Chapter 31 2

Another point is that the cruelty of construction leaders goes beyond the "employee" himself.Although Stalin said "not a penny of foreign exchange", 400 million Soviet rubles were approved.And they spent less than a quarter of it—95.3 million rubles in order to buy it from above. The newspaper of the Baibo Canal Project happily told us that under the "infection of beauty" of the grand mission, many Canal Army soldiers used stones to pave the banks of the canal during their rest time (naturally without food subsidies) purely for aesthetics. They should have built on the walls six surnames, the six main helpers of Stalin and Yagoda, the six chief foremen of the Baibo Canal, and the six hired executioners: Filin-Berman-Frenkel-Kegan- Rapoport-Juke.

It seems that Brodsky, the captain of the guard of the Baibo labor camp, should be added.There is also Soltz, the guardian of the canal representing the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. And all thirty-seven Chekas on the canal.There are also thirty-six writers who have praised the Baibo Canal.And don't forget the playwright Pogotin. This is for tourists passing by on ships to read and -- to think about. But bad - no tourists at all! How could this be? Just no!Not even ships.There are no other ships on the voyage there. In 1966, when I was about to finish writing this book, I wanted to take a trip on the great Baibo Canal, see it with my own eyes, and compare myself with those 120 people.But things backfired... no boats to take.As a last resort, you can apply for a freighter.But there are documents to be checked on it.My name was smeared by them, and people immediately wondered what I was doing.Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of this book, it is better not to go.

But I finally got one step closer to it.First to the table Dwizhgorsk.Until now, there are still many workshops left over from that time.There is a grand hotel with a five-story glass tower.You know, this is the gate of the canal!You know, this place should be a place where guests from home and abroad gather and there are plenty of cars and horses! ...but it turned out to be a cold front door, and it had to be turned into a boarding school. On the way to Povenets, the trees are sparse and the fields are full of rocks.All huge boulders. From Povenets, not far away is the canal.I walked a long way along the river, getting as close to the lock as I could to get a good look.restricted area.Dozing guard.But there are places where you can see clearly.The gate wall is the original one, still the same kind of wooden cage.I can recognize it from the pictures I've seen.The diamond-shaped gate invented by Maslov has been replaced by metal, and it is no longer opened by manpower.

But why is everything so quiet?There was no one around.There was not a single ship passing in the channel or in the locks.You can't see the movement of the management staff, and you can't hear the whistle of the ship.The floodgates are also always closed.It was a sunny June day.Why exactly? In this way I walked through the five gates of the Povenets "steps".After number five, I sat down on the bank.Why are you so silent, O great canal, which our country so desperately needs, printed on all the packs of our White Wave Canals? A man in civilian clothes came up to me and checked me with his eyes.I pretended to be stupid and said: Is there any fish seller here?Are there boats on this river?It turned out that he was the captain of the lock guard.I asked him: Why is there no passenger ship here?He said in surprise: How can that work?How can we fly a passenger ship?The Americans will come here in no time to see.There were passenger ships before the war, but not after the war. "What's the point of letting them see?" "Could it be possible to let them see?!" "But why no one comes here at all?" "Some people come, but not many. You see, the river bed is very shallow, only five meters. I originally wanted to expand, but it is likely to build a new one next to it, once and for all."

Hey, stop talking, my captain!We have known this for a long time.In 1934, as soon as the medals were issued, an expansion plan was already prepared.The first is: deepen the riverbed.Article 2: Construct a series of locks for seagoing vessels to pass in parallel with the existing locks.Waste in a hurry.Due to the deadline for completion and due to those terrible quotas, they not only lied about the depth of the riverbed, but also reduced the ability to pass through; in order to feed the coolies, they had to make some falsehoods in the earthwork. (Shortly afterwards they blamed this deceit on the engineers and issued them new "ten-dollar notes.") An eighty-kilometre stretch of the Murmansk railway was diverted to make way for the canal.It is at least a good thing that there are no wheels for handcarts in this project.But what are they supposed to transport on the canal?Where are they going?The nearby forests have all been cut down, where should we transport them now?Shipping timber from Arkhangelsk to Leningrad?Arkhangelsk itself is a port for selling timber, and foreigners have long bought and shipped timber there.Besides, the canal is frozen for half a year, and it may be longer.So what exactly is it good for?Oh yes, there is a military use: to mobilize the fleet.

"It's so shallow," complained the captain of the guard, "that even submarines can't get through under their own power; they have to be pulled over on barges." So what about cruisers? ... O reclusive tyrant!Unhinged night owl!In what nightmare did you come up with all this? ! What the hell are you up to?Is it burning or stabbing?Why must twenty months be stipulated?You know, a quarter of those million people could have survived.Well, even if an Esperantoist is a thorn in your throat, how much work those country dolls could have done for you!How many more charges could you have sent them to - one for the Fatherland, one for Stalin!

"That's not a small price to pay," I said to the guard. "But it's built fast!" he said confidently. Should be built in your bones! I remembered the proud photo in the book about the White Sea Canal: a Russian medieval cross used as a telephone pole. Should be built on your bones... I spent eight hours that day by the canal.During this time, a self-propelled barge sailed from Povenec to Soroka, and another ship of the same type sailed from Soroka to Povenec.They have different numbers, and I can only distinguish them based on the numbers, and I am sure that this one is not the one that just returned.Because they wore exactly the same stuff: the same spoiled pine that was useless for anything but chopping wood.

When the two are subtracted, the result is equal to zero. And the one-quarter of a million people kept thinking about it. After the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Volga-Moscow Canal follows.All the laborers went to the place immediately; the labor camp commander Fei Lin and the director of the Engineering Bureau Kegan also went together. (The order of Lenin they received for the Baibo Canal was received there.) But the canal is at least useful.It honorably inherits and develops all the traditions of Baibo Canal.We can even better understand here what is the difference between the archipelago of the period of rapid spread and the archipelago of the period of stagnation and stability of Solovets.Looking back on Solovitz's silent cruelty now, I feel regretful instead.Because now the requirements for prisoners are not only to work, not just to break the hard rock with a pickaxe that becomes more and more boring.No, when they take your life, they have to drill into your chest to search your soul first.

The most uncomfortable thing on the canal is to ask you to express your opinion on everything.Even if you have only one breath left, you have to pretend to be actively participating in social life.You still have to speak at the meeting with a tongue that is too hungry to control: demand that the plan be overfulfilled!Demand the exposure of the assassins!It is demanded that hostile propaganda be severely punished, and gossip by kulak elements be severely punished (all gossip and rumors in the labor camps were spread by kulak elements).You have to be careful at all times, don't provoke any suspicion and bring yourself a new sentence.

Picking up now these shameless books that whitewash and glorify the lives of those who do not escape, it is almost impossible to believe that these things have been seriously written and read by anyone. (Yes, the full-fledged Public Inspectorate has already destroyed the stockpiles, so this time we have the last few remaining copies.) Below, our Virgil pro will be Vyshinsky's hard-working pupil Avelbach Even screwing an ordinary water screw takes a lot of work at the beginning: the axis must be aligned, and the screw cannot be deviated.But after eating it, you can free one hand and continue to twist it in, and you can even whistle.

Vyshinsky wrote: "The reason why our labor reform camp is fundamentally opposed to the bourgeois prison full of naked violence is precisely because it shoulders the task of education. Contrary to the bourgeois state, in our country Violence plays a secondary role in the fight against crime. Our focus shifts to organizational and material, cultural and political measures." So as not to blurt out the sentence "Instead of the stick is the ration scale plus propaganda".) There are also such words: "...the successive victories of socialism are also taking place in the struggle... against crime. Magical! (Tricky word: magical!) Influence." Awelbach followed up with his teacher and made a similar analysis: the task of the Soviet reform-through-labor policy is to "remove the worst human material (remember the "raw material"? Remember the "pest"?--Author's note) Become a fully qualified, useful, active, and conscious socialist builder." It’s just that the success coefficient of the transformation is too bad... 250,000 bad materials fell to death, and only 12,500 active and enlightened elements were released early (the Baibo Canal Project)... Yes, as early as the Eighth Party Congress in 1919, when the civil war was still raging, when Denikin was on the verge of reaching Orel, and when the Kalang Didn't Stadt and Tambov's uprisings announce the decision to "replace the system of punishment with education" (in other words, isn't that the general punishment of no one?)? Now Awelbach added the word "forced" before "education".He eloquently asks (and already has a devastating answer ready for us); what else?If a person has developed a hostile consciousness outside prison, and the coercion of the labor camp is regarded by him as a form of violence and only deepens his hostility, how can his consciousness be transformed into a socialist? So we and the readers are at a loss - isn't it true? But that's not all, he's going to say something that will make our heads spin: only through productive, meaningful labor with a noble purpose!Any hostile or unstable consciousness will be transformed by this means.For this we seem to need to "concentrate our efforts on projects of such colossal magnitude that they will be astounded." (Oh, so, that's what the White Wave Canal was for, and we fools don't know anything about it!...) with This method can achieve the effect of "immediate results, high efficiency and passion for construction".And it must be "from scratch to completion", and at the same time, it is required that "every labor reformer (who is not dead today)" "feel the political repercussions of his own labor and the national concern for his labor. " Notice how well the wood screw eats in now?Maybe a bit oblique; but aren't we gradually losing the ability to resist it?The father of the people drew a line on the map with a pipe. As for explaining the reasons, why bother him?There's always an Awelbach around. "Andrei Januarievich (Vyshinsky - translator's note), I have this idea. What do you think? Should I develop it in a book?" But this is just flowers and plants.What was really required was that a prisoner be "educated for the higher forms of socialist labor" while in the camp. How to do this? ...the wood screw is stuck. Oh, fool!Of course it is to engage in socialist competition and the commando movement! !Dear comrades, what kind of era are we living in! "Not mere labor, but heroic labor!" (GPU Order No. 190). The race to capture the mobile red flags of the central headquarters, district headquarters, and platoon headquarters!Competition between labor camps, construction sites, and teams! "Awarded to a wind band along with the moving red flag! It played for the winner for several days at working hours and a delicious meal! You can't see the delicious meal in the photo, but there is a searchlight. This is for In preparation for night labor, the construction of the Volga Canal started day and night. Each prisoner work class has a "team of three" in charge of the competition. Statistics and decisions! Decisions and statistics! Summary of the first five days of the cofferdam assault battle, the first Two five-day summaries! The all-campaign newspaper "Reforge". Its slogan is: "Let us drown our past in the bottom of the canal!" "Its call is: "Work without holidays!" "Unanimous cheers, unanimous agreement!" The advanced commando said: "Of course!"How can there be any holiday?There are no... holidays on the Volga River, and the flood season is about to come. "But how come there are holidays on the Mississippi River?... Catch him! The agent of the rich peasant who said this! There is a clause in the competition guarantee: "Guarantee the health of every member of the group." "Oh, how humane! No, it's for--" in order to reduce absences. ""Don't get sick, don't take sick days!" "Red list. Black list. Indicator boards: the number of days remaining for handover; the number of completions yesterday, the number of completions today. Glory book. Certificates of award, "Window of Reconstruction", progress charts, and charts are pasted on the walls of each work shed. Every prisoner should know the production plan! Every prisoner should know the political life of the country! Therefore, every morning when standing in line (of course, using the time before going to work), there must be a "five minutes" "Production meeting" and a "five-minute political meeting" after returning to the camp after work (when you can't stand upright). You are not allowed to go into the corner during lunch time, and you are not allowed to sleep—you must participate in political studies! If you are outside the prison I am studying Comrade Stalin's "six major conditions", so every prisoner in the labor camp must memorize it! If you are studying the resolution of the People's Committee on dismissing absentees outside, you must explain it inside: Every prisoner who refuses to leave today A worker or a person who pretends to be ill will be despised by the masses of the Soviet Union after he is released. The rule here is: in order to win the title of commando, good production performance is not enough! In addition, you must: (A) reads newspapers; (B) loves his canal; (C) can tell its meaning. Then a miracle happened!Oh miracle!O transfiguration and ascension! "Raiders no longer feel that discipline and labor are something imposed on them from the outside". (Even cattle understand this.) "They become an inner need"! (Yes, really, you know, freedom is not actually freedom, but a life behind bars accepted by the public!) New forms of reward for socialism!Issue the Raider Badge.guess what?guess what? "The labor experts regard the badge of the commando as more precious than the rations"!Yes, more precious than rations!And the whole shift and the whole group "would like to go to work for the first two hours", (ah, it's just nonsense! What about the escort team?) "They stay and continue to work after the working day is over"! Ah, flames!Ah, matchsticks!They thought you could burn for decades. This is the technique we introduced when we talked about the Baibo Canal project; there is a "hooker" on the uphill to hook the trolley - but how to push it up?Ivan Nemtsev suddenly decided to do the work of five!He did what he said: in one shift, he excavated a total of... fifty-five square meters of soil! (Let's do the math: it's equal to 50,000 an hour, 12 minutes per square -- even the loosest soil, you try it!) The working conditions are like this: no pumps, no drainage wells, you block them with your hands water!What about the women?One person pushes a four-pound-heavy stone up the embankment slope!The trolley was overturned, and stones fell on his head and legs.It's okay, I can overcome it!There were "standing waist-deep in water," "sixty-two hours of uninterrupted labor," and "five hundred men dug through the frozen ground for three days in a row"—work that turned out to be in vain.It's okay, we can get over it. Let us fight with our shovels, Dig out our happiness, in the suburbs of Moscow! This is the "special joyful tension" brought from the Baibo Canal. "Singing songs of valor and joy, marching to the battle of surprise"... Fearless of rain and wind, Go to work in stride! This is the image of the Stormtroopers.They came to the convention by car.Standing by the carriage on the left is the captain of the escort, and to the left is another escort.Look at their excited, happy faces; these women don't think about their children, they don't think about their families—they think about the canal they've fallen in love with so much.It was cold enough, and some put on felt boots.Some wore ordinary leather boots, made at home, of course, but the second from the right in the front row was probably a female pickpocket wearing stolen messenger shoes.Where else to wear it to look good but at conventions?Look, here's another convention.The placard reads: "We want to build the canal ahead of time, economically, and firmly!" How do these three coordinate?Let the engineers worry about it.It's easy to see from the photos that people are smiling for the camera, but in general these women are tired enough.They didn't seem to be going to speak on stage, but they were just waiting for the full meal given by the conference.All are some simple peasant faces.A "self-defense member" (inmates acting as guards) was poked in the aisle of the venue.This Judas desperately wants to be in the camera.This photo shows a commando squad equipped with state-of-the-art technology.Who said that we always pull the cart together?If we are to believe the camp artists who exhibited at the Liberal Arts Section, this is the equipment that was already in use on the canal: a backhoe, a crane, a tractor.Do they work?Maybe it's bad?80% is the case, right?But generally speaking, it's not very comfortable to be on a river digging site in winter, is it? Here is a small incidental problem: When the Baibo Canal was completed, there were too many congratulatory articles in various newspapers, which wiped out the deterrent effect of the labor camp... In the report on the construction of the Baibo Canal, they So much overwork was said that the prisoners who came to build the Volga-Moscow Canal thought that they could see "the river of milk and the bank of soup" here, and even made some unbelievable demands to the management authorities (probably Ask for clean underwear?).So, it’s okay to talk nonsense, but don’t overdo it. The "Reforge" newspaper wrote: "The flag of the Baibo Canal is still flying above our heads today." Appropriately.This way of writing is enough. However, no matter in the Baibo Canal or the Volga-Moscow Canal, there is one thing that is clear: "The competition in the labor camp and the assault movement must be linked with a whole set of reward systems, so that the assault movement can be stimulated by special rewards." The basis is material interests" (!?--It seems to tell us to turn backwards? We turned 180 degrees? This must be provocative remarks! Hold on to the handrails!) This is how things are arranged: It's all up to you production indicators: food, housing, clothing, underwear, number of baths (yes! yes! whoever does not work hard will be made to wear tatters and have lice!), and early release!rest!Meet the family!For example, awarding a Raider badge is supposed to be a purely socialist form of encouragement, but let that badge grant you an extra extended family visit!So in this way it is made more valuable than a bread ration... Since we are among the free people, in accordance with the provisions of the Soviet Constitution, we implement the principle of "he who does not work shall not eat", so why should we put prisoners in labor camps in a special position? (The most difficult thing to do in the construction of labor camps: this place should not be turned into a place for enjoying privileges!) Demetrager's meal scale is as follows: punishment hot food - a small pot of muddy soup; punishment ration - three 100 grams of bread.If you complete the task 100%, you have the right to receive 800 grams of bread, and you can buy an additional 100 grams at the canteen!So, "observance of discipline begins with egoistic motives (a concern for improving rations) and then rises high to a concern for socialism that captures the red flag!" But the most important thing is the reduction of the sentence!Reduce it!The competition headquarters wrote a testimonial to the prisoner.To get the discount not only need to overfulfill the task, but also need to engage in social work!If you were a non-labor element in the past, the discount rate will be reduced, and only a negligible discount will be given. "Maybe he's just faking it and not really repenting! He needs to spend some time in the camp and be tested." (For example, he is pushing a handcart uphill, but maybe he is not doing work at all, but in disguise, right?) What are those released early... what to do! ?They automatically stay in the camp for employment!They loved the canal so much they couldn't bear to leave it! "They worked so obsessively that after they were released they remained voluntarily on the canal site to dig earth until the end of the project!" (Can the author be trusted? Of course. Know that the stamp on their ID cards With a stamp: "Sent in a labor camp of the State Political Security Bureau." There is no job anywhere else.) But what is it? ... the machine that gave out the melodious song of the night camp was out of order--in the intermissions we heard the real weary sigh: "Even the thieves only entered the competition at sixty per cent (even the thieves If you don’t participate in the competition, you can imagine the situation!...); reform-through-labor prisoners often comment that the preferential treatment and rewards are unreasonable"; "the identification is written in the same way"; A Geotechnical Assaulter, and gets the discount that a Assaulter deserves, while a real Assaulter does not get the discount"; (Gentlemen Educators, it turns out that you didn't advance to the second stage?!) "Many One (!) has a sense of lost hope". The song of the nightingale had begun again, with a metallic sound!Is the most important means of encouragement forgotten? -- "Cruel and ruthless disciplinary action!" November 28, 1933 (this is a vaccination for the winter, so that the prisoners can withstand the cold!) of the State Political Security Office The order stipulates that "all lazy people and those who pretend to be sick will be sent to the remote northern labor camps and deprived of their right to enjoy preferential treatment. Those who refuse to work and instigators who are not handsome will be handed over to the court of the labor camp management committee for trial." .Anyone who attempts to undermine the iron discipline shall immediately cancel all the preferential treatment and privileges he has obtained." (For example, if there is an attempt to keep warm by the yellow fire...) Our narration is completely messed up, and the most important link has been left out!Everything is said, but the most important thing is not said!Please listen, please listen! "Collectivity - this is the principle and method of the Soviet reform-through-labour policy." You know, there is no "transmission belt from the management to the masses"! "Only relying on various collectives" can the large number of management personnel in the labor camp reform the ideology of the prisoners. "From the lower form—collective responsibility to the higher form: the cause of honor, the cause of honor, the cause of heroism and heroism!" (We often scold our language, saying that it is eclipsed by the centuries. But you think carefully Think - no! It's getting more and more noble. How did you say it before? In the words of the coachman, it's called "bridle", right? But now - "drive belt"! It was called "Lian Environmental Protection" before, and it smells like a stable smell. But now—"collective responsibility"!) "Homework classes are the basic form of re-education" (Demetrager Internal Order 1933). "It implies trust in the collective, which is impossible under capitalism!" (but perfectly possible under feudalism: one person in the village is at fault, and the whole village is stripped naked and whipped However, it sounds noble after all: trust in the group!) "It also means the initiative of the prisoners in the re-education work!" "It means the psychological enrichment that the individual gets from the group!" Wait a minute, listen to the words! His "psychological enrichment" makes our noses sore and our throats choke. After all, learned people are different!) "Collective can improve the human dignity of every prisoner (Not bad! Not bad!), thus avoiding the need for spiritual repression!" You see, thirty years after Awelbach, I also had to say a few words about homework classes.I will only say what is really going on there, because it has been interpreted quite differently and completely distortedly: "The homework class is the main contribution of communism to the science of punishment (this is true, and so is Awelbach so to speak)...a conglomeration of living, working, eating, sleeping and suffering together in a ruthless forced symbiosis." Ah, if there were no homework classes, the days in the labor camps could still be survived!There are no homework classes, you are an individual and you choose your own course of action.Without a homework class, you can at least die proudly. Even in a homework class, you are only allowed to die in a despicable way, only with your belly on the ground.Chiefs, foremen, guards, escorts—all of these people you can hide from, sneak out for a little break, be lazy here, play tricks there.But those transmission belts--the mates of the class, you can't escape, you can't escape, and you can't get the slightest forgiveness from them.You can't stop working, you can't starve to death because you realize you're a political prisoner.This is impossible, because as long as you leave the camp area and record in the work registration book-the total number of tasks completed by the entire work class today will not be divided by twenty-five, but divided by twenty-six.The percentage of the entire homework class may be reduced from 123% to 119% because of you, and the food in the high-production class will be reduced to ordinary food.Everyone will lose a piece of sweet bread made of wheat flour, and everyone will lose a hundred grams of ordinary bread.Companions will watch over you better than any watchman!One fist of the squad leader will give you more sobriety than the entire NKVD. This is what is called "initiative in re-education"!This is the so-called "enrichment of psychological L obtained by the individual from the collective"! Today it is clear to us like a mirror, but at the Volga Canal construction site, the organizers themselves could not believe what a strong neck collar they had found.The homework class is at the bottom among them, and only the labor collective is understood as the highest honor and encouragement.Even in May 1934, half of the prisoners in the Dmitrov labor camp were "unorganized", and the labor collective... did not accept them, only allowed them to join the labor union, and not all : Do not priests, sectarians and ordinary believers. (If renunciation of religion--worth it for all the benefits!--is allowed, but with a one-month trial period!) The "Fifty-Eight Articles" are also beginning to be grudgingly accepted. Labor collectives, but only those whose sentences are under five years.Labor collectives have chairmen and committees, and enjoy total unfettered democracy: the general assembly of the collective can only be held with the permission of the Department of Culture and Education, and the company (yes, the company has been established!) educators must be present.It goes without saying that the collective food was better than that of the backward elements: the vegetable gardens in the camps were allocated to the best collectives (not to individuals, but in the manner of collective farms - to subsidize public food).The collective is divided into several groups, and as long as they have a little spare time, they will either conduct life inspections, or discuss the theft and waste of public property, or publish posters, or discuss violations of discipline.Hours of hard-faced work in collective plenary meetings on questions like: How to transform Lazy Vovka?Grishka the pretender?The collective itself also has the power to expel its own members and to apply for their reductions to be cancelled.But even worse, the authorities sometimes disbanded entire groups because they "continued a criminal tradition" (disinterested in group life, presumably?).Most interesting, however, are the regular purges of the collectives—the removal of idlers, unqualified elements, gossipers (they describe the labor collectives as organizations of mutual informers) and agents of the class enemy who have infiltrated.For example, after discovering that someone entered the labor camp and concealed his background as a rich peasant (he was originally admitted to the labor camp for this background)-now he is reprimanded and eliminated-of course not from the labor camp, but from the labor camp. Remove labor collectives. (Oh, realist artists! Oh, please paint this work: "Purges in Labor Collectives"! These shaved heads, these guarded expressions, these tired faces, these barely covered rags --And these diabolical spokesmen! If anyone finds it difficult to imagine, then similar models can be found among the free men. Please listen: "Communicate the mission and purpose of the purge to every prisoner in advance. Then collectively Each member of the group reported his situation in front of the crowd" And exposing the fake commando!There is also the election of cultural committee members!There is also the reprimand of those who do not perform well in literacy studies!And the literacy lessons themselves: "We are not slaves!! Slaves are not us!" And the songs! This kingdom of swamps and mud puddles, Will become our happy hometown. Or a lyric that bursts from the heart and is composed by amateurs: Even with the most beautiful songs, Can't say enough, can't finish singing The most wonderful country in the world, Our beautiful home.According to the saying in the labor camp, all this is "twittering like a bird." Oh, they can make you so miserable that when you think of Lieutenant Kurilko, of the quick and easy way of execution, of Solovitz's frank lawlessness, you can't help feeling nostalgic. tears. God!At the bottom of which canal do you want us to drown this period of history?