The Soviet Century By Moshe Lewin - 34

The Interior Ministry as an industrial agency and the Gulag as a supplier of manpower (1946 ).

Source: RGAE, f. 4372, op. 84, d. 271.

In December 1946 the Gulag’s statistical department produced a report on the number of inmates and ‘special contingents’ that worked for various ministries, the MVD supplying the manpower. A list of forty-seven ministries and government agencies was provided, with the number of inmates employed: heavy industry, military and naval concerns, construction sites for petroleum enterprises, aircraft construction, construction of agricultural machinery, Ministry of Electrical Energy. In a document dated 13 September 1946 addressed to Beria, Kruglov, the Interior Minister, complained that forty-five of the government agencies using labour supplied by the Gulag had not paid for it. They had accumulated a debt of 50 million roubles, putting the Gulag in a difficult financial position. There was no longer enough money to buy food for the inmates (not only were they not paid; they were not even fed!).

Source: RGAE, f 7733, op. 36, d. 2097, LL. 253, 256.

On 1 November 1946, the same Kruglov sent a report to Voznesensky, head of Gosplan, to inform him that the MVD had exceeded the Plan’s targets for industrial (and other) construction sites, and asked for 222 million roubles, on the grounds that he had exceeded the plan as regards investment. A table drew up a list of some seventeen MVD agencies and their investments. It discloses a flourishing network of administrative agencies, managing an ever-growing number of branches (the organizational structure is increasingly difficult to follow). Their administrative creativity is remarkable, and the greater their investment, the higher the salaries of the agencies and the enormous bonuses of the bosses. Especial attention is paid to work linked to defence requirements – the name of these departments and agencies is generally preceded by the prefix spec (abbreviation of the adjective ‘special’ in Russian).

Source: RGAE, f. 7733, op. 36, d. 2291, L. 315.

April 1947: the MVD now possessed twelve branch directorates, managing the production of metals, mining, forestry, sawmills, machine factories, textile enterprises, shoe factories, refineries, gas facilities, concerns processing cobalt and nickel, glass works, rubber factories – the list is long and gives the names of camps (Norilsk, Vorkuta, Uhta, Dal’stroi) celebrated for their output and their very harsh conditions. The very ‘businesslike’ tone ignores or conceals the misery underlying these ‘businesses’ and the moral degeneracy of the managers of this regime.