Life and Times under the Rule of Stalin

Slave Labor Camps

To control the population during the difficult period of industrialization, a system of labor camps was established for people who resisted Stalin's plans. People who were identified as anti-communist, or as troublemakers, were sentenced to be worked to death in the camps. During the first year of the five-year plan, there were 30,000 prisoners in the camps. Five years later, over eight million people were in camps for resisting Stalin's plans.

The camps were located near major projects or natural resources, which required large amounts of cheap labor. The prisoners were paid in food for a quota of work accomplished in a 12-hour day. A former prisoner best described the system of food allotments:

1st cauldron (for those who failed to achieve the full norm of work) thin soup twice a day and 400 grams of bread.
2nd cauldron (full amount) thin soup twice a day, 700 grams of bread, and buckwheat in the evening.
3rd cauldron (for working above the normal quota) soup twice a day, 900 grams of bread, buckwheat, and a small piece of fish or meat in the evening.
4th cauldron (for sick prisoners) a meal three times a day…and 700 grams of bread.

Eyewitness Account

We were never in a condition to do what was demanded of us to have enough to eat. The hungrier we were, the worse we worked. The worse we worked the hungrier we became. From that vicious circle there was no escape.

Ex-prisoner
Reported in 1953 after the death of Stalin

Millions of people perished in these labor camps located across the nation. They were driven like animals to complete projects without the aid of heavy equipment or tools. Many of the atrocities that occurred in these camps were not exposed until the death of Stalin in 1953.