Gulag: A History

Dense with information and a long read, but Anne Applebaum writes extremely well making this important history very accessible. Excellent book.

Equality. Brotherhood. Soviet slave labor. For profit? Downfall. These are the words that describe the progression from liberal idealism to the imprisonment and deportation of over 28 million Soviet citizens and foreigners to what were called the Gulags, labor camps spread out across much of the now defunct Soviet Union that held those deemed "criminals" and "politicals." Not until 1962 when Aleksandr's Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published did the rest of the world recognize that the Soviet vision of a worker's paradise was nothing more than barbed wire and bondage.Such overwhelming numbers should make anyone pause for a moment and question why people were willing to tolerate such abuse. While there may not be an easy answer to this question, author Anne Applebaum poses an even more daring question: Why has the world paid so little attention to a system of oppression that destroyed the lives of millions of people? In her introduction, for example, Applebaum makes a compelling argument when she describes American and West European tourists purchasing t-shirts and memorabilia from the Stalinist Soviet era. Would those same tourists in their right mind be caught wearing a Nazi armband or a t-shirt with Hitler's image on it? We know that Hitler and the Nazis stood for racial superiority and Social Darwinism, but are the Communist crimes against humanity less tragic because their stated goal of a classless society was somehow nobler?This question Applebaum poses is worth the price and time a reader will spend examining the history, the life, and the downfall of the Gulag in the former Soviet Union. In Part One: The Origins of the Gulag, 1917-1939 Applebaum briefly contrasts prison camps under the Czars to that of the Bolsheviks, where Lenin deemed those who were "class enemies" were to be sent to the camps initially to live in separate quarters from the criminals. There is the Great Turning Point of 1929 when Maxim Gorky, an author initially critical of Bolshevik power, visited and then wrote a glowing review of Solovetsky prison, even though the event was clearly staged. This was also the year that Joseph Stalin took a personal interest in the Gulag so that he could generate profits for the country's industrialization plan. His inane love affair with constructing the White Sea Canal using Gulag laborers would lead to the deaths of over 25,000 prisoners, a pyric victory considering that it was built so poorly that no ships have sailed on it since its completion. When I read that Stalin was using slavery as a means of generating wealth, the world should have recognized that Communism was not that different from Fascism.What starts out as a macro analysis of a bygone prison system quickly becomes personal in Part Two: Life and Work in the Camps. There are many interesting chapters in this section, but two that stand out are the chapters on arrests and the prisoners. The decision to arrest people can at best be described as "nonsensical" and at its worst deliberate. Those who were deemed kulaks or "prosperous" peasants, those who somehow had contact with foreigners or were labeled foreigners, and those pegged as "socially dangerous elements" found themselves quickly arrested and either deported, shot, or sentenced to a prison camp, whose severity depended on their actions against the state. Of particular interest is the culture of the Gulag in terms of those deemed criminals or politicals. Those who were considered politically subversive were reviled more than criminals who had committed heinous crimes such as rape and murder.Finally, there is the apex and rapid downfall of the Gulag, where Applebaum provides more statistics on life inside during World War II. In 1941, for example, over 352,000 prisoners died, and by the end of the war more than two million would perish. Near the end and right after the war, she also lists the thousands of foreign nationals and Soviet minorities who were deported or were arrested. Of particular interest are the thousands of ethnic Muslims such as Chechens and Tartars who were forced from their lands and were not allowed to return. Applebaum does not explicitly state this, but one can surmise that much of the terrorism we encounter today can be traced back to the decisions of Joseph Stalin. Surprisingly, in 1953, right after Stalin's death, there were close to 2.5 million prisoners in a Gulag, the highest at any point. While the Gulag officially ended after Stalin's death, there were still political dissidents in prison camps well into the 1980s under Gorbachev.What is particularly incredible about Applebaum's book is her ability to capture the sentiments of former Soviet citizens during and after the era of the Gulag. In her travels in the former Soviet Union, Applebaum describes people's mostly distained reactions when they discovered her interest in the Gulag. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent and current president of Russia, reflects this unwillingness to own up to the past other than to mention that he sees no reason to dwell upon it. Right after World War II, West Germans underwent "de-Nazification" so that they could regain their humanity. Based on Applebaum's book, shouldn't the world expect the same from Russians? Last time I checked, actions speak louder than even the right words.

Gulag by Anne Applebaum is an essential work surveying the Soviet Gulag beginning in 1921. It is an excellent chronicle of the Gulag camps taking both a chronological survey, and a thematic perspective. The chronological chapters jumped too much in the time periods to have a sense of the author’s direction. However, Part two s very effective reflecting life in the camps from every aspect from being transported to the camps, groups of prisoners, guards, women, work, food, and simply daily living. There is liberal use of quotations that breathes life into the prison camps and the daily struggles for survival. She also goes into great detail how the camps evolved and changed over time covered. The government’s prison policies are well documented beginning with Lenin through Gorbachev.In the work Applebaum set a goal to include the prison camps and abuses under the Soviet Eastern European satellite countries. This chapter is lengthy and merely a collection of facts and figures and does not provide any of the qualitative struggles discussed in part 2. These chapters are included by the author to provide a comprehensive survey of the Soviet Gulag.With access to greater documentation Gulag is an excellent and more comprehensive work that updates Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago published in the West during the 1970s. I recommend reading A Day in the Life of Denis Ivanovich by Solzhenitsyn which gives a fictional account of one day in a prison labor camp published in the West in 1962-63. It is one book that has left a memorable impression on me.Due to the lack of information and contradictions in documents she notes the difficulties in assessing how many people entered the Gulag. In an appendix she provides a discussion of many people were impacted. Relying on other studies she that 6 t0 7 million people exiled and 28.7 forced laborers entered the Gulag.I found the introduction and epilogue mandatory reading. Kindle readers need to be aware that the book opens at chapter one and need to go back to the introduction. Her summary is outstanding and points out that the Gulag does receives very little attention in comparison to the NAZI Holocaust. In an epilogue she points out that Russia has not confronted its past atrocities, and is becoming a forgotten memory with the likelihood that history will repeat itself.

This is a very long book, full of pain and horror, befitting the topic. BUT there are moments of joy, great courage, and fearless truth telling. It’s totally worth your time, but be prepared to sit and marinate in this tale.

At 1,000+ pages, this book is quite a project to pick up and commit to reading.Anne Applebaum left no stone of Gulag history unturned in writing this book. I suspect there is no more thorough documentation of Gulag history than there is this book.And it’s almost never boring! Her writing style is engaging and she balances storytelling throughout, so you’re always entertained.“Entertained” feels like the wrong word to use, as there are many parts that are hard to read — some very ugly, heart-breaking parts of human history — but I’m not sure what other word to use.The ugly, heart-breaking parts are also what make it an IMPORTANT read. As she says in the “Epilogue,” it’s important to recognize and acknowledge past atrocities by authoritarian regimes because they will happen again. Knowledge is, was, and will be the best defense against them.