One Day in the Life of Educator Khrushchev Labour and Kul_turnost_ in the Gulag Newspapers

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One Day in the Life of Educator Khrushchev: Labour and Kul'turnost' in the Gulag NewspapersAuthor(s): Wilson T. Bell

Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 46, No. 3/4 (September-December 2004), pp. 289-313Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40860044Accessed: 18-07-2015 02:07 UTC

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2/26

WilsonT. Bell

One

Day

in

theLife of

Educator

Khrushchev:

Labour and

KuVturnost*

n

the

Gulag Newspapers

Abstract:

Using

the

recently

ublished

microfiche

ollection,

The GULAG

Press,

1920-

1937,

the

author examines the

newspapers

of

BAMlag,

a

Gulag

camp system

n the

Soviet Far East.

Although

the

papers

were

in

manyrespectspropaganda,

the authorviews

them as a

blueprint

orreeducation

n

the

camps

in

the

early-

o mid-1930s.

They

were a

part

of a broad discourse

of

transformation both

personal

and societal that

existed

within

the Soviet Union at that time. Whetheror not the inmates would

have followed

and believed

the

blueprint

s a difficult ut

important uestion,

which the author

grapples

with but

ultimately

eaves unanswered.

Regardless

of

this, however,

the

newspapers

represent

n

attempt

o instill the Bolshevik values of reeducation

through

abour

and

kul'turnost' nto

the

prison camp population,

and thus show

the interconnected

ole of

both of these

values'

in

the

re-)forging

f individuals.

With the

publication

of Aleksandr

Solzhenitsyn's

One

Day

in the

Life of

Ivan

Denisovich

in

1962,

the

Gulag

became

a

topic

at least

partially

open

for

discussion

within

he

Soviet Union.

In

this

novella,

we follow

Ivan Denisovich

Shukhov,

Gulag

inmate,

s he

progresses

hrough

day

in

the

camps.

Although

we see

typically

Soviet

motifs

e.g., pride

in

labour)

as central

to Shukhov's

character,

ultimately olzhenitsynpresents

a

spiritual

key

to

survival.

In the

beginning,

he

searchlights

nd

camp

lights

make

the stars

nvisible,

point

that

Solzhenitsyn

arefully

makes

more than

once.1

Yet

in

the

evening,

he moon

and

stars hine

so

brightly

hat he

"lights

n the

camp

didn't seem

very

trong

ow.'

Earlier Shukhovtells theCaptain,another nmate, f his beliefthatGod breaks

up

the moon

into stars

every

fourweeks.

The

Captain

asks

Shukhov

why

God

would do such

a

thing,

nd

Shukhov

replies,

"The

stars

keep

falling

down,

so

you've got

to have

new ones

in

their

place."3

The

stars,

blocked

by

the

camp

lights

in the

early

morning,

hine

brightly

along

with the

moon)

at

night.

I

would

like to

thank the editors

and outside

readers

of Canadian

Slavonic

Papers,

as

well as

Lynne

Viola,

Thomas

Lahusen,

Michael

David-Fox,

Steven

Maddox,

and

Martha

Solomon for

heir

helpful

comments

nd

suggestions

on various

drafts f

this

paper.

1 Aleksandr

Solzhenitsyn,

One

Day

in the

Life

of

Ivan Denisovich, trans. Max

Hayward

and

Ronald

Hingley

1963;

New York:

Bantam

Books,

1990)

8 and

18.

2

Solzhenitsyn,

One

Day

1

0.

3

Solzhenitsyn,

One

Day

1

8-29.

Canadian

lavonic

Papers/Revue

anadienne

es slavistes

Vol.

XLVI,

Nos.

3-4,

September-December

004

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/26

290

Wilson T.

Bell

Solzhenitsynhus uggests hatno matter owmany ouls fall to the Soviet

regime,

herewillbe new

ones

that

hine n.

This s

both

message

f

hope

and

a

message

hat

spiritualourney,

epresented

y

the

ight,

s vitalfor

urviving

the

ampregime.

In

June 934

the

Gulag newspaper

troiteV

ama

('Builder

of the

BAM')

published

lengthy

rticle

itled,

One

day

n

the

ife f

educator

hrushchev."4

Khrushchev

first

ame

not

given)

worked

n

theCultural-Educational

ection

(KVCh)

at

BAMlag,

a

Gulag camp system

entred

n

the far-eastern

own f

Svobodnyi meaning

free').

BAMlag

was

nominally

n

charge

f

building

he

Baikal-AmurMainlinerailroad; he nmates, owever, evotedmuchof their

labour o

the onstructionf theTrans-Siberian

ailway's

econd rack

n those

areas where ne

was

lacking.5

hrushchev's

ay

consists

f several

lements

central

o the

BAMlag

newspapers

s a

whole,

as found

n the microfiche

collection,

heGULAG

Press,

1920-1937.

A

significant

ortion

evolves

round

camp

labour:

for

example,

he

gives

motivational

peeches

about

work

production

nd

checks tatistics

n norm-fulfillment.

n

the

evening,

e

makes

sure

that ulturalwork

occurs

n the

barracks,

nd notes

with atisfaction

he

music f a

balalaika,

he ehearsal

f a drama

ircle,

ndthefastidiousness

fthe

lagkory

camp correspondents

singular, agkor)

as

they

work

away

in the

"red

corner."

nterestingly,

e also

pays

ttention

o mattersf

personal

ygiene.

At

breakfast,

he ducator

gave

the

ook a

pat

on the

houlder"

khlopal ovara

po plechu)

for

"tasty"

meal,

but

would ecture

im

f

t

did not

turn ut

well.

Later,

ducator

hrushchev

atches

ow he ailroad

oldiers6

rush

heir

eeth.

In

Ivan

Denisovich's

ay,

we see

an

inmate

homust eal

with

xcruciating

work

onditions,

istreatment

y guards,

nd

the easeless

uest

o

find

nough

nourishment.

ducator

hrushchev's

ay,

f

course,

aints

different

icture

f

4

"Denf

vospitatelia

hrushcheva,"

n

StroiteV

ama

44(139) (27

June

934),

fiche

606,

in The

GULAG

Press,

1920-1937

(The

Netherlands:

DC

Publishers,

000).

Henceforth

ll citations

rom

he

microfiche

ollection

will

simply

ist the

article,

newspaper

StroiteV

ama

will

be

cited s

SB),

number

nd

date

f

publication,

nd

fiche

number

n TheGULAG

Press

collection.

5

Solzhenitsyn,

heGULAG

Archipelago:

n

Experiment

n

Literary

nvestigation,

vols.,

volumes

ne and

two translated

y

Thomas

P.

Whitney,

olume

hree

y

Harry

Willetts

New

York:

Harper

Row,

1973-1978)

I:

80;

Sistema

spraviteVno-Trudovykh

Lagerei

v

SSSR,

comp.

M.B.

Smirnov,

ds. N.G.

Okhotin

nd

A. B.

Roginskii

Moscow:

Zven'ia,

1998)

153 and

154,

note

3;

and

O. P.

Elantseva,

brechennaia

oroga:

BAM:

1932-1941Vladivostok:zdatel'stvoal'nevostochnogoniversiteta,994)4. Elantseva

reports

hat

most f

thework one

on the

BAM as

opposed

o the

econd

rack

from

1

33-1

37 was

research

elated.

6

The

BAMlag

nmates re

often eferred

o as railroad

oldiers,

utearmeetsy,

n the

BAMlag

papers.



4/26

The

Gulag Newspapers 29 1

life nthe

Gulag,

one inwhich the nmates

participate

ncultural nd educational

work and have time to

worry

about cultural activities. Recent

scholarship

indicates that the

experience

of the

Gulag

varied

considerably

depending

on

time,

place, type

of

camp,

and

type

of

sentence.7 van Denisovich

represents

prisoner

n

one of the so-called

special regime camps,

established

n 1948 as a

place

of incarceration

for

political

prisoners

seen as

especially

dangerous.

Educator

Khrushchev,

on the other

hand,

was involved

in

one of the

Gulag's

early major

construction

projects,

which

in

the rhetoric at

least,

placed

considerable

emphasis

on reeducation.

But

is Educator Khrushchev's

day simply propaganda?

The authorities

were,

after

ll,

in

charge

of the

production

of

the

newspapers

papers

that fed

images

of

robust,

healthy

workers o inmates

who felt

nything

ut robust and

healthy.

Thus

perhaps

the

Gulag press'

is

simply

nother

xample

of the Soviet

regime's hypocrisy.

On the other

hand,

the authorities

clearly

devoted

considerable

resources to

the

camp newspapers,

which in

quality

oftenreached

the level of

the

regular

Soviet

dailies.8 These

papers

were also

designed

solely

for nternal

amp

consumption.

Why

did the

NKVD

(People's

Commissariat

f

InternalAffairs,nchargeof therunning ftheGulag) use valuable

resourceson

the

publication

of

something

that,

seemingly,

would

only

breed resentment

among

the

ntended udience?

The

papers,

on their

own,

cannot

answer this

question

completely,

and

further

tudy

of Soviet archival

documents

on

the

Gulag

will be

necessary.

A

critical

examination

f the

newspapers

and their

ontext,

owever,

reveals

much

about

Soviet

subjectivity,

s the current

aper

will

try

o demonstrate.

In the context

of

the

early-

to mid-

930s,

the

most obvious

explanation

for

the

papers

relates

to

the

camps'

economic

production.

The vast

majority

of

articles are in some way relatedto production,

whether

hey

are

statistics

on

norm

fulfillment,

escriptions

of

competitions

between

the

various

camp

departments

r

work

brigades,

biographies

of

the best

workers,

tories

about

workers nd

projects

to

emulate,

r

articles

haming

nproductive

ndividuals.

Most of

the

remaining

rticles

relate

to

personal

transformation,

articularly

kul'turnost'

as understood

by

Vadim

Volkov.

Kul'turnost',

or,

roughly,

'culturedness,'

nvolved not

ust

education

in

'high'

culture,

but

knowledge

of

7

For

a brief

iscussion

f the

different

ypes

f

camps

and

their

volution

n

the

Gulag system,ee Paul R. Gregory,An Introductiono the Economics f theGulag,"

TheEconomics

f

Forced

Labor:

TheSoviet

Gulag,

ds.

P.

Gregory

nd

Valry

azarev

(Stanford:

oover

nstitution

ress,

003)

6-20.

8

A brief

ntroduction

o the

Gulag

newspapers

y

Leo

van

Rossum

ppears

n the

"Guide

o

the

microform

ollection"

n TheGULAG

Press

et.



5/26


6/26

The Gulag

Newspapers

293

focuses n this ransformation.cholarshave discussed arious

programs

or

identity

n

the 1930s" and have

also

linked ultural evolutionnd

reeducation,

arguing

hatthe

over-archingoal

was the creation

f

new

human

beings.

Stephen

Kotkin's seminalwork

Magnetic

Mountaindiscusses

the

"positive

integration"

f citizens nto Soviet

society

hrough

he

process

of

learning

o

"speak

Bolshevik":

Through

self-identification

ith

labour

shock-work,

Stakhanovism,

nd so on

individuals

earned

o work nd

survive

within

Bolshevik ramework.ochen ellbeck

akes his ne

step

further,

rguing

hat

'Stalinist oul' was

fashioned'

uring

his

eriod;

or Hellbeck

nd

gal

Halfin,

a

"key aspect

of Bolshevism"was "itsdesire o

engage

ndividuals ith heir

soul."

Evgenyi

Dobrenko

provocatively

rgues

that

both writers

nd readers

internalized

nd created oviet

values,

nd thus

e-created

hemselves,

hrough

the

formationf the SocialistRealisttext.

The

secondary

iterature

n

Soviet

culture

nd the nature

f

the Soviet

self thus

demonstrates

widespread

personal

ransformationiscourse

uring

his

eriod.

The dea that common riminal

ouldbe re-made

nto new

Sovietman

r

woman

would not have

struck

ontemporaries

s

strange,

ither.

Nikolai

Pogodin's popular

1930s

play, Aristokraty"Aristocrats")

escribes

the

reeducation

f nmates

t theWhite ea-Baltic

anal

Camp

BelBaltlag).

A

film

version

of the

play appeared

in 1936.

Aleksandr

Avdeenko

wrote

an

autobiographical

ovel

in

the

early

thirties

bout an

orphan

nd

thief

who

becomes

shock-worker

n

Magnitogorsk

fter

eeducation

n

a

Commune

or

FormerHomeless

Waifs.Avdeenko

himself

ccompanied

he

writers'

rigade

that

went o

theWhite ea-Baltic

Canal

in

order

o

gather

nformation

or

he

13

Lynne

Atwood

nd Catriona

elly, Programmes

or

dentity:

he

New

Man' and

'New

Woman,'" Constructing

ussian

Culture,

ds.

Kelly

and

Shepherd

256-90;

Michael

David-Fox,

What s CulturalRevolution?" he RussianReview58

(1999):

181-201;

tephen

otkin,

Magnetic

Mountain:

talinism

s a Civilization

Berkeley

nd

Los

Angeles:

University

f

California

Press,

1995)

235-37;

Jochen

Hellbeck,

"Fashioning

he Stalinist

oul:

The

Diary

of

Stepan

Podlubnyi,"

n

Fitzpatrick,

d.,

Stalinism:

New

Directions',

nd Hellbeck

and

Igal

Halfin,

Rethinking

he

Stalinist

Subject:

Stephen

Kotkin's

Magnetic

Mountain'

and the

State of

Soviet

Historical

Studies,"

ahrbcher

r

Geschichte

steuropas,

4

(1996):

456-63;

Evgeny

obrenko,

The

Making

f

the tate

Writer:ocial

and

Aesthetic

rigins

f

Soviet

iterary

ulture,

trans.

esse

M.

Savage

Stanford:

tanford

niversity

ress,

001).

For

more n

personal

transformation

nd

the Soviet

'self,'

see

also

Laura

Engelstein,

Culture,

Culture

Everywhere:

nterpretations

f Modern

Russia,

Across

the

1991

Divide,"

Kritika

.2

(2001):

363-93; Fitzpatrick,d., Stalinism:NewDirections; itzpatrick,he Cultural

Front: Power

and Culture

n

Revolutionary

ussia

(Ithaca:

Cornell

University

ress,

1992);

Kelly

and

Shepherd,

ds.,

Constructing

ussian

Culture;

Kelly

and

Volkov,

"Directed

Desires";

Anna

Krylova,

The Tenacious

Liberal

ubject

n Soviet

Studies,"

Kritika

.1

2000):

1

19-46;Volkov,

Concept

fkul'turnost1."



7/26

294

Wilson T.

Bell

book,Belomorsko-Baltiiskiianal imeni tatina: storiia troitel'stva,931-

1934gg,

dited

y

Maksim

GorTdi,

ith

eeducation

s itsmain

heme. ne

of

the

book's

contributors,

ergei

Alymov,

ad evenbeen a

prisoner

f the

amp.

The Soviet Union also

exported

eeducation broad.

All

three

f the above

works

ppeared

n

English

ranslation

n

the

arly-

o mid- 930s.14

According

o

early

Bolshevik

heory,

rimewas a

product

f the social

conditions reated

by capitalism,

nd

it

would therefore

hither

way

under

communism.15he

Bolsheviks,

who

soon

discovered hat

rime ontinued o

occur,

t

first

mphasized

he

ducative,

nstead

f

punitive,spect

ftheir

enal

system.

n the1920s, he

People's

CommissariatfJustice an

fairly

fficient

education

ystem

n its

prisons.16

ven

during

he First ive-

ear-Plan,

when

labour nd

productivity

ere

clearly

he

main

focus,

many

within he

regime

argued

hat

y including

nmates

n

the

building

f

socialism,

ormer

riminals

would

earn olshevik alues

nd take

pride

n

theirabour.

The rhetoric

fre-

forging

ccurred ot

only

n the

public

discourse,

moreover.

t a closed

party

meeting

n the

Gulag

as late as

April

1937,

wrecking

i.e., sabotage),

he

inefficienciesf

Gulag

abour,

nd even

poor iving

onditions

ominated

he

discussion,

ut at least

one

participant

eminded

hose

present

f

the

Gulag's

economic nd educative

unctions:

Our main ask

s not

only

o use

people

and

their

hysical trength

ut

lso to reeducate

hem."

This cultureof

transformation

eakened

as time

went

on,

however.

Belomorsko-Baltiiskii

anal

disappeared

rom

he shelves

n

1937;

Pogodin's

14

Nikolai

Pogodin,

Aristocrats,"

our Soviet

Plays,

trans

Anthony

Wixley

New

York:

International

ublishers,

937;

film

version:

Zakliuchennye,

irected

by

E

CherviakovMoscow: Mosfil'm,1936); AleksandrAvdeenko, a liubliu Moscow:

Sovietskaia

iteratura,

933);

M.

Gor'kii,

.

Averbach,

nd S.

Finn,

eds.,

Belomorsko-

Baltiiskii anal imeni talina:

storiia

troitel'stva

931-1934

g

(Moscow,

1998;

first

published

n

Moscow:

OGIZ,

1934).

Formore n


anal,

ncluding

brief

iographies

f

contributors,

ee

Ruder,

Making

Historyor

Stalin.

For the

English

translationsf Avdeenko

nd Belomorsko-Baltiiskii

anal

(not

n exact

ranslation)

ee

Avdeenko, Love,

trans

Anthony

Wixley

New

York: nternational

ublishers,

935),

and

Gor'kii t

al, eds.,

The White ea Canal.

15

Michael

Jakobson,

rigins

f

theGULAG:

The

Soviet rison

Camp

System

917-

1934

Lexington:

he

University

ress f

Kentucky,

993)

5.

1

Jakobson,rigins f heGULAG 63

1

See

Jakobson,

rigins

f

he

GULAG

88.

i8

Quoted

in

Galina

Ivanova,

Labor

Camp

Socialism:

The GULAG

in the Soviet

Totalitarian

ystem,

d. Donald

Raleigh,

rans.

arol

Flath

Armonk

nd London:

M. E.

Sharpe,

000)

89.



8/26

The

Gulag Newspapers

295

play

no

longer

ran

in

theatres;

Avdeenko himselfwas

subject

to

persecution.19

Peter

H.

Solomon,

Jr. describes

a "conservative

shift" n

criminal

ustice

that

took

place gradually

during

the

1930s. Punishmentmoved

away

from

reform

orientation"

o

lengthier

rison

sentences nd other

epressive

measures,

uch as

the elimination f

parole

in

1938.20

Workday

credits,

whereby

prisoners

ould

earn reduced sentences

by fulfilling

orms,

were abandoned

in

the late- 930s

and reinstated

officiallyonly

in

1948.21 This shiftdid not mean a

complete

abandonment

f reeducation

s

part

of

the

camp system,

however.

The

concept

played an important

ole

duringWorld

War II

and nevercompletelyfaded,

as

the KVCh continued

o function.

The

extent

o

which

this shift ffected

he

day-to-day

ives of inmates

n the

Gulag

is unclear. Aleksandr

Solzhenitsyn forcefully

documents

oppression

withinthe

Gulag

from

beginning

to

end,

and

therecan be no doubt that

most

prisoners

suffered

immensely

due

to

high mortality

rates,

malnutrition,

overwork,

nadequate

facilities,

and inhumane

treatment.23 istorians

of the

Gulag

mustbe mindful

f

chronology.

Technically speaking,

the

Gulag

was not

formally

stablished

until

April

1930.24

And,

indeed,

although

forestry

layed

a

largerole in life at the Solovki (themajor prisoncampof the 1920s), production

was not

particularly

he

camp's

raison d'tre?5

This

contrasts

harply

with

the

economic

orientationof the enormous

camp complexes

set

up

in

the

early

19

See the

note from he

publisher,

K chitateliu toi

knigi,"


Kanal;

following

hemid-

930s,

Aristocrat/'

id not

ppear

n

stage gain

until

956

when

it was less well-received

see

Ruder,

Making History or

Stalin

169-171;

Avdeenko

was

prevented

rom

ublishing

n

1939;

Stalin

ersonally

ehabilitated

im

n

1

43,

however see

Ruder,

Making

istoryor

Stalin 5.

20 See Part II: The Conservativehift f PeterH. Solomon,Jr., oviet Criminal

Justice nder

talin

Cambridge:

ambridge niversity

ress,

996)

153-334,

sp.

227.

21

Leonid

Borodkin nd Simon

Ertz,

CoercionVersus

Motivation:

orced

Labor

n

Norilsk,"

heEconomics

f

ForcedLabor:

TheSoviet

Gulag,

ds. Paul

R.

Gregory

nd

Valry

azarev

Stanford:

oover

nstitution

ress,

003)

92-93.

22

For the

oleof reeducation

uring

he

war,

ee Steven

A.

Barnes,

All for he

Front,

All

for

Victory :

he

Mobilization f

ForcedLabor

n the Soviet

Union

during

World

War

Two,"

International

abor and

Working-Class

istory

8

(2000):

239-260,

esp.

244-249.

23

See

Solzhenitsyn,

he GULAG

Archipelago

nd

J. Otto

Pohl,

The

Stalinist

enal

System:A StatisticalHistory f SovietRepressionnd Terror, 930-1953 Jefferson:

McFarland

Company,

997)

47-49.

24

Pohl,

talinist

enal

System

.

25

Natalia

Kuziakina,

heatre

n the olovki

rison

Camp,

rans. oris

M.

Meerovich

(Luxembourg:

arwood

Academic

ublishers,

995)

14-15.



9/26

296

Wilson T. Bell

thirties,uch s BelBaltlag, AMlag,andDmitlag, series fcampsdedicated

to

the

uilding

ftheMoscow-

olga

Canal.

Scholars

ave

highlighted

ther

urningoints

n

the

volution f the

Gulag

system.26

ntil

1937,

for

xample,

he

regime

id not

call the

camp

nmates

'prisoners';

nstead,

they

were

referred

o

as

'Stakhanovites' r 'shock-

workers'

linguistically,

t

least,

integrating

he

camp population

nto the

greater

oviet

society.

Robert

Conquest's Kolyma

also views 1937 as a

watershed

ear.

According

o

Conquest,

t this

oint

n

time

but

notbefore

terroror error's

ake

began

n the

oviet ar East:

Previous

ears

ad

seen,

n

occasion,

massive asualties. utthesehad been due to

inefficiencies

n

supply, ttempts

o

carry

ut

ssignments

n

mpossible

onditions,

and

in

fact

if in

exaggerated

orm

the normal

ncompetence

nd

brutality

f

Soviet ife... But above

all,

prisoners

ere not

subjected

o lethal onditions n

purpose.

The

camp

newspapers

ent

hrough

heir

wn

evolution,

s

secrecy

ecame

more and more

mportant

s time went

on,

particularly

ith

1941

and the

outbreak f

the

war.29 he

camppopulation

luctuated

onsiderably,eaching

ts

peak in 1953,theyearofStalin'sdeath.30 s scholars, herefore,e must e

careful

o

specify

he

ime

eriod

nder iscussion.

The

collection,

he

GULAG

Press,

1920-1937 ontains

large

number f

BAMlag newspapers

or

he

years

1933-37.

We have themain

paper,

troiteV

Bama,

and

supplemental apers

called bulletins from several different

departments.31

here re also

publications

n

literacy

Stanem ramotnymi,

r

"Becoming

Literate");

literaryupplement

o

StroiteV ama and

a

literary

26

See

Applebaum, ulag

xv-xviii. he refers o

the

period

1917-1939

s an "era of

trials ndexperiments,"14-15.For more n the volutionf theGulagsystem,ee the

introductiono Sistema

spravitel'no-Trudovykh

agerei,

10-74,

ummary

1-62,

written

by

Jakobson,mirnov,

.P.

Sigachev,

nd

D.V.

Shkapov.

27

Ivanova,

abor

Camp

Socialism 0.

28

Robert

onquest,

Kolyma:

The Arctic eath

Camps

London:

MacMillan,

1978)

47.

29

A.Iu.

Gorcheva,

ressa

Gulaga,

1918-1955

Moscow:

Izdatel'stvo

Moskovskogo

Universiteta,

996)

53-56.

30

It s

not

my

ntention

o enter nto

hedebate

oncerning

henumbers

f nmates

n

the

Gulag.

For tatisticsee

Pohl,

The talinist

enal

System

0-11. ee also

Applebaum,

Gulag578-586.

31

In

1928 control f the

amp

nd

prison

resses

hifted

o

the

enter nd

eventually

the

camp publications

ecame

tandardized:

herewouldbe one main

paper,

with

ach

departmentotdeleniie)

ublishing

tsown

supplement.

ee

Gorcheva,

ressa

Gulaga

28

and

41.



10/26

The

Gulag

Newspapers

297

journal

(Putearmeets,

or "Railroad

Soldier");

two

papers published only

forthe

camp guard

(Zorkii

strelok,

"Sharpshooter,"

and Za

tempy

kachestvo,

"For

Tempo

and

Quality");

and several smaller

publications.

In

other

words,

the

collection for

BAMlag

is

very

rich.Stroitel Bama

frequently

eached

a

print-run

of

10,000

copies

(and

peaked

at

20,000)

-

far

greater

than that

of the other

publications.

t

is for hisreason that he

present

iscussion of the

BAMlag press

will focus on

Stroitel'

Bama

and its

departmental

ulletins.

BAMlag

was established 10 November

1932

and

closed

22

May

1938,

having

been

reorganized

into several

smaller

camps.

As noted

above,

BAMlag's

main economic

purpose

was

railway

construction,

n

particular

he

Trans-Siberian's second track. The Baikal-Amur

Mainline was not

completed

until the 1970s.33 The

regime obviously

felt

strongly

bout the

building

of

the

BAM,

for t sentNaftalii

FrenkeF,

Works Chief on the construction

f the

White

Sea-Baltic

Canal,

to oversee

construction

t

BAMlag.34

Frenkel1

himself was

living proof

that one could be

'reeducated,'

as

he had first

xperienced

the

camps

as

a

prisoner

at

Solovki.35

BAMlag

became one of the

largest camp

complexes

in

the

Gulag system,reaching

a

peak population

of over

200,000

inmates nJanuary 938.36 O. P. Elantseva emphasizestheconsiderable amount

of material

relating

to

re-forging

nd reeducation

within the documents

on

BAMlag.37

The

BAMlag newspapers,

withtheir ocus

on labour and

kuVturnost'

provide

a vivid

blueprint

or

hisreeducation.

On 5

May

1935 a

retrospective

rticletitled

The

BAMlag

Press"

appeared

in

Stroitel'

Bama. After

description

f

the various

BAMlag publications,

the

article

nds with he

following aragraph:

The

literary-artistic

trength

f the railroad

oldiers

s a reflection

f the

zeal and

heroism f this era

of

construction,

elated

o shock-

ork abour

and

mass

re-

forgingn thebuildingf the econd rack. t s tothemobilizationf shock-work

forces

nd the

re-forging

f

the

psyches

f

former

ffenders,

o the

organization

or

32

See Sistema

Ispravitel'nO'Trudovykh

agerei,

153-55.

On

BAM

in the

thirties,

ee

Elantseva,

Obrechennaia

dorogo.

33

Thomas

Lahusen,

How

Life

Writes he

Book: Real

Socialism

and

Socialist

Realism

in Stalin

s Russia

(Ithaca:

Cornell

University

ress,

1997)

14.

34

Solzhenitsyn,

Gulag Archipelago

vol.

II,

80;

and

Pohl,

Stalinist

Penal

System

1

.

35

See Lahusen

50-51. Lahusen refers

o Frenkel'

as the

"supreme

model"

(51)

for

the

BAMlag

inmates.

36

Sistema

Ispravitel'no Trudovykh agerei

153.

37

Elantseva,

Obrechennaia

doroga

19.



11/26

298

Wilson

T. Bell

victory n thegreatest onstruction f the Second Five-Year Plan that ll the forces

of the

camp press

are

directed.

This

passage

contains

many

of the elements that are characteristic

f the

BAMlag press

as a whole. One is

immediately

truck

y

the

emphasis

on labour

and

construction,

s well as the

strong

ense of

urgency

nd

change.

This is not

merely

he

building

of a

railroad,

for t s linkedboth to

the

creation

of socialism

in the Soviet

Union

(the

reference o the Second

Five-

Year-Plan)

and the

re-

forging

r

reeducation

f "former ffenders."

hese

offenders,moreover,

re not

referred

o as

criminals,

prisoners,

or

inmates,

but

as "railroad

soldiers"

who

conduct "shock-work labour." The "zeal" and "heroism" needed for a final

victory

s linked to the nmates'

"literary-artistic

trength."

hrough

heir

abour,

in

theory,

the

inmates

are

building

a

railroad,

socialism,

and

re-building

themselves.

This theme reached

its zenith

n the Stakhanovite

movement,

nation-wide

labour movement

hat

ncluded the

Gulag.

As

is well

known,

n

August

1935

a

Donbas

miner,

Aleksei

Stakhanov,

n

six

hours hewed fourteen

imes

the norm

set

forcoal

by

his

enterprise.39

his

sparked

the Stakhanovite

movement,

which

awarded

great privileges

to those who

over-fulfilled

heir

norms.

One

BAMlag

Stakhanovite,

gorov,

of the twelfth

epartment,

3rd

halanx40,

ave

an account

of

his own "conversion"

experience

to

the readers

of

StroiteV

ama.

The article

is

titled,

"How

I Became

a Stakhanovite:

About

the collective

and about

myself."41

gorov

was a

gambler.

At

first,

is collective

had

only

fulfilled

5-20

per

cent of

its work-norms.

One

day

on his

way

back

from

work,

however,

Egorov

saw

the

slogan,

"Yesterday

a

bandit and

thief

today

a

hero of

labour."

He later

discovered

that

former

hirker

nd

member

of his

collective,

Sharov,

had

written

he

slogan.

Sharov

was

now

fulfilling

is norms

t a

rate

of 220

per

cent. Inspiredby Sharov, Egorov

followed

an order

prikaz)

issued

by

Genrikh

Iagoda,

head of the

NKVD,

which

"proved

to

[him]

that he

correct

nd

quickest

38

"Pechaf

Bamlaga,"

StroiteV

Bama

20(210)

(5

May

1935),

fiche

252.

Thank

you

to

Denis Kozlov

for he translation

f the second

sentence.

39

For

more

on

Stakhanovism,

see

Kotkin,

Magnetic

Mountain

207-14.

On

Stakhanovism

n the

Gulag,

see

Borodkin

and

Ertz,

"Coercion

vs.

Motivation"

91.

40

A

phalanx

was

a work unit

in the

Gulag.

See

Jacques

Rossi,

The GULAG

Handbook,

trans.

William

Burhans

New

York:

Paragon

House,

1989)

475,

and

Lahusen,

How

Life

Writes

the

Book

218

n. 18.

Interestingly,

he

term

phalanx'

is

replaced

by

kkolonna' n 1936, apparently o avoid an analogywithfascism.This again pointsto the

evolution

of the

Gulag

system

nd its

interconnectedness

ith the

rest

of Soviet

society.

See

Lahusen,

How

Life

Writes

he

Book

220 n. 38.

41

"Kak ia

stai stakhanovtsem:

O kollektive

o

sebe,"

in

SB

No.

4

(257):

21

January

1936,

fiche 589.



12/26

The

Gulag

Newspapers

299

road to freedom was

through

conscious labour and one's own

re-forging."

Gradually Egorov

worked his

way up

to

the

point

of

fulfilling

00-350

per

cent

of his

daily

norm,

nd

thus

helped

the

whole

collective.

Of

course,

the extent hat uch an articlewould have been

believed

remains

an

important uestion.

The

Gulag

was

chronically

nder-supplied

nd its nmates

under-fed

nd over-worked.42 et it is

important

o understand he

strength

f

labour

in

self-identification

uring

he

early

Stalin

period.

This is a

major

theme

of Kotkin's

work.4 Scatteredreferences an

also be found

n

Gulag

memoirs.

Eugenia Ginzburg,after several years

in

prison, actually

looked

forwardto

physical

labour

in Siberia.

Ginzburg

describes the

reaction

n her train

wagon

when those

inside learned

they

were headed

for Vladivostok:

"The

wagon

hummed

with

oy

and

relief. From

Vladivostok,

no

doubt,

we should

go

on to

Kolyma,

with ts

opportunities

orheroic

work and

early

release.'

Ginzburg's

Kolyma

experience quickly

dispelled any

illusions

she

may

have had

concerning

Gulag

labour,46

ut it is

important

o note

that hese llusions existed

n

the

first

place.

Olga

Adamova-Sloizberg

recounts

thatthe

"main

punishment"

f

prison

"had been

to

deprive

of us

of

dignity

by giving

us no

work,"

showing

the

identificationf Soviet citizenswith abour.47 t should notbe discountedthat

some,

at

least

in

the

Gulag's

formative

years,

would

have taken

promises

of

42

The

shortage

f

provisions

ecame

specially

cute

during

WorldWar

I.

43

See

Kotkin,

Magnetic

Mountain

8-23

.

44

Along

with he

xamples

ited

elow, ee,

for

xample,

adezhda

Grankina,

Notes

By

Your

Contemporary,"

ill

My

Tale Is Told:

Women

s Memoirs

f

the

Gulag,

ed.

Simeon

Vilensky,

rans.John

Crowfoot,

MarjorieFarquharson,

atriona

Kelly,

Sally

Laird,

nd

Cathy

orter

Bloomington

nd

ndianapolis:

ndiana

University

ress,

1999).

Onp. 1 8, she relates hatmany risoners

sked

that ime

n labour

ampsreplace

heir

prison

entences;

ava

Volovich

egins

her

memoir,

My

Past,"

n

Vilensky,

d,

Till

My

Tale

s Told

242,

expressing

erdesire

s a

child o

grow

p

as a

factory

orker;

ater

p.

259)

she states

hat

amp

nmates

ouldhave

been able

to feel

pride

n their abour

had

conditions

ot been so

terrible,

evealing

n

underlying

onging

or

meaningful

ork.

Simon

Ertz,

n his

article,

Building

orilsk,"

n

Gregory

nd

Lazarev,

ds,

Economics

f

Forced

Labor

147,

states

that while

the memoirists

niversally

cknowledged

he

extremely

arsh

working

onditions,

ome

also related

with

pride

their

labour

achievements,

ncluding aving

heir

ames

isted n the

redboards'

also

see

p.

302

of

this

rticle,

elow).

45

Eugenia

emyonovna

inzburg,

ourney

nto he

Whirlwind,

rans. aul

Stevenson

andMaxHaywardNewYork:Harvest, BJ, 967)295.

46

See

Ginzburg,

Within

he

Whirlwind,

rans. an

Boland,

ntro.

Heinrich

oll

(New

York

nd London:

HBJ,

1981)

331.

47

Olga

Adamova-Sloizberg,My

Journey,"

n

Vilensky,

d,

Till

My

Tale

s Told

48-

49.



13/26

300

Wilson T.

Bell

privilegesand rewards forproductive abour seriously,particularlyonsidering

the

policy

of

workday

credits nd the mass-release of

prisoners

from

BelBaltlag

following

he canal's construction.

Nikolai

Pogodin's play,

"Aristocrats,"

uggests

some

plausible

reactionsto

the idea of reeducation

hrough

abour. The character

onya,

who laterbecomes

a hero of

construction,

irst ismisses reeducation

ompletely:

It's all

claptrap,

lies

every

bit of it to hell with ll this

talk

about

mouldingpeople's

characters

over

again, making

new

people

out

of

'em,

training

em it's

newspaper

bunk...."

Some also

try

o use 'reeducation'

to their wn

advantage.

One inmate

tells Sonya, "There's nothing eforged r reformed bout me and all thisplay-

acting

isn't worth

god-damn...

Let's admit

straight

ut to each

other

we're

working

o

get

our sentences

reduced."

StroiteVBama

and the

departmental apers

made the

privileges

for shock-

workers nd Stakhanovites

well

known.

n

one

issue,

a

correspondent

hares

the

experience

of

visiting

the Stakhanovite

residence.49

The

correspondent

eems

particularly

mpressed

by

the cleanliness

and orderliness

f the

barracks,

s

well

as one Stakhanovite's

description

f the

food

cookies,

sausage,

and

more

that

he was able

to

buy

with the

money

he had earned.

A

bulletin

fromthe

third

department

contains a

story linking

work

output

to rations

received.

Competitions

etween

departments

r

phalanxes

could

result

n

great

rewards

for

the

winners,

and

the

papers

do

not

shy

away

from

making

these

rewards

known.51

On several

occasions,

the

papers

also indicate

that

hard,

productive

labour

would result

n

early

release.52

One

major privilege

was

to have

a

photograph

r sketch nd/or

nformation

about

oneself

appear

in the

pages

of StroiteV

ama or a

departmental

aper.

The

entire

back

page

of the

1

May

1934 issue

of StroiteV

ama

features

n article

titled, "The best of the best in the strugglefor the early completion of

construction."53

his

page

contains

fifteen

ketches

of different

orkers,

with a

short

blurb

on each

one.

Love of

work and

plan

fulfillment

igure

rominently.

48

Pogodin,

Aristocrats"

02 and

279.

49

"V

gostiakh

stakhanovtsa,"

n

SB

No. 15

268):

2 March

936,

fiche 90.

50

"Udarniki

e

v

sehet,

lodyriam

ochet,"

n SB: biulleten'

-go

otdeleniia,

o.

211

(343):

15 October

934,

fiche 58.

51

See,

for

xample,

Konkurs,"

n

SB: biulleten'

-go

otdeleniia,

o.

21

(201):

14

March1935,fiche 20.

52

See,

for

xample,

Luchshim-

'gota,"

n SB No.

55

(243):

7 November

935,

fiche

255.

53

"Luchshie

z

luchshikh

bor'be

a

dosrochnoe

konchanie

troitel'stva,"

n SB

No

20(120):

1

May

1

34,

fiche 04.



14/26

The

Gulag

Newspapers

30

1

The

BAMlag press

thus

employed

xamples

s a means of motivationnd

reeducation.

t s worth

oting

hat hisholds

rue ot

nly

or

amp

nmates,

ut

also for the

militarized

uard

VOKhR

voenizirovannaia

khrana).

Zorkii

strelok,

ublished

nly

for he

VOKhR,

contains

regular

ection

itled,

follow

the

xample"

berite

rimer).54

he inmates

erenot he

onlygroup

n

need

of

reeducation.55

When one

speaks

of corrective'abour

n

the

USSR,

the

building

f the

White ea-Baltic

Canal

provides

he

xample.

tories f

the anal's

construction

litter

he

earlyBAMlag press.

The

canal

workers

ompleted

he

227 km

ong

canal

in less than

two

years

September

931

May

1933).56

Soviet

leaders

praised

the

canal construction

or

ts educational

ffects.

ndeed,

the

Gulag

released

2,484

prisoners

ndhanded

9,516

others

educed

entences

ollowing

the anal's

completion.57

romises f

early

elease or

ood

work

hus ontained

some

truth.

he

BAMlag press

treated

hecanal

workers

more s

heroes

han

prisoners.

he 15

August

933

headline

n StroiteV

ama

reads,

Work

harder

and

better han

efore:

work s

the

White ea-Baltic

Canal

workers

id."58

he

article

iscusses

ew

qualifications

any

anal

workers

eceived,

nd

calls

upon

BAMlag inmates o bring he "enthusiasm"nd "tempos" f theWhiteSea-

Baltic Canal

camp

to their wn

labour.

Shock-workers"

rom

he canal

were

sent o

BAMlag

following

he anal's

completion.

ront-page

rticles

ppear

n

StoiteV

ama

and the

departmental

apers

welcoming

hese

workers

with

n

"ardent

hello,"

a

"railroad-soldier

ello,"

and

heralding

hem

s the

shock-

59

workers

or he

onstruction

fthe

BAM.

One

also

had

to learn

what

ehaviour

o avoid.

Shaming

ituals

'ritual'

n

the

sense

of a

prescribed

orm)

layed

an

important

ole

in

this educative

54

Zorkii

trelok,

iche

5.

55

See

Ivanova,

Labor

Camp

Socialism,

hapter

hree,

Gulag

Personnel"

27-84.

Ivanova

frequently

entions

he

ow educational

evels

ofthe

amps'

taff

nd

notes

hat

the

Gulag

was

a reeducation

ystem

ot

only

for

nmates,

ut also

for

deviant

NKVD

members

see

141).

56

Pohl,

talinist

enal

System

. See

Also

Ruder,

Making

Historyor

Stalin

or

more

on

the onstruction

f the

White ea-Baltic

Canal.

57

Pohl,

talinist

enal

System

3.

58

"Rabott1

ol'she

luchshe,

hem

an'she:

abott'

ak,

ak

rabotali

elmorstroevtsy,"

in SBNo. 55: 15August 933, iche 98.

59

"Udarnomu

triadu

elbaltkombinata

lamennyi

rivet "

n SB na

trasse

No.

12:

11

March

1934,

fiche

18;

"Putearmeiskii

rivet,"

n

SB

No. 10

(105):

19

February

934,

fiche

03;

"Privet

darnym

alangam

elmorstroevtsev,"

n

SB

No. 48:

17

July

933,

fiche

97.



15/26

302 Wilson T.

Bell

process. In theBAMlag press,such rituals onsistedof "black boards" (chernaia

doska),

sometimescalled

"black

boards

of shame" as well as other

rticles and

cartoons

casting

shame

on individuals. One's name would

appear

in

such

instances

usually

for

he under- ulfillmentf work-norms

ut oftenfor

not

iving

up

to

Bolshevik

values of

hard work

and

proper iving.

A black board

appearing

in

the fifth

epartment's

aper

makes

explicit

the

types

of behaviour

thatwould

not

be tolerated: One

inmate,

L. M.

Pliushchev,

appeared

on

the board as

a

"truant nd

drunkard."

nmates

Belokhvostov,

Muzykantov,

Dashkov, Fedorov,

and Tsarev

are listed as

"loafers,

slackers

[lezheboki],

deserters

from he work

front,and enemies of construction."An educator is admonished for the

"inactivity"

and

"breakdown"

of

cultural-educational

work.

In this

particular

issue,

the black board

appears

next to

a "red board"

at the bottomof the

front

page.

The red board

lists the "best shock-workers."

his

type

of

juxtaposition

between

proper

and incorrect ehaviour

gave

the

readership

clear idea of

how

to act. The

black boards often

nclude lists

of

phalanx

leaders and

educators,

who have

in

some

way

failed

in

their duties.61

The inclusion

of

workers

and

educators

indicates

that abour was

not the

only

means

of

reeducation,

despite

several

articles

claiming

this to be

the case.62

Indeed,

leading

a cultured

way

of

life was a

key aspect

of the

educative

process.

The

BAMlag press

endeavored to

instillvalues

of kul'turnost'

n

the

camp

population.

In order to become

reeducated,

one

needed

knowledge

of

three

separate

subjects:

(1)

high

culture,

2)

the

USSR,

and

(3)

how

to

lead a

proper

way

of

life. In order

to

prove

one's

mastery

over such

subjects,

one

could

become

an

active

participant

n the KVCh

and the

camp press,

usually

as a

lagkor

pl. lagkory),

r

camp-correspondent.

Although

high'

culture s

not featured

rominently

n the

BAMlag press,

t

appears frequentlynough

to

warrant

ttention.

he

presence

of a

wide

variety

of cultural

material indicates

that

during

the

1930s,

at

least,

economic

exploitation

was

not the

press' only purpose.

In

1936,

the KVCh

published

the

paper,

Literatura

i

iskusstvo

Bamlaga

("Literature

nd

Art of

BAMlag"),

as

a

supplement

to Stroitel1

Bama.

This

two-page

paper

appeared

at least

twelve

60

"Chernaia

oska,"

n SB: biulleten

-go

otdeleniia

No.

21: 23 March

1934,

fiche

574.

61 See,"Chernaia oskapozora,"n SB: biulleten'-gootdeleniia o 80 (260): 9 June

1935,

fiche

23.

62

See,

for

xample,

Perevospityvat1

orko herez

rud,

SB:

biulleten'

-go

otdeleniia

No. 80

(260):

9 June

935,

fiche

23.,

nd

"V trude

ozhdaetsia

ovyi

helovek,"

n SB:

biulleten'

-go

otdeleniia

o

127

262):

22 June

934,

iche 54.



16/26

The

Gulag

Newspapers

303

times,

usually

with a

print-run

f

5,000

copies.63

The

April

1936 issue

(no. 2)

lets readers

n

on current ebates on

literature

within he

greater

oviet

society.

Page

two contains

lengthy

rticle,

riginally ublished

n

Literaturnaia

gazeta,

with the

title,

On formalism nd

naturalism

n

literature." iteratura

iskusstvo

Bamlaga

also features

rominent

ussian

literary igures, ast

and

present.

The

July

1936 issue

is

devoted

to

Pushkin;

ssue number wo contains everal

poems

by

Vladimir

Maiakovskii;

and issue number

seven focuses on

the life and

writings

f

Gor'kii.

Throughout, oetry ppears

about events

within he Soviet

Union,mostnotably

he 1936 Constitution.

Other

evidence of

'high'

culture

n

the

Gulag

can be found

n the

regular

camp press.

Two

fascinating

rticles

appear

in the 5

August

1936 issue of

StroiteV

Bama.65

The first iscusses

the

evolution

of a

"string

ircle"

(strunnyi

kruzhok)

nto

a "decent"

(neplokho)

percussion

band

(shumovoi

orkestr)

s

it

expanded.

Although

the author of

the article and

leader of the

band

complains

about

the insufficient umber f

instrumentsnd

lack of sheet

music,

the

group

had been able

to

play

concertsfor

heir

halanx,

a

village

of

collective

farmers,

nd for the

headquarters

of

the fifteenth

epartment.

Most

of the

musicians seem to have been self-taughtsamouchki), but had managed to

become

musically

literate.

The second

article relates

the difficulties

n

establishing

a

symphony

orchestra

n

BAMlag.

Although

such

an ensemble

"would

be a valuable

contribution

o the

cultural life"

in the

camp,

the

instruction

rdering

ts

completion

had

long

been

ignored.

This seems

to have

been

due

in

part

to

a recalcitrant

onductor,

who had

recently

ed

a smaller

group

in

a

successful

concert

tour of "almost

all

of the

departments

n the

railroad."

Eventually,

however,

a small

(nebol'shoi)

orchestra

was

established,

nd at the

time

of the

article's

publication

t

had

begun

its

"painstaking

work...

to become

themostexemplary nd best in theregion."Articleson dramagroupsand theatre

performances

lso

occasionally

turn

p

in

the

papers

of the

BAMlag press.

63

See

Literatura

iskusstvo

amlaga,

fiche327.

The

GULAG

Press,

1920-1937

contains

ssues

1-12;

it is

unclear

whether

ublications

ontinued

ollowing

ssue

12

(August,

936).

Issues

1

and

10 have a

print-run

f

10,000,

ssues

2

and

3:

1,000,

nd

issue4:

1,500;

he

emaining

ach

have

print-run

f

5,000

copies.

64

See

especially

iteratura

iskusstvo

amlaga

No.

9 and

No.

1

,

fiche 27.

65 "Shumovoi rkestr"nd "Simfonicheskiirkestr,"n SB No. 87 (340): 5 August

1936,

fiche 86.

66

See,

for

example,

O rabote

dramkruzhka

sen'evskoi,"

n

SB:

biulleten'

-ogo

otdeleniiaNo.

147

(282):

16

July

934,

fiche

55.

For

moreon

BAMlag

culture,

ee

Lahusen,

ow

Life

Writeshe

Book

44-50.



17/26

304

Wilson

T. Bell

Perhaps heepitome f high'culture n theBAMlag press s the iterary

journal,

utearmeets67 t had

a

print-run

f 3000

copies per

ssue,

nd

usually

contained 5-50

pages.

The

ournal

onsists

mainly

f socialist-realist

oetry

nd

short

tories,

written

y

the nmates. t is

beyond

he

scope

of this

paper

to

discuss these

literary

ontributions

n

detail,

but suffice t to

say

that,

not

surprisingly,

ostof the stories nd

poems

take abour r the

building

f the

railroad

s their

ubject.

ssue number

hree,

or

xample,

ontains

oems

on

shock-work

abour,

he

building

f the second

track,

song

of

the railroad

workers,

nd so on. Vasilii

Azhaev,

uthor f the 1948 Stalin-Prize

inning

novel, ar FromMoscow,

ublished

is firsttoriesnthe

ages

oPutearmeets,

as

a

BAMlag

inmate

n

the mid-

930s.69

homas

Lahusen,

n

his

study

f

Azhaev's life and

writings,

howshow Far

FromMoscow was based

on real

occurrences

n

the Soviet Far

East,

and

the

protagonists

ased on

persons

n

Azhaev's

ife,70

lurring

hedistinctionsetween

rt nd

reality.'

The secondkul'turnost'-related

eansof reeducation

nvolved

nformation

about

he ovietUnion.

n order o becomenewSoviet

men nd

women,

nmates

had to know

something

bout their

ountry.

ncluded

n this

category

re

speechesby importantoliticalfigures

nd information

bout

key

events nd

movements

such

as Stakhanovism

nd the debates

betweenformalism

nd

naturalism,

s noted

above)

both

within he Soviet

Union,

nd

occasionally,

beyond

tsborders.

ll of this

uggests

hat

he

regime,

t least

n the

rhetoric,

considered

ts

prisoners

o

be

part

of

Soviet

society.

The

papers

inked he

inmates o the

utsideworld.

There

re

many peeches

y

Soviet

eaders

ncluded

n

the

pages

of

StroiteV

Bama.

A

six-page

eport

doklad)

by

Molotov

itled,

The Plan and

Our Tasks"

monopolizes

he

8

January

936 ssue.71

Molotov's

words

race

he

pages

once

again n Decemberna long peech n the 1936Constitution.7. Vyshinsky's

(the

procurator

f

the

USSR)

1936

speech

n the

Trotskyite-Zinovievite

errorist

67

See

Putearmeets,

iche

15-19,

nd

Lahusen,

How

Life

Writes

he

Book

44-54,

for

more

n the

ournal

68

See

"Udarnyi

rud,"

Na

stroike

torykh

utei,"

nd

"Pesnia

putearmeitsev,"

n

Putearmeets

o. 3:

October,

935,

fiche

6-17.

69

Lahusen,

ow

Life

Writes

heBook

16

70

See

Lahusen,

ow

Life

Writeshe

Book,

sp.

5.

71

"Plan nashi

adachi,"

n

SB

No. 5

(258)

28

January

936,

iche

89.

72

"Rech' tov.

V.M.

Molotova

o novoi

Konstitutsii,"

n

SB

No.

117

(370):

17

December

936,

fiche

16.



18/26

The

Gulag

Newspapers

305

centre an be foundnStroiteV ama's

pages.

And

although

peeches y

other

key figures

ften

ppear,74

he

figure

f Stalin

s,

not

surprisingly,

he most

exalted. talin's

peech

from hefirstll-union

takhanoviteonference

ppears

in

the28 November 935

ssue;

earlier hat

ear,

is

address o the

graduates

f

theRed

Army cademy

an be

found;

AMlag

inmates

ould

also

read

Stalin's

words on the 1936 Constitution.75

four-page iography

f

Stalin was

published

n

21

December 936.76

Reeducation

lso

involved

t

least a

rudimentarynderstanding

f current

affairs. he Stakhanovite ovement nd the 1936 Constitutionave already

beenmentioned.

ndeed,

arge

ortions

f

theConstitutionere

ublished

n two

1936

issues.77 he

4

July

ssue's

headline,

aken

from

ravda,

reads,

"The

78

Soviet

Constitution:n inexhaustibleource

of

political

ducation."

Lagkory

made

xplicit

he

ink

etween heConstitution

ndthe

e-forgingrocess.

n

the

same

4

July

ssue,

which ontains umerous rticles

nd blurbs

praising

he

Constitutionnd

the

USSR,

one

lagkor

wrote

f his

experience

tudying

he

Constitution.

e

quotes

his fellow ailroad

workers:

Every ursuit

n

the

tudy

of the

Constitution

roject...

is for us an

amazing

school

[experience]

[zamechatel'naiahkola]"79n itsreportingn theConstitution,troiteVama

differedittle

rom he

regular

oviet

press.

n

July

936,

for

xample,

here

re

73

"Protsess

Trotskistogo-zinov'evskogo

errori

ticheskogo

sentra,"

n SB No.

100

(353),

fiche

15.

74

See,

for

xample,

Plenum

sentral'nogo

omiteta

KB(b),"

in SB No.

2

(255):

8

January

936,

fiche

89;

and

a

speech

y

a.

lakovlev,

Vpered,

dol'neishemu

od"emu

zhivotnovodstva "

n

SB No.

16(269):

3 March

1936,

fiche 90.

I

have

not ncluded

ere

the numerous

rders

prikazy)

hat make

their

way

into StroiteV

ama and the

departmentalulletins. heseprikazyften omefromagoda,BermanheadofGulag),

or

Frenkel'.

75

"Rech1

ovarishcha talina

na

pervom

sesoiuznom

oveshchanii

takhanovtsev,"

n

SB

No. 56

(245):

28 November

1935,

fiche

256;

"Rech' Tovarishcha

talina

v

kremlevskoi

vortse a

vypuski

kadamikov

rasnoi rmii

maia 1935

roda,"

n SB No.

22

(212):

17

May

1935,

fiche

252;

and

"Doklad tovarishcha

talina

. V. o

proekte

konstitutsiioiuza

SSR,"

in

SB

No.

11

(368):

4

December

936,

fiche

16.

76

"Zhizn1 osifa

Vissarionovicha

talina,"

n

SB

No. 118

(371):

21 December

936,

fiche 17.

77

See "Konstitutsiia

Osnovnoi zakon)

Soiuza Sovetskikh

Sotsialisticheskikh

Respublik," B No. 54 (307): 20 June1936, fiche593 and SB No. 116 (368): 14

December

936,

fiche 16.

78

"Sovetskaia

Konstitutsiia

neischerpaemyi

stochnik

oliticheskogo

ospitaniia"

n

SB No. 63

(316):

4

July

936,

fiche 84.

79

See "Konstitutsiia

trany

otsializma,"

n SB No. 63

(3

1

):

4

July

36,

fiche

84.



19/26

306 Wilson

T. Bell

fewerssueswith rticles elatingo theConstitutionhan nPravda or zvestiia,

but

slightly

more than

in

neighbouring

Khabarovsk's

major paper,

80

Tikhookeanskaia

azeta.

Inmateswere lso made

well

aware

f other

mportant

vents f

this

eriod.

The

threat f war nd events

n

Germany igure rominently

n several ssues

of

Stroitel'

ama;

Litvinov's isit

o theUnited

tates,

vents

n

China

nd

Japan,

and a

lengthy

rticle

omparing

ocialist

nd

capitalist

ountries,

ith

material

8

1

takenfrom

ravda and

Izvestiia,

lso

appear.

In

several

ssues,

one finds

section

titled,

Around

the Soviet

Union,"

Po

Sovetskomu

oiuzu)

which

contains rticles f ntereston

anything

rom occer o

ndustry

fromarious

82

Soviet

newspapers.

The

third nd final

spect

f

education

hrough

ul'turnost'

elates

o

eading

a

proper

way

of life.

ncludedhere

re conduct

hygiene,

ood

manners,

tc.),

literacy,

nd

physical

ulture.

Many

articles

make t clear

that he

regime mphasized

he

mportance

f

leading

healthy ay

of life

zdorovyi yt).

Often hese tems

ink

healthy

lifestyle

o ncreased

roduction.

ne

supplement

prilozhenie)

o Stroitel'

ama

carries he logan:

To

struggle

or

healthy ay

of

ife

means

o

struggle

or

healthy roduction."84

n

article

rom 7

August

934 titled

The

struggle

or

80

See Pravda

(Moscow), July

1936,

nos 179

(6785)-

209

(6815);

Izvestiia

(Moscow),

July

1936,

nos 152

(6009}-

176

(6033);

Tikhookeanskaia

azeta

(Khabarovsk),

os 150

3325)-

174

3349)

and

SB,

July

936,

nos 62

(315)-

83

(336),

fiche 84-585.

Looking

t the

July

936 issues

for ll

four

apers,

found

hat

ravda

contained

rticles

nd/or

ections

irectlyelating

o theConstitution

n

all

of ts

ssues;

Izvestiia

n all but

one;

Tikhookeanskaia

azeta

in

roughly

alf

12

out

of 23

available

issues);

nd

SB

in

roughly

wo-thirds

14

out

of

22

available

ssues).

I See

"Sobytiia

Germanii,"

nSB No. 51

(146):

13

July

934,fiche 07;

"Sekretnye

vooruzheniia

Germanii,"

n

SB

No. 78

(331):

25

July

1936,

fiche

585;

"Voina

imperialisticheskoi

oine "

n SB No.

62

(157):

13

August

934,

iche

08;

"K

priznaniiu

SSSR

Amerikoi:

ov.

Litvinov

Amerike,"

n SB No. 88:

7 December

933,

fiche

01;

"Sobytiia

Kitae,"

n SB No.

51

(304):

14

June

1936,

fiche

93;

"Teradtsi,

agano

Anta obsuzhdaiut

neshniuiu

olitiku

aponii,"

n SB

No. 51

(304):

14 June

936,

fiche

593.

82

See,

for

xample,

Po Sovetskomu

oiuzu,"

n

SB

No.

2

(255):

8

January

936,

fiche

89.

83

See,

for

xample, Uspekhi

piatidnevnika

ul'tury

akrepit'

o

kontsa

troiki,"

n

SB: biulleten' -ogootdeleniiaNo. 89 (269): 27 June 935,fiche 23; "Kakmyvedem

bor'bu

a

zdorovyi

yt,"

n SB na

vtorykhutiakh

No.

4

(139):

6

January

934,

fiche

547;

and "Chtob

ne

byl

bytom rotsent

obit

daesh'

na stroike

dorovyi

yt,"

n

SB

na

vtorykhutiakh

o. 65: 28

August

933,

fiche 40.

84

"Za

zdorovyi

yt,"

n Prilozhenie

gazete

"Stroitel'

ama,

July

34,

fiche

07.



20/26

The

Gulag Newspapers

307

Of

[proper] way

of life is the

struggle

or

the

plan" provides

another

xample

of

this link. The article

mentions the fifth

department's

31st

phalanx,

which

"reached storm

tempos"

(nachali shturmovymiempami)

n

part

because of

its

simultaneousefforts

n

improving uality

of life for ts members.

Such efforts

included

cleaning

the

barracks nd

eating

rea

and

engaging

n

"cultural"

work.

As

indicated

above,

there s much

thatcan be

subsumed under the

heading

"proper

way

of life."

A "red corner"

n

each of

the barracks

was a

necessity.86

The

numerous

newspaper

blurbs and cartoons

about

alcoholism

suggest

that

abstinence played a role in one's re-forging. The KVCh also placed

tremendous

mportance

n

literacy.

Among

BAMlag's

manypublications

an

be

found Startern

ramotnymi

"Becoming

Literate").88

This

newspaper

appeared

three

times

per

month

with a

print-run

f

between

one

and three

thousand.

A

variety

of articles

appear

in

its

pages,

from

nformation

bout the

Russian

language,

to

general

news

items,

to mathematical

problems.

The effort

t

creating

and

maintaining

ibraries

n the

camps

some

were

more

successful

89

than

others

also indicates

the

mportance

f

literacy

n the

educative

process.

Physical

culture

an be

seen as

another

way

of

life"

category.

One

finds

n the

pages of Putearmeets instructions n how to play tetherball, and several

references

o

volleyball

matches

in

the

pages

of Stroitel'

Bama.

One

article,

which

speaks

of

the

need

to "instill

a

sanitary

minimum"

nto the

lives of

the

inmates,

ncludes

diagrams

nd

instructions

n

calisthenics.

85

"Bor'ba

a

byt-

bor'ba

a

plan,"

n SB

No. 64

(

1

9):

1

August

34,

fiche

09.

86

For

a

description

f a "red

corner,"

ee

"Krasnye golki

ochagi

kul'tury,"

n

One Day in the Life of Educator Khrushchev Labour and Kul_turnost_ in the Gulag Newspapers

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Transcript of One Day in the Life of Educator Khrushchev Labour and Kul_turnost_ in the Gulag Newspapers