THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM: AN UPDATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90T00114R000500060001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 14, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 9, 1987
• Content Type: REPORT

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THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM: AN UPDATE
The Gulag: Still a Soviet Reality
The Soviet Union continues to maintain a large forced labor
system that extends to nearly every region of the country
(figure 1). Forced labor in the USSR is far more than a
penal system to support enforcement of criminal codes: it is
an integral part of the Soviet economy as well as a key
mechanism for intimidating Soviet citizens into compliance
with the Kremlin's political norms.
Despite Gorbachev's widely touted Glasnost, analysis of
information
indicates that the
number of forced laborers has grown to over 4.5 million from
the 4 million estimated in the late 1970s and now accounts
for 3 percent of the total Soviet labor force.
o CONFINED forced laborers number about 2.3 million:
--About 2 million are confined in some 1200 heavily
secured forced labor camps (see figure 2); 250,000
more are in urban prisons or colony settlements.
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--The yearly growth rate of camp population has
averaged 1.9 percent since 1977--nearly twice
that of the Soviet labor force.
--New camps are being built in regions undergoing
economic expansion: the Volga, West Siberia, East
Siberia, and the Soviet Far East (figure 3).
o UNCONFINED forced laborers are estimated at 2.2 million:
--Parolees--those released from forced labor camps to
finish their sentences at construction projects--
probably number over half a million.
--Probationers--those sentenced directly to labor
projects called by the Soviets "compulsory labor
without confinement"--are estimated at 1.6 million
(figure 4).
o The ways in which Moscow uses forced laborers to
support the ECONOMY have varied little over the years:
--Construction and manufacturing are still the most
prevalent economic activities for forced laborers.
--The number of forced laborers engaged in logging
has declined slightly, but the Soviets are using
them to exploit new timber areas in East Siberia.
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o INCREASES in the growth rate of the system since
1977 may reflect continuing economic, social,
and political problems and policies:
--Soviet labor shortages, especially in unskilled
labor or in unattractive or difficult-jobs, have
intensified and require increased supplements of
forced labor.
--Large-scale construction projects--industries,
pipelines, and railroads--and continuing economic
expansion to outlying regions have exacerbated
the labor shortages.
-Heightened campaigns against alcoholism, crime,
and corruption have produced more forced laborers
and required an expansion of the camp network.
Historic Comparisons
Forced labor has been an important part of the Soviet
political and economic scene for more than 50 years. Its
continued existence, despite international pressures and
condemnation for human rights abuses, indicates that Moscow
believes the benefits of the system outweigh the negatives.
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While the number of forced laborers has varied somewhat
during different eras, the integration of this labor force
into the national economy has remained a constant policy.
o STALIN'S regime molded the forced labor system into a
significant economic asset:
--His collectivization policy sent millions of
peasants, especially Ukrainians, into exile or to
forced labor camps.
--Soviet 5-Year Plans made ample use of forced labor
in large construction projects, and the system
grew to about 2 million by the early 1930s.
--Large numbers of forced laborers were used in the
expanding timber industry in the north and in gold
mining operations in the remote Kolyma River area
of northeastern Siberia. Cruel treatment,
inadequate food, frigid cold, and damp working
conditions at Kolyma resulted in an extremely
high mortality rate--estimated at over 3 million
during the 15- to 20-year period of operation.
--During World War II, Stalin deported many
displaced persons--Poles, Balts, and others--to the
Soviet forced labor system; German POWs and
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non-Russian minorities accused of collaboration
swelled the ranks to some 15 million by 1947.
o The KHRUSHCHEV era gave rise to some outward changes
but, in reality, it was a revitalization period for the
forced labor system:
--In the immediate aftermath of Stalin's death,
reforms were initiated and the number o.f
forced laborers was reduced drastically.
--In 1964 and in 1970, however, the Soviets
instituted new programs for unconfined forced labor
(parolees/probationers) that sent many to
construction sites of new industries, often
chemical plants.
--Toward the end of the 1960s, criminal penalties
also were toughened as the crime rate increased.
o The LAST TEN YEARS has seen a gradual increase in
numbers of forced laborers and their continued use in
the economy:
--By 1977, confined and unconfined forced laborers
in the Soviet Union totalled about 4 million.
--Since Brezhnev, campaigns against crime and
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corruption have intensified; both Andropov and
Chernenko pressed this activity.
--Crackdowns on dissidents--refusniks, human rights
activists, religious nonconformists, minority
nationalists--also have added slightly to the
forced labor population. We estimate that 3,000 to
5,000 Soviet citizens have been convicted of
"political crimes" including several dozen Catholic
activists from Lithuania, Latvia, and W. Ukraine.
--The Gorbachev regime has given early release to
over 125 human rights activists--including nine
Catholic activists--since January 1987. However,
under Gorbachev, the anti-alcohol and
anti-corruption campaigns have resulted in the
incarceration of possibly 150,000 new prisoners.
Economic Role
Forced laborers continue to make up an important, though
small (3 percent), segment of the Soviet labor force. Their
current role in the Soviet economy mirrors the way forced
labor has been used in certain industries and regions for
more than 50 years (figure 5).
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o CONSTRUCTION activity has been an effective means for
the Soviets to use forced laborers:
--Some forced labor camps are set up at construction
sites of urban apartments, hotels, and government
buildings.
--Confined forced laborers still work in construction
of industries.
--Most unconfined forced laborers are sent to remote
construction sites of major projects, including
industries, pipelines, railroads, and housing.
o MANUFACTURING uses the largest number of confined forced
--About 1.2 million forced laborers in 732 camps now
engage in some sort of manufacturing; this activity
showed the largest increase since 1977 (figure 6).
--Products include: agricultural machinery;
auto batteries, gears, mufflers, and tires;
electric motors; radio/TV components and cabinets;
pipes and pipe fittings; bags; boxes; clothing;
gloves; shoes; and many wooden goods such as doors,
furniture, chess sets, and barrels.
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o LOGGING and WOOD PROCESSING still occupies many forced
laborers in remote regions as it did in the 1930s:
--Many camps are located at the edge of dense taiga
forests in the northern part of European USSR and
the Urals area; some are abandoned as areas are
logged out and forced laborers move to new camps.
--New camps are springing up in virgin forests of
East Siberia as the timber industry begins to
expand eastward.
o MINING or mineral processsing remains an common activity
for forced laborers engaged in strenuous and sometimes
dangerous work:
--Forced labor camps are located at or near mining
areas for: gold, uranium, coal, limestone, stone,
clay (for bricks), sand, and gravel.
--At some mines prisoners are used in auxiliary work
on the surface, such as cutting timber in support
of mining operations.
--A new forced labor camp at the site of a crushed
rock plant in northern West Siberia was probably
needed because of increased demand for the product
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and because the Arctic climate, isolation, and hard
work would be unattractive to free labor.
o AGRICULTURAL work for forced laborers is minimal.
Conditions at Camps
Former prisoners reaffirm that the Soviets maintain
abominable living and working conditions for forced laborers
in camps and violate basic human rights through policies
that debilitate and degrade prisoners.
o WORKING CONDITIONS at camps lead directly to injury
or indirectly to health problems:
--In many manufacturing industries prisoners endure
hazardous and unventilated surroundings; they
operate defective machinery and wear no protective
gear.
--Working hours often exceed the 8-hour day,
6-day week schedule established by Soviet law; camp
officials may extend workdays to meet production
goals or prisoners may work longer to fulfill
unrealistic production quotas required to get full
food rations.
--Climate and terrain also may add to the miseries,
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especially in the cold and swampy northern regions;
prisoners work in almost all weather conditions,
often without adequate clothing, boots, and gloves.
o LIVING CONDITIONS at the camps also are hazardous to
forced laborers' health:
--Inadequate food stands out as one of the most
inhumane and widespread features of the system; the
insufficient amounts and extremely poor quality,
often rotten, are confirmed by most former inmates.
--Punishment for camp infractions includes beatings,
isolation, and reduced diet.
--Medical care is of marginal quality and often
arbitrarily applied; several dissidents--who as a
group receive the harshest treatment in camps and
prisons--have died within the last few years.
--An estimated 400 Christian and Jewish
prisoners of conscience are often prevented from
practicing their religion.
Outlook
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The size of the Soviet forced labor population in the Soviet
economy will probably continue to increase at about the same
rate as in recent years because:
--The difficulty in attracting free labor to
unskilled jobs in construction and in resource
development projects in remote regions will
maintain the pressure to use forced laborers.
--The use of unconfined forced laborers is an
economic approach to punishment that supplements
free labor in selected industries and regions.
--The campaigns against crime and corruption, as well
as slack labor and other
economic crimes will
probably continue under Gorbachev and will provide
a continuing pool of forced laborers.
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