Organization (ILO) to bring its law and practice into line
with international treaties on forced labor. (See attached
chronology.) The ILO is the only UN agency with tripartite
representation (i.e., governments, workers and employers).
At times, ILO pressure has taken the form of outright cen-
sure of Soviet policies. Today, the primary points of con-
tention in the ILO are Soviet laws concerning persons
"leading a parasitic way of life" and those concerning mem-
bership on collective farms (kolkhoz). These laws are
viewed by the ILO as legislative mechanisms for sustaining
and legitimizing a system of forced or compulsory labor.
UN Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor
The first time forced labor in the Soviet Union was raised
as a serious issue came in 1948 when the AF of L proposed
that the ILO initiate a survey of forced labor in all member
countries. However, since the USSR had been expelled from
the ILO in December 1939 following its invasion of Finland,
but was a member of the fledgling UN, responsibility for the
survey was partly assumed by ECOSOC. The survey was finally
conducted in 1952 by an independent Commission of Inquiry
(appointed jointly by the ILO and ECOSOC), and completed in
1953.
Generally, the Commission found little evidence of forced
labor in non-communist countries. But the Commission left
no doubt that in both law and practice the Soviet Union
employs forced labor for the interests of the national eco-
nomy and as a means of political coercion:
"Given the general aims of Soviet penal legislation,
its definitions of crime in general and of political
offenses in particular, the restrictions it imposes on
the rights of the defense in cases involving political
offenses, the extensive powers of punishment it
accords to purely administrative authorities in
respect of persons considered to constitute a danger to
society, and the purpose of political re-education it
assigns to penalties of corrective labour served in
camps, in colonies, in exile and even at the normal
-2-
place of work, this legislation constitutes the basis
of a system of forced labor employed as a means of
political coercion or punishment for holding or
expressing political views and it is evident from the
many testimoniés examined by the Committee that this
legislation is in fact employed in such a way.
"Soviet legislation makes provision for various
measures which involve compulsion to work or place
restrictions on the freedom of employment; these
measures seem to be applied on a large scale in the
interests of the national economy, and considered as a
whole, they lead, in the Committee's view, to a system
of forced or compulsory labour constituting an impor-
tant element in the economy of the country."
(Italics added. Source: Report of the Ad Hoc
Committee on Forced Labour, Geneva (1953), p.98)
The report was adopted first by ECOSOC in 1954, and later by
the ILO in 1956, two years after the USSR renewed ILO mem-
bership. Needless to say, the Soviet bloc vehemently
opposed adoption of the Commission's conclusions. Perhaps in
an effort to strengthen its denial of the Commission's
conclusions, that same year (1956) the USSR ratified ILO
Convention 29 concerning Abolition of Forced Labor.
Convention 29 was formulated by the ILO in 1930, and is pri-
marily aimed at the abolition of forced labor in colonial
territories. (See attached summary of Convention 29 for
definition of forced labor.)
ILO Regular Supervision
While ratification may have been important to improve its
political image, this step brought the USSR under the pur-
view of ILO regular supervisory machinery. As a signatory,
the USSR became legally bound to report annually (now
biennially) on its implementation of Convention 29.
The ILO's regular supervisory process is composed of two
steps: the first is a legal review of government reports by a
19-member independent Committee of Experts (COE), the second
a more political review by a Conference Committee on the
Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CACR).
While the COE currently has two members from the Soviet bloc
(USSR and Poland), it has gained a solid reputation of
objectivity and impartiality which rests on the fact that
its members are highly.respected international lawyers and
jurists who, in theory, act independently of their govern-
ments.
-3-
Every year, in March, the COE issues an analysis of how well
member States are living up to their treaty obligations.
This report is then passed to the CACR which meets during,
and is part of, the annual ILO June Conference. Here,
governments are called on -- mainly by the workers and
employers groups -- to explain discrepancies between the
Convention and their law and practice. Depending on whether
or not the workers and employers groups are satisfied with
government explanations, the case can be "adjourned" until
the next review session or it can be highlighted in the
CACR's report on a so-called "special list."
ILO Censure of Soviet Forced Labor
Fifteen years after ratification, in 1971, the Committee of
Experts issued its first public report on the USSR's applica-
tion of Convention 29. Its report explained the ILO's long
silence: since 1962 the Experts had been sending direct
requests to the Soviet government for information on com-
pulsory labor of persons "evading socially useful work and
leading an anti-social, parasitic way of life." Since the
information received from the Soviet government had been
unsatisfactory, repeated requests were made over a period of
ten years.
Nevertheless, the 1971 report marked a renewed ILO interest
in public examination of Soviet forced labor policies.
While the Experts' report did not lead to a full-blown
discussion at the 1971 ILO Conference, in subsequent years
the ILO did highlight in the "special list" and "special
paragraphs" of the CACR report the continuing Soviet failure
to uphold Convention 29. Such censure of Soviet policies by
the ILO Conference is the most forceful means available to
the ILO to bring pressure to bear on the government.
In its 1971 report the Experts concluded that under a "Ukase"
(decree) of 1961, as amended in 1965 and again in 1970, com-
pulsory labor could be ordered by an administrative body (the
Executive Committee of a Soviet of Working People's
Deputies), non-compliance being punishable by imprisonment or
corrective labor. Since labor is exacted under a menace of
penalty, not performed voluntarily, the Experts view Soviet
law as contravening Convention 29.
The next year, in 1972 the COE noted that the new Labor Code
of the RSFSR adopted in 1971 no longer contained a provision
permitting the call-up.of labor for "carrying out important
state work." However, the Experts reiterated their call for
the abolition of compulsory labor involving so-called
"parasites."
-4-
In 1974, for the first time, no report had been received
from the Soviet government. Nevertheless, the COE issued a
report that took public issue with (a) the obligations
imposed on collective farms with regard to planning of agri-
cultural production, (b) the restrictions preventing ter-
mination of membership on a collective farm, and (c)
anti-parasite legislation.
What happened at the 1974 ILO Conference broke a long, tacit
moratorium on public denunciation of the Soviet Union. The
CACR, working from the Experts' report, formally took up the
issue of forced labor in the Soviet Union, resulting in a
protracted and heated debate. The Soviet government rep-
resentative adamantly refused to admit any of the Experts'
findings or to accept the need for any remedial action. In
an historic decision, the CACR decided by vote to impose the
most severe form of censure on the USSR for violating
Convention 29: criterion 7 of the "special list.
When the CACR report came up for adoption in the plenary
Conference, quorum was not reached, due primarily to a con-
figuration of political issues bringing together the Soviet
and Arab blocs. This lack of formal endorsement, however,
did not nullify or abort the supervisory process. The Soviet
government was still required to report the next year on its
progress toward upholding forced labor standards.
The ILO continued to apply pressure on the Soviet Union, par-
ticularly in 1976 and 1977 when the CACR criticized the USSR
in a special paragraph of its report for not respecting
Convention 29. In 1977 there was a repeat of the - 1974
events, with the CACR report not being adopted due to the
lack of a quorum.
Since 1977, the ILO has not formally censured the USSR on the
forced labor issue. But almost every year at the June
Conference the CACR continues to examine, question and probe
the Soviet delegation for admissions, concessions, promises.
Despite this pressure the Soviet response remains unsatisfactory.
1/ The "special list", developed in 1964, included seven
criteria, arranged into two separate groups. The first six
concerned the supply of reports and information to the
Experts and ILO Conference, not matters of substance. The
seventh criterion, listed under a separate heading
"Application of Ratified Conventions", was applied to
governments that had demonstrated a "continued failure to
implement fully the Conventions concerned." The "special
paragraph" was considered to be a somewhat less severe form
of censure. The "special list" system was revised in 1980.
-5-
Current Issues: Persons "Leading a Parasitic Way of Life"
The history of this aspect of the Soviet forced labor issue
has been marked by a total reluctance on the part of the
Soviet government to concede that its legislation infringes
Convention 29. When in 1975 earlier anti-parasite legisla-
tion was repealed, following pressure from the Experts and
Conference Committee, it was immediately replaced by Section
209 of the Penal Code of the RSFSR to which the COE has taken
exception ever since. Specifically, under current legisla-
tion a "parasite" is defined as someone living off unearned
income, unemployed, earning money through illegal means, or
evading socially useful labor.
In their current observations, the Experts cover familiar
ground: the Soviet government persistently claims that
Section 209, and Ordinances of 1973 and 1976 which also
define vagrancy, can be applied only to gamblers and
fortune-tellers. However, the Experts argue that these laws
do not specify "only" gamblers and fortune-tellers, and can
therefore be applied to any physically capable person who is
unemployed.
The use of Section 209 (whether actual or potential) is
viewed by the Experts as a means of directly or indirectly
compelling all citizens to work. The Experts argue that if
the Penal Code provision is indeed aimed at illegal income
from fortune-telling or gambling, then it should be amended
to reflect this fact.
The Conference Committee has often taken the issue one step
further, discussing how legislation has been applied in
practice. A frequent example submitted by the CACR is that
of dissidents who are fired, unable to find employment within
their allowed district of employment due to "troublemaker"
status, then arrested several months later for leading a
"parasitic way of life". The charge may involve imprison-
ment, exile, or detainment in a corrective labor camp. In
other words, CACR discussions lead one to the conclusion that
Soviet legislation on parasites plays a central role in admi-
nistrative control of dissidents and of those refused Soviet
exit permission.
Recently, in 1980 when the Soviet government was under
extreme pressure from the CACR, the Soviet representative
unexpectedly agreed that the legislation on parasitism should
be clarified, and he stated that new formulations could be
-6-
expected before the next Conference. Indeed, he claimed that
discussions and consultations with the ILO Secretariat were
already underway. However, subsequent Soviet positions at
the 1981 and 1982 Conferences revealed that no new legisla-
tion would be forthcoming.
Termination of membership on collective farms
Although the Soviet position has appeared to be somewhat less
rigid in regard to this issue, its implications in terms of
Soviet agriculture are far-reaching.
As in the case of "parasites", the Soviet legal position is
straightforward: members of a collective farm cannot pre-
sently leave it unless its management committee and general
meeting consent. This inhibition of freedom of movement is
tightened further by a requirement that collective farmers
cannot take up other employment unless they produce their
work books which must be maintained by the farm management.
This too is a restriction on the choice of work.
The CACR has frequently pointed out the problems with this
legislation. If management denies a request to leave the
farm or refuses to hand over the workbook, the worker is
either forced to stay on the farm or risk unemployment and
subsequent arrest for leading a "parasitic" way of life. The
ILO Experts have repeatedly asked the Soviet government to
amend its legislation so that workers on farms may terminate
their membership, or employment, by simply giving management
sufficient notice of their intention to leave.
Five times in recent years the Soviet government has promised
that the problem was being solved. In 1977 the government
stated that "measures (to) put the legislation formally into
line with (Convention 29)" would be taken "before the next
session of the Committee of Experts and maybe even earlier."
In 1978, the government indicated that "consultations which
were under way (with the ILO were) well advanced and that
it could be hoped that they would lead to a solution in the
near future. " Again in 1979, its report referred to these
consultations, prompting the COE to express hope that "the
government will soon be able to indicate the solution
adopted."
In 1980, the USSR representative claimed that his government
understood the COE's point of view, adding that:
"consultations were under way aiming not at the establishment
70
-7-
of the right to leave a collective farm but at clearly
spelling it out. It was therefore not a question of
substance but of formulation.' In other words, the Soviet
government appeared to be claiming that legislation already
granted the right to leave a collective farm, but just needed
to be further clarified.
Finally, in 1982 the Soviet government reiterated that con-
sultations are being held with the Soviet employer and trade
union organizations concerned. In addition, it pointed to a
decree adopted on March 4, 1982 concerning timely con-
sideration of a member's request to leave a farm as evidence
of Soviet compliance with Convention 29. However, a question
was raised by the US worker delegate about Order No. 597
adopted by the Central Committee of the Council of Ministers
on July 10, 1980 and which amended the model rules for
collective farms. This issue remains unresolved and further
discussion can be expected at the 1984 Conference.
Limitations on ILO Supervision of Soviet Forced Labor
The means available to the ILO to exert pressure on the
Soviet Union, despite the efforts noted above, is necessarily
limited. Convention 29 is by no means the only, or most
important treaty formulated by the ILO on forced labor.
Indeed, in 1957 the ILO adopted a Convention (No. 105 con-
cerning the abolition of forced labor) which is in many ways
more applicable to the modern state, and certainly more rele-
vant to the use of forced labor in the Soviet Union.
Convention 105 prohibits a government from employing forced
labor for purposes of: political coercion or discipline;
economic development; racial, social, national or religious
discrimination; labor discipline; or punishment for having
participated in strikes. This Convention, however, cannot be
applied to the USSR because the USSR it is not a signatory
state. Consequently, the ILO is only able to pursue the
issue of Soviet forced labor under the provisions of
Convention 29, which is not as relevant or powerful an
instrument as would be Convention 105.
CHRONOLOGY
1940
USSR no longer an ILO member. Expelled from
ILO in December 1939 following its invasion
of Finland.
1948
AF of L proposes survey of forced labor.
1952
Joint ILO and ECOSOC Committee conducts survey
on forced labor (UN Ad Hoc Committee on Forced
Labor).
1953
ECOSOC approves forced labor survey.
1954
USSR rejoins ILO.
1956
ILO approves forced labor survey.
USSR ratifies ILO Convention 29 concerning
abolition of forced labor.
1962-
1970
ILO Committee of Experts (COE) requests infor-
mation from Soviet government on its application
of Convention 29.
1971
COE's first report on Soviet adherence to
Convention 29.
1974
ILO Conference Committee on the Application of
Conventions and Recommendations (CACR) censures
Soviet Union for non-compliance with Convention
29 under criterion 7 of the "special list";
report not adopted by the Conference.
1976
CACR highlights Soviet failure to adhere to
Convention 29 in a special paragraph of its
report; report is adopted by the Conference.
1977
CACR again highlights Soviet Union in a special
paragraph of its report; report is not adopted
by the Conference.
72
ILO CONVENTION NO. 29
Convention Concerning Forced or
Compulsory Labor, 1930
Convention 29 defines "forced or compulsory labor" as "all work or service
which is exacted from any person under the menace of penalty and for which the
said person has not offered himself voluntarily." States which ratify
Convention 29 undertake to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labor in
all its forms, and within the shortest possible period.
The Convention specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor imposed for
the benefit of private individuals, companies or associations, exacted as a
tax, or used to punish a community for crimes committeed by any of its mem-
bers. Convention 29 also requires the abolition of forced labor for the
transport of persons or goods (e.g. porters and boatmen) and for work
underground in mines. Compulsory cultivation may only be authorized as a
precaution against famine or deficiency of food supplies, and only under the
conditions that the produce remains the property of those producing it.
Five kinds of work or service are exempted from the Convention's definition of
forced labor: compulsory military service, certain civic obligations, certain
forms of prison labor, work exacted in emergencies and minor communal ser-
yices. Prison labor is allowed provided that it is supervised by a public
authority, and not used by private companies or individuals.
However, before resorting to forced or compulsory labor, the highest civil
authority of the territory must have determined:
(a) that the work is of important direct interest to the community called upon
to do the work;
(b) that the work is of present or imminent necessity;
(c) that it has been impossible to obtain voluntary labor by offering wage
rates and working conditions not less favorable than those prevailing for
similar work;
(d) that the work will not lay too heavy a burden on the present population,
taking into consideration the labor available and its capacity to undertake
the work.
Other selected provisions of the Convention include:
(a) no person may be subject to forced or compulsory labor for more than
sixty days per year, including the time spent traveling to place of
employment.
(b) such persons shall be paid prevailing wage rates, incuding overtime.
(c) such persons shall work normal hours, including days of rest and holi-
days.
Other articles of the Convention set out standards governing workmen's com-
pensation, safety and health, and age limits.