Chapter 62 Chapter 3 Chains, or Chains...

But our excitement, our eager anticipation, was quickly shattered.The breeze of change was just a passing wind blowing into the deportation station, and it did not blow into the special labor camp surrounded by high walls.Although all the political prisoners were detained here, they did not see any small leaflets expressing resistance on the pillars. I heard that the blacksmiths in the special labor camp "Minlag" once refused to make the iron lattices used on the windows of the labor camp.Glory should go to these as yet unknown people!This is a human being!They were later sent to an enhanced containment shed.The iron grids used by the Minlag camp were made in Kotlas.The people of Kotlas did not support Minlag's blacksmiths.

Life in a special labor camp begins with tameness.This tameness is silent, even obsequious, and it has been gradually cultivated in the labor camps over the past thirty years. The prisoners from Quanbei were not happy with the bright sunshine in Kazakhstan.At Novi Rudnoe station they jumped out of the red carriages and onto the maroon earth.This is the same as the copper mine in Jezkazgan.Working in this kind of mining area, no matter how healthy a person's lungs can last for less than four months.As soon as they arrived here, the enthusiastic guards tried their new weapon-handcuffs on the first few people who made a little mistake.In the past, they were not handcuffed in ordinary labor camps.In the Soviet Union, such gleaming nickel-plated handcuffs were not mass-produced until the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of the October Revolution. (It's the gray-bearded old workers, representatives of what we call the typical proletariat in our literature, who make these handcuffs in a factory somewhere. Of course, do Stalin and Beria make the handcuffs themselves? ?!) The advantage of this kind of handcuff is that it can be handcuffed as tightly as needed: a metal piece with teeth is installed on the handcuff, and after wearing it, the metal tooth piece can be compressed as much as possible to make the prisoner feel more pain.In this way, the handcuffs have changed from the original insurance tool for restricting the movement of the prisoner to a tool of torture.It bites deep into the wrist, causing excruciating pain; it is worn for hours, and the hands are cut behind the back.In addition, a method of handcuffing only four fingers was developed, which made the finger joints even more painful.

The use of handcuffs by the guards in the Bert labor camp is unique: they put handcuffs on the prisoners for a small matter, for example, when they saw that the guards forgot to take off their hats.fall.Scissors handcuffed them and forced them to stand in front of the watchtower.His hands hurt first and then numb until he lost consciousness, which made the adult man cry and beg for mercy: "Chief, I don't dare anymore! Take off these handcuffs!" (There is also a very good system in the Beer Camp: Not only do you have to act according to orders when you go to the cafeteria, but you also have to listen to orders when you stand at the dining table. You must sit down according to orders, and put spoons into soup plates together according to orders. After eating, you must stand up according to orders and walk out of the cafeteria according to orders. .)

Someone only needs to flick a pen: "To establish a special labor camp! Submit the draft of its management system by a certain date!" This is really effortless.But those hard-working prison authorities (and those who know human psychology well and are familiar with labor camp life) will have to rack their brains: they have to carefully study which places can be tightened again, and then make prisoners feel bad?What kind of burden should be added to make them suffer even more?How can the already uncomfortable life of these prisoners be made more miserable?It is necessary for these animals who have been transferred from ordinary labor camps to special labor camps to feel the severity and pain here immediately.However, for this, someone has to come out of the system one by one in advance!

In addition, the precautionary measures will naturally be strengthened.Further security measures were taken around the isolation areas of all special labor camps, barbed wire was added, Bruno concertina barbed wire was additionally laid at the front of the obstacle zone, machine guns were placed at all important intersections and bends that prisoners passed when going to and from work, The machine gunners are always ready. Masonry prisons—reinforced control sheds—were built at each reform-through-labour site.All those who were sent to the strengthened control sheds had to take off their cotton jackets: torturing people with the cold was also one of the important features of the strengthened control work sheds.In fact, the enhanced control work shed is a prison, because it has iron bars on the windows, the toilet is brought in at night, and the door is locked.In addition, each isolation area does not have one or two correctional work sheds, where the guards are strengthened, which is a small isolation area in the isolation area.Prisoners who were sent to the correctional work sheds were sent back to their houses immediately after work in the evening, just like the former hard labor camps. (It's actually the Reinforcement Shed, but we call it the Correction Room.)

In addition, the full set of valuable experience of the Hitlerites in using numbers was publicly adopted, that is, the number was used to replace the prisoner's name, the prisoner's "I" and his personality.Therefore, here, the prisoners are not distinguished by all the characteristics of each person, but only the increase or decrease of a single digit in a monotonous sequence.This measure, if carried out very firmly and thoroughly, can be very embarrassing.The camp authorities are trying to do just that.Every newcomer must first "play the piano" in the special department (that is, fingerprints of ten fingers are pressed like in prison. Fingerprints are not taken in ordinary labor camps), and then they are taken away with a rope. A sign hung around his neck with his number on it, and then a professional photographer took pictures of him. (These photos are still saved somewhere now! We'll see!)

After the photo was taken, the tag was removed from the prisoner (he is not a dog!), and he was given four yuan (some labor camps issued three yuan), a white cloth eight centimeters wide and fifteen centimeters long, with his number printed on it .He should sew pieces of white cloth to his body in the designated places.There are different regulations on where to sew, but generally they are: on the back, on the chest, directly in front of the hat, and on the trouser legs or sleeves.On the cotton-padded clothes that were distributed, a piece of the clothes was cut off in advance: some tailors in the sewing factory of the labor camp had the division of labor to damage the new clothes—cut off the clothes where the number bib should be sewn A block with cotton exposed.This is to prevent prisoners from tearing off their numbers and pretending to be free workers when they escape.In other special labor camps, the method is simpler: use hydrochloric acid to etch and print the number directly on the surface of the clothes.

The guards were ordered to only call the prisoners' numbers.They were not allowed to know the prisoner's name, much less remember it, and it would be dreadful if they could do it.But, they couldn't do it (they were all Russians, they couldn't change their old habits, after all, they were different from the Germans), and after a year, they lost their memory and began to call some people by their surnames, and then by surnames more and more people.Finally, for the convenience of the guards, a small three-ply board was nailed in front of everyone's "small compartment" - the wooden bed, with the number of the prisoner sleeping on this bed written on it.In this way, guards could call someone who was asleep without having to look at the number on him, and when the prisoner was not in the room, he could immediately see whose bed was not in order.The guards also came up with a good way: either gently unlock the lock before getting up in the morning to enter the shed, and write down the numbers of those who got up early, or break in on time at the wake-up time and write down those who got up slowly .As long as such a person is caught, he can be locked up in a confinement room immediately.But in the special labor camps, prisoners are mostly required to write a written review, but pens and ink are not allowed here, and paper is never provided.The practice of writing such long, boring and tiresome paper reviews is a very good invention of theirs. Anyway, there are a lot of people in the labor camps who are paid to do nothing all day long, and they have a lot of time to analyze.They don't punish you immediately, but ask you to review: why is your bed not made neatly?Why is the number plate hanging by your bed crooked?How did the number bib on your cotton coat get dirty?Why was it not cleaned in time?Why are there still cigarettes in your house?Why didn't you take off your hat when you saw the guard?For a literate person, answering these profound questions is even more painful than for an uneducated person.But refusing to write a review will increase the punishment!The review should be written cleanly and neatly, showing respect to the staff of the labor camp authorities, and after it was written, it should be handed over to the guard in the work shed, and then handed over to the assistant chief of the labor camp or the chief himself for review.The reviewer will give instructions on what punishment should be given.

In the various reports of each team and group, it is also stipulated that the number should be written in front of the name.In place of name?No, they don't dare not give up names at all!In any case, the name is still a reliable tail. People are limited by their own name for a lifetime, and the number is just like a breath, and it disappears when you blow it.It would be different if the numbers were branded or tattooed on people!However, they haven't taken that step yet.In fact, it can be done, and it can be done while talking and laughing, and it is not far from this step. Plus, we're not in jail alone.We don't just hear from the caretakers.This dilutes the pain of the number.The prisoners also talk to each other, and not only never call each other's numbers, but they don't even pay attention to each other's numbers. (At first thought, there are several eye-catching pieces of white cloth sewn on the clothes, how can you not notice? You know, when many of us gather together, when we dispatch work and roll rolls, the many numbers seem to be Bewildering like a logarithmic table. Only newcomers notice it.) We don't even remember the numbers of our closest friends and classmates, only our own. (Among the jailer's helpers are some well-dressed men who take their number bibs very conscientiously, tucking in the raw edges and sewing them on with little stitches, as playful and pretty as possible. How servile! We These guys, on the other hand, sew the numbers as ugly as possible.)

The purpose of the special labor camp system is to completely isolate people here from the outside world. It expects that no one can appeal to anyone from here, that no one will ever be released, and no one will be able to escape elsewhere. (Apparently, neither Auschwitz nor Katten Forest had an educational effect on the owners here.) Sticks were used in the early special labor camps.At that time, in most cases, it was not the guards who carried sticks themselves (could guards use handcuffs!), but those trusted people among the prisoners—the administrators and the prison monitors, who carried sticks. Satisfied and fully applauded.In the Zhezkazgan labor camp, before the distribution of labor, it was necessary to assemble and stand in front of the work shed.The worker took the root and shouted: "Except the last one, come out!" (Readers may already understand why "Except the last one!. Because even if there is the last one, then he will not come out again, just like he has no There was one.) So, for example, a convoy of prisoners (200 in total) that was transported from Calabasas to Spassk in winter froze to death, and the survivors crowded the corridors of the wards and clinics , their limbs were rotting and smelling, Doctor Kolesnikov amputated dozens of arms, legs and noses. Even so, the head of the labor camp was completely indifferent. The secret isolation in the special labor camp was very reliable, That's why the head of the Spassk Battalion, the famous Captain Vorobyov, and his subordinates were able to put the Hungarian ballet dancer in the camp into a confinement room for "discipline" first, then put her in handcuffs, and finally put her in prison. Gang raped her in handcuffs.

The system here is unhurried and thoughtful, down to every detail.For example, here not only are prisoners not allowed to have their own photos (trying to escape!?), but they are also not allowed to have photos of anyone, including relatives.If found, it will be confiscated immediately and burned.The female four-worker shed leader of Spassk Battalion was an elderly woman who had been a teacher before her arrest.She occasionally left a small photograph of Tchaikovsky on the table.The guards confiscated the photos and locked her in confinement for three days. "This is Tchaikovsky's photo!" "I don't know whose, anyway, female prisoners are not allowed to have photos of men in the camp!" In the Kenjill labor camp, prisoners were allowed to accept rice sent by mail (why not? What?!), but the prisoners were never allowed to cook.If a prisoner was found somewhere to secretly prop up a small lunch box with two bricks for cooking, the guards would immediately kick the lunch box over and force the prisoner to put out the fire with his hands. (Yes, a small shed for cooking was built later, but the stove was dismantled after two months, and the officers' pigs and the operative Beryayev's horses were raised in the coconuts.) However, the owners of the special labor camps did not forget the good experience of the ordinary labor camps while renovating the management system.Captain Mishin of the Ozerlag Special Battalion was only the leader of the labor camp. He once tied the prisoners who did not obey the dispatch order to the construction site on a sled. Generally speaking, the established management system is satisfactory, so the original hard labor prisoners can enjoy the same treatment as everyone else in the special labor camp, except that the letters on the number cloth are different. (However, they were sometimes made to live in haylofts and stables, simply because there were not enough sheds, e.g. at Camp Spassk.) In this way, although the special labor camp was not officially called a hard labor camp, it inherited everything from the hard labor camp, became its legal successor, and merged with it. In order for the prisoners to get a good hold of the established system, it must also be consolidated with a correct organization of work and a correct arrangement of meals. The labor selected for the special labor camps is the hardest labor in the area.Chekhov was right: "In society, especially in literary works, a stereotype has formed: it seems that only in the mining field can there be the hardest, most humiliating and embarrassing real hard labor. If Nekrasov's long poem " Many readers will not be satisfied if the heroine of "Russian Women" is . It's a good job, and appropriate.) When Steplag was first established, the prisoners in the first few branches were copper miners (its first branch was in Rudnik, the third in In Kengil, the Fourth Division is in Jezkazgan).Dry mining, ore powder flying, people soon contracted silicosis and tuberculosis.The sick prisoners were sent to the branch of the famous Spassk labor camp near Karaganda—the "All-Soviet Asylum for Disabled Persons" belonging to a special labor camp. Spassk deserves a special mention. Those sent to Spassk were totally crippled inmates that other camps refused to continue using.But, strange to say, these cripples became real workers as soon as they set foot on the resurrected land of the Spassk labor camp.For Colonel Chechev, the commander of the entire Steplag labor camp, the Spassk labor camp branch was his favorite place.This stout and far from good-natured guy sometimes flies here from Karaganda, shines shoes in the duty room, and after a short rest, goes to inspect the camp and see who else is not working for him.One of his favorite sayings was: "In my whole Spassk labor camp there is only one cripple, and he has lost both legs. But even he is doing light work, he is working as a messenger!" People with legs are all sitting and working: they smash big rocks into gravel, and some sort broken wood.Whether you are on crutches or missing an arm, neither of these can be an obstacle to working in Spassk.It was Chechev's idea to form a team of four one-armed men (two with left arms and two with right arms) to carry stretchers.It was also the idea of ​​Chechev's people to let people turn the machines in the machining factory by hand when there was no electricity.Chechev also liked having "his own professor" in the camp, so he gave the biophysicist Chizhevsky permission to set up a laboratory in the Spassk labor camp (only a few empty desks).However, once Chizhevsky used the worst materials to make a simple mask to prevent silicosis for the laborers in Zhezkazgan, Chechev did not allow him to put it into production: work without a mask Well, why bother!Besides, the personnel have to be constantly updated! At the end of 1948, the Spassk labor camp branch held a total of 15,000 male and female prisoners.The camp area is very large, with barbed wire pillars undulating between the mountainside and the canyon, stretching into the distance, and the surveillance towers at the four corners do not face each other.Later, the internal isolation project was gradually built: the prisoners themselves built walls in the camp area, separating the women's area, the workers' area, and the completely disabled area from each other (this can make it more difficult for prisoners to communicate, and it is difficult for the camp owners. More convenient).Six thousand people walk twelve fairs a day to build the dam.Because they are disabled after all, it takes more than two hours to go back and forth, plus eleven hours of labor (under such conditions, few people can support two months).Another hard labor is quarrying stones.The quarries are in the exclusion zone (there are still mines on the island of the Gulag!), both in the male and female camps.The quarry in the male area is on the mountain, and holes are drilled to blast the rocks with dynamite.During the day, crippled prisoners smashed the blasted stones into gravel with small hammers.The women's camp did not use explosives. The women prisoners had to dig out the soil layer with cross copper, and after exposing the rocks, they smashed the rocks with a sledgehammer.Of course, their hammer handles often break (as do new hammer handles).If you want to change the hammer handle, you have to go to another quarantine area.Moreover, women have work quotas, and each person must quarry 0.9 cubic meters of stone per day.Because they couldn't meet the quota, they could only receive punishment rations for a long time - 400 grams of food per day.Later, the male prisoner taught them a way--before the inspection and acceptance, they secretly picked some stones from the old pile of stones and put them on the new pile--then they were not "punished".The reader should also be reminded that all this labor is not only done by disabled people without any equipment, but also in the severe cold of the steppes (minus thirty-one thirty-five degrees, and the wind blowing), people wearing The most important thing is unlined clothing, because according to regulations, people who do not work (that is, disabled prisoners) are not given cotton-padded clothes in winter.A woman who goes by the pseudonym Bo-er once recalled to me how she hit rocks with a sledgehammer in the severe cold with barely any clothes on.She said: "As for the benefits of this kind of labor to the motherland, it is very clear to mention one thing: Later, it was discovered that the stones from the quarry in the women's district were not suitable for construction. An order was issued, telling the women to throw all the stones they had collected in a year back into the mine pit and cover it with soil! A forest garden will be opened up here! Of course, the forest garden has not been completed. "The stones collected by the men's section are better. .That's how the stones were transported to the construction site association.After the roll call every day, all the prisoners (about 8,800 in total) were all driven up the mountain, and they had to carry stones on their backs.On rest days disabled prisoners also "walk" twice: in the morning and in the evening. Later labor consisted of building the boundary wall in the segregated area, building houses for the labor camp staff and security forces (building houses, clubs, bathhouses, schools), and working in the farmland and vegetable fields. All the vegetables grown are given to the free residents, and the prisoners can only get some vegetable stems and leaves.These stems and leaves were transported by car in huge piles and left to rot next to the kitchen.When cooking, the cooks use forks directly from the heap to the pot (is it a bit like cooking livestock feed?...), and what comes out of these stems and leaves is a real rotten vegetable soup.Just add a spoonful of porridge to this rotten market every day, that's all.Please take a look at such a scene that happened in Spassk’s vegetable field: one day, about 150 prisoners made an agreement and threw themselves into a vegetable field at once. Growing vegetables.The guards came and beat them with clubs, but they just lay down on the ground and continued to eat lettuce! Disabled people who do not participate in labor are given 550 grams of bread per day, and those who work are given 650 grams of bread. People in the Spassk camp never knew what medicine was (so many people, where to get medicine? Besides, they were going to die anyway!), and they didn't know what bedding was.In some sheds, the beds are put together. When two beds are put together, not only two people can sleep, but four people can sleep together. Yes, there is another job!One hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty people are sent to dig the grave every day.Every day, two American-made Studebaker trucks are dispatched to haul the dead bodies.The corpse was transported away in a wooden box, and the dead man's hands and feet protruded from the wide lattice slits.During the relatively smooth summer months of 1949, sixty to seventy people died a day, and in the winter hundreds died a day (an Estonian who worked in the mortuary checked the numbers). (The death rate in special labor camps in other places is not as high, and the food is slightly better. Of course, the labor is also heavier, because it is not disabled! This point, the reader will understand.) All this happened in 1949 A.D., that is to say, thirty-two years after the victory of the October Revolution and three years after the conclusion of the International Tribunal at Nuremberg.After the trial by the Nuremberg Tribunal, all mankind, shocked by the brutal atrocities of the fascist concentration camps, just breathed a sigh of relief and thought: "This will never happen again!" Having these systems is not enough.Since we were transferred to the special labor camp, we have almost completely cut off contact with the outside world and our family. To the wives, children and children who are waiting for you and your letters, you have become a mythical figure. (Only two letters are allowed per year. However, even these two letters that you have poured into your heart and your most important and best feelings for several months may not be sent. Who dares to go to the national security office that checks letters? They often lighten their workload automatically: put part of the letter in the oven, so you don't have to spend time checking it. As for the recipient not receiving your letter, then you blame the post office. In Sri Lanka In Camp Pask, some prisoners were once ordered to repair the furnace of the letter inspection department. The prisoners found hundreds of letters in the furnace: the inspectors forgot to light the fire after throwing them in. This is the case in special labor camps - go to The people who repaired the stove dared not say anything about it! Otherwise, the security personnel would immediately clean them up... Could it be that these letter inspectors of the Ministry of State Security who burn the prisoners' voices for their own comfort, are they better than collecting the hair and human skin of the victims Are the Hitler SS elements more humane?) As for meetings with relatives, this is not even mentioned in special labor camps, because the addresses of special labor camps are coded and no one can come here. One more thing to add: the problem of "what is and what is not" that Hemingway said almost does not exist in the special labor camps. Since the day it was established, all problems have been solved according to the principle of "what is not".Prisoners are not allowed to have money, nor are they paid wages. (Prisoners in ordinary labor camps still earn a pitiful salary, which is not paid here.) No change of shoes or clothes, anything that can be worn for warmth or moisture. Have.The shirts issued in the battalion (what kind of shirts are those! I’m afraid even the poor in Hemingway’s novels would not wear them) are changed twice a month, and coats and shoes are changed twice a year.This is full of Arakcheev's rigor.In the early days of the establishment of the special battalion, there was no storage room, but later a permanent storage room was established, that is, it was kept until the day of "release".After setting up the storage room, if you don't hand in any clothes, it is a serious mistake: this is preparing to escape! (Close the confinement room! Interrogation!) No food is allowed in the bedside cabinet. (Turn it in at the food storage in the morning and get it back in the evening. This will also succeed in taking up the little thought time you have left in the morning and evening.) No writing things of any kind, no ink and Colored pencils and color-changing pencils, no more blank paper than a primary school exercise book.Finally, no books are allowed. (In the Spassk camp, all the books of the prisoners were confiscated when they were admitted. At first we allowed one or two books here. But one day, a wise order was suddenly issued: all personal books should be taken to the cultural and educational department for registration There, a stamp of "Steplager. No. XX labor reform site" was stamped on the title page of the book. After that, all books without stamps were confiscated as illegal books, and books with stamps were all regarded as reform through labor Books in the "library" are no longer personal.) Readers are also reminded: searches in special labor camps are more frequent and thorough than in ordinary labor camps.Search carefully when entering and leaving the camp every day.There was a regular search of the sheds: the floors were lifted, the grates were removed, the boards of the porch were taken apart;Fumbled, ripped the lining of clothes, ripped off the soles of shoes, etc.Sometimes all the grass on the camp ground was burned ("Don't let them hide their weapons in the grass!").Prisoners clean the camp on their days off. Thinking about all this, it is probably understandable why prisoners do not regard wearing numbers as the most embarrassing and degrading thing.So when Ivan Denisovich "says" they, those numbers on the clothes, are not heavy", he is not at all like those arrogant critics who have not worn numbers themselves and have not starved "lost human self-respect" as pundits accuse, but only a sober, rational voice. The distress that numbers bring us is neither spiritual nor (like the masters of the Gulag archipelago As we hope), it is a very practical trouble--we have to spend our free time carefully sewing up the torn corners, or go to a painter to redraw the words on it more clearly; If the number cloth is torn, you have to try to find a new one to completely replace it with a new one, otherwise you will be put in confinement. Who really sees the number-carrying as the most diabolical trick here?Those are devout women of certain sects.For example, the Kamyshte labor camp had a branch of the women's labor camp near the Suslovo station, and the female prisoners there were like this.About one-third of the camp's female prisoners were sentenced for their religious beliefs.And the "Apocalypse" in the "Bible" and "New Testament" has long been clearly prophesied: Chapter 13, verse 16 reads: "...all received a seal on the right hand, or on the forehead." So, these women categorically refuse to wear numbers because it is the mark of the devil!They also did not agree to sign when they went to collect the uniforms issued by the government. (It's "Sign to the devil!") The camp administration (General Grigoriev, head of the battalion management office and Major Nagamiya Bogush, of the independent labor camp) showed sufficient firmness on this issue: they ordered Strip off the clothes of these women.Only one shirt was left, and their shoes were taken off (the female Komsomol guards naturally followed suit).The administration thought; let winter compel these irrational religious fanatics to accept government uniforms and sew numbers on them!But women would rather walk barefoot in their shirtsleeves in the freezing cold than surrender their souls to the devil! So, in the face of this spirit (of course it is a reactionary spirit! We are all educated people, we will not object to wearing a number like that!), the labor camp authorities finally gave in: they returned the clothes of the believers.They put on clothes without numbers! (Elena Ivanovna Usuva spent a full ten years in the labor camp wearing her own clothes. Her inner and outer clothes were all torn, hanging on her shoulders to cover her body, but the labor camp The General Affairs Office couldn’t send her official clothes because she didn’t sign the receipt!) There was another nuisance to the number: it was written in such a large size that the guards could read it from afar.The guards were always watching us from a distance from which they could shoot their submachine guns, and of course they didn't know the names of any of us; so without a number they couldn't tell the prisoners in the same clothes.With numbers, they can see from a distance which numbers are talking in the line, which numbers have not lined up, or have not put their hands behind their backs, or picked something from the ground.As long as they go back and report to the captain of the guard, that person will have to stay in confinement. The Guard is also a force that kills our feeble lives.These "men with the red epaulets," the soldiers of the regular army, these children with submachine guns, are a force of ignorance who cannot tell right from wrong, who do not understand us, and who accept no explanation.Nothing could pass from us to them, but from them only shouts, dogs barking, submachine gun bolts being pulled, and bullets flying.And it will always be them who are right and we who are not. On one occasion, prisoners at the Ekbastuz labor camp were building a railway embankment.It is not a quarantine area, there is no boundary, and there are only guards around it.One prisoner moved a few steps away from the group in the permitted circle, trying to reach for his tunic, which he had thrown on the floor, and a loaf of bread wrapped in it.Unexpectedly, a guard shot him dead.Of course, the guard had a point.He will only be praised, and, of course, he has no regrets to this day.None of the prisoners expressed displeasure in any way.Not to mention any complaints written anywhere. (Even if it is written, our complaint will not leave the labor camp.) On January 19, 1951, five hundred of us went to work near an auto repair shop.One side of the construction site is the camp area, so there are no guards on this side.Seeing that we are about to enter the gate of the construction site.At this time, a man named Malloy (the surname means "little man", but he is actually a big man) suddenly left the team for some reason, and walked in the direction of the captain of the guard thoughtfully.It gives the impression that he is in a trance and doesn't know what he is doing.He didn't raise his hand, didn't make any threatening gestures, just walked forward in thought.This terrified the captain of the guard, a somewhat sassy officer who liked to dress up.He turned and ran, screaming, but couldn't draw out the pistol in his waist.At this time, a Zhong Shang with a submachine gun quickly ran in front of Malloy.A few steps apart, a round of bullets was fired into his chest and abdomen, and he slowly backed away while shooting.Malloy continued to take two slow steps forward before collapsing.The back of his padded jacket showed the cotton that had been kicked out by the invisible bullet.Although Malloy fell, none of us, the whole team, moved.The captain of the guard was still in shock, and then he shouted to the guards and issued an order.Then, automatic rifles rang out from all directions, and bullets flew by; machine guns that had been set up all around also rang out, and at the same time, many voices, each crazier than the last, shouted at us: "Down! Down! Down!" Get down! Get down!!" The bullets flew lower and lower, and some hit the barbed wire fence in the obstacle zone.The five hundred of us did not rush towards the shooters to subdue them, but we all fell to the ground and buried our faces in the snow.And so we lay like sheep in the snow for more than a quarter of an hour in this humiliating state of being slaughtered on that frigid morning of Baptism.They could shoot us all if they wanted to, and they wouldn't be held accountable: an attempted riot, so to speak! Such were we poor slaves who were utterly crushed during our first and second years in the special camps!Much has been said about this period in "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". How did it become like this?Why are thousands of people like this?These animals all violate Article 58, that is to say, they are still called "political prisoners"!hell!Aren't you separated from other ordinary criminals now?Isn't it gathered together?It's time for you to engage in politics!Why so worthless and so docile? In fact, life in these special labor camps could not have started any other way.Both the oppressed and the oppressors here came from ordinary labor camps, and each of them carried the tradition of being oppressed or oppressing others for more than ten years.The old way of life and way of thinking has been transferred here with the living, and they warm and support everyone, because these people have been transferred by hundreds of people from the same labor camp branch.They generally came to the new place with a firm belief that in the world of the labor camps, people were nothing but rats and cannibals to people, and nothing else.What they brought here was only a stake in their own personal destiny.心和对共同命运的完全漠然的态度。他们都准备在这里进行无情的斗争以夺取个作业班长的位子，或者能在伙房、面包房、保管室、会计室或文化教育处找到个辅助人员的优厚位子。 但是，单个囚犯到新地方来的时候，如果他想在这里安身立命，那就只有靠他的运气和厚颜无耻。而那些老有经验的辅助人员（帮手）们由于长期在同一个囚犯队里互相磕头碰脑，所以对于作业班长的拳头，对于谁个善于给长官溜须拍马、背地里咬人一口，谁善于搞些"小动作"、逃避劳动等等，都已经彼此有所了解了。在长途押解的路上他们几个星期挤在一个车厢里，在同一些递解站里一起洗澡，他们已经互相领教过了，自然不再抱有过多的自由幻想，只想和和气气地把奴隶的接力棒传过去。因此，他们会互相商量好：到了新劳改营之后怎样攫取关键岗位，怎样把其他劳改营来的帮手们排挤掉。至于那些已经完全屈服于厄运的。只知道劳动的愚昧无知的人，他们则是商量好到了新地方能组成一个好劳力班子，只盼着能遇上一位让人过得去的作业班长就行了。 所有这些人，不仅彻底忘却了他们每个都是人，每个人身上都有上帝赋予的灵性和良知，都还有可能争取到极好的境遇，甚至忘却了自己的脊梁骨是可以直起来的，人有权利得到通常的自由，就像谁都有极呼吸空气一样。他们也忘记了，现在他们所有的人，所谓政治犯，已经和自己人在一起了。 不错，他们中间还混有少数刑事犯。 当局对于制止他们的宠儿们的不断逃跑丧失信心了，决定对他们的逃跑适用第五十八条第十四分条，即按照"经济怠工"论处。（因为《刑法典》第八十二条规定，对逃跑者只能加判两年以下的徒刑，可是这些刑事犯们的刑期早已一再加码，有的已经达到几十、几百年了，他们为什么不跑呢？） 总而言之，被送到特种劳改营来的这类刑事犯为数极少，每批犯人中间只有几个人。但是，凭他们那套作风，只有几个人也就足够了，他们就能够在政治犯中间趾高气扬，横行霸道，带着棍子同管理员走在一起（就像在斯帕斯克营里后来被砍死的两个阿塞拜疆人一样），并且帮助看守辅助人员们在"群岛"新开辟的岛屿上确立地位，树起那面卑鄙、肮脏的劳动消灭营的黑旗。 埃克巴斯图兹特种劳改营是在我们到来的前一年，一九四九年建立的。这里一切都是按照囚犯和首长们在原先的地方形成的思想和习惯安排起来的。设有管理员、助理管理员和工棚棚长，他们有的用拳头，有的用小汇报折磨手下的囚犯们。看守的帮手们另住一间工棚，他们可以在那里坐在床上，品着好茶，不慌不忙地决定某些人和某些班的命运。另外，每一个大工棚里（仿效芬兰人工棚的结构）还分出一些小房间来，有些小房间是按照身份让那些受优待的囚犯一人单位或两人合住的．派工员用拳头打，作业班长打嘴巴，看守用鞭子抽。炊事员都是些蛮不讲理的摩尔达维亚人。各营的保管室都被那些"不拘小节"的高加索人掌握了。所有工地上的职务都被一群自封的工程师骗子们抢去了。坐探们按照规矩，肆无忌惮地把小汇报送到行动处去。一年前建立这个营时只有一些帐篷，现在已经有了石砌的监狱。不过这监狱还没有完全盖好，所以住得非常拥挤，以致被宣布要受禁闭处分的人往往要排队等待一两个月，禁闭室才能空出来！（违章行为太多！）新鲜吧？蹲禁闭也要排队！（我也被宣布要关禁闭，但我终于没有等到！） 的确，这一年刑事犯们（说得确切些是所谓"母狗"们，因为他们是甘心担任那些"合法"工作的）已经不那么嚣张了。可以感觉到他们有些施展不开了：这里没有年轻的刑事犯，没有他们的补充人员，没有人前前后后围着他们转。他们好像也互相配合得不好。在劳改营首长把管理员马格兰介绍给列队欢迎的全营人员时，马格兰还曾勉强装出一副神气样子，可是已经感到信心不足，很快他就不再走运了。 对我们这一批人，也和对其他各批囚犯一样，在接收的当天，从进洗澡房起，就给了个下马威。那天，澡堂的服务员、理发员和派工员都如临大敌。他们联合起来注意看每个对于衣服太破烂、洗澡水太凉、消毒时过分拥挤等等稍稍表示不满的人。他们就是等待着这种不满的表现，好借机大施其淫威呢！因此，一旦有所发现，便几个人一起像群野狗似的故意尖声高叫："这里可不是古比雪夫递解站！"说着就抡起那养肥了的拳头，没鼻子没脸地打过来。（这从心理学角度来看也是正确的。赤身裸体的人似乎远远不如穿着衣服的人有自卫能力。如果能在第一次洗澡时就把这批新犯人制服，那他们以后在营里也就老实了。） 曾经幻想到新劳改营后好好辨别一下，再决定"跟着谁走"的那个中学生沃洛佳?格尔舒尼，到营的第一天就被派去加固隔离区：派他去挖一个坑，要立一根柱子安装照明电灯。他体力不佳，没有完成劳动定额、因此，狗腿子，生活动理员巴图林（他已经比以前泄气多了，但还没有完全老实）骂了格尔舒尼一声海贼并朝他脸上打了一拳。格尔舒尼便扔下镐头走开不挖了。他跑到管理员那里，对他说："把我关起来吧，只要你们的海贼们打人，我就不再干活儿！"（他还不习惯。只被人骂了声"海贼"就受不了啦。）管理员并没有拒绝把他关起来。他接连蹲了两期禁闭，十八天。 （他们是这么干的：先按规矩罚你五天或十天禁闭，但是，到期却不放你、等着你表示抗议或开始骂街，这时他们就"合法地"再罚你第二次禁闭。）蹲过禁闭之后，格尔舒尼还"不老实"，又罚他调了两个月的加强管制工棚，也就是说，还是蹲在那个监狱里，不过现在不像在禁闭室了，可以吃到热饭，而且可以按照完成的劳动量领取口粮；他每天必须到石灰厂去干活。格尔舒尼感到自己越陷越深，就想通过卫生所找条出路，因为他还不了解卫生所所长杜宾斯卡娅的脾气。他以为只要给卫生所看一看自己的平足，医生就会不让他跑老远的路去石灰厂劳动了。但是，根本没批准他去卫生所，埃克巴斯图兹营的加强管制工棚也根本不需要什么医疗措施。格尔舒尼想：无论如何也得去卫生所。他从前听说过一些表示抗议的办法，于是他就决定派工时不出来站队，只穿一条裤杈躺在铺上。可是，一个外号叫"闪开"的看守（是个疯疯癫癫的人，从前当过水手）和另一个看守科年佐夫却把只穿着一条裤权杈的格尔舒尼从床上拖下来，一直拖到派工地点。看守们拖他，他两手抱住门旁边一块砌墙用的石头，想赖着不走。其实这时格尔舒尼已经同意去石灰厂劳动了，他只是喊；"得让我穿上裤子呀！"但是两个看守只管往前拖。在岗楼前面，四千名囚犯等待着派工。这个瘦弱的孩子不住地叫喊："你们是盖世太保！法西斯分子户同时拼命挣扎着不让给他戴上手铐。但是，"闪开"和科年佐夫终于把他的头按到地上，把他铐起来了，然后就推着他往前走。他们和营首长马切霍夫斯基中尉一点都没觉得难为情，倒是格尔舒尼自己很难为情：怎么能穿着裤仅在大庭广众之中走呢！他站住不走！旁边恰好站着一个牵着军犬的翘鼻子哨兵。沃洛佳记得，那个哨兵轻轻地对他说："喂，你闹个什么劲儿！快站到队里去吧。这个样子能干活吗，在柴火堆旁坐一会儿不就行了吗！ "哨兵紧紧拉住自己的军犬，那军犬则拼命想扑向沃洛佳的脖子，因为它看到这男孩子正在反抗戴蓝肩章的人。没有让沃洛佳站队，把他带回去又关进了加强管制工棚。两手铐在背后，越来越痛。一个哥萨克人看守却掐住他的脖子，用膝盖撞他的胸脯。后来，把他推倒在地，有一个人待理不理地随便嘟嚷了一句："给我打！打他个半死！ "接着就有人拳打脚踢，有时踢到太阳穴上，直到格尔舒尼昏死过去。过了一天，他被叫到行动特派员跟前：开始追究他企图采取恐怖行动的"案件"了--因为拖他出来的时候他曾抱住石头。"那是想干什么？ " 在另一派工地点有个叫特维尔多赫列布的人也曾经拒绝出工，他甚至宣布了绝食，他说，不能替魔鬼干活！可是有谁把他的罢工和绝食放在眼里呢？ !人们把他强拖出去。 （不过这次是从普通工棚拖出去的。）被拖走时，特维尔多赫列市的手只要够得着窗子，他便把窗玻璃都打碎。清脆的玻璃破碎声响彻了我们整个队伍，像是在给看守和派工员数人数的声音作不祥的伴奏。 也是在给我们这每日、每周、每月、每年的单调而沉重的生活基调作伴奏。 生活就是这种样子。前途看不到一线光明。是的，内务部建立这些劳改营的时候本来就没有在计划里安排上一线光明嘛！ 我们二十五个新来的犯人（大部分是西部乌克兰人）组成了一个作业班，派工员同意从我们中间推举一个班长。我们仍旧推举了帕维尔?巴拉纽克。我们班是老老实实的，能干活。（这些西 乌克兰人刚刚离开尚未集体化的土地，干起活来是用不着督促的， 有时甚至还得要求他们留着点劲儿！）起初我们是被当作壮工使用 的，但我们中间很快就出现了几个砌石头的能手，其他人也开始 向他们学习，不久，我们班就成了一个砌石班。我们彻得很好，领 导注意到了，便把我们调离住房建筑工地，留在营部，不派我们 去给自由工人们盖住房了。后来，有一天，劳改营领导指着加强 管制工棚旁边的一堆石头（就是格尔舒尼抱过的那一堆石头）对 我们班长说："这种石头还会源源不断从采石场运来。这里现有的 加强管制工棚只是原设计的一半，还要修建另一半，这个任务就 交给你们班吧。 " 这样，我们便可耻地开始为自己建造监狱了。 那年的秋天很长，很干燥，整个九月和十月上半月一点儿雨 也没下。早晨往往很平静，然后就起风，到中午风力最大，傍晚 就停了。有时候微风吹来，反倒吹得人伤心，特别使人感到这草 原太广阔了，从加强管制工棚旁的树林开始，一直伸向远方；那 个只有几间新建厂房的小小居民点，警戒部队驻扎的军营和我们 这用铁丝网围起来的劳改营隔离区，都似乎完全湮没在这一望无 垠的、平坦的、毫无起伏变化、毫无希望的草原里了。唯有那第 一排略加修整的原木做的电话线杆朝着东北方向、朝着巴夫洛达 市的方向伸去。风有时会突然变得很猛，只须一小时就把西伯利 亚的冷空气吹来，迫使我们穿上棉衣。大风卷起草原上的大粒砂 石不住地往脸上打……我不由得想起了自己在砌造加强管制工棚 的那些日子里写下的一首诗，现在把它抄录在这里吧，也许能说 明点什么。 砌石工 看，我这个砌石的， 在认真地砌造监狱，仔细挑选着荒山的石块，犹如诗人在斟词酌句。这里并非城镇要地，是国起来的隔离区；苍鹰在碧空翱翔，仿佛也正凝神警惕。草原上唯有北风掠过，望不见行人踪迹，甚至无人来问我一声：在为谁砌造监狱？岂不见圈起的铁丝网，撒开的军大，还有那机枪手已进入阵地？不，还不够可靠！监狱里面还要造监狱！挥动着手中的瓦刀，我有节奏地转身。弯腰，像是这劳动本身把我拖着不停地往前奔跑。少校来视察过了，他说："嗯，砌得蛮好！"他还随口许诺：让我们第一批住进这新车！难道如此而已？瞧他说得多么轻松、惬意！准是又有人告了密，把那个害人的符号 记进了我的越中档案里， 把我用方话弧 同别人牵在了一起。 敲打砍削声响成一片， 瓦刀、榔头上下飞翻。 墙里又砌上一道墙， 一间四室还要隔成几间。 休息，我们在灰槽旁吸它几。烟， 有人逗趣，有的在谈天。 我们等待着晚饭，盼着赏下来的 那碗"补助"汤，还加面包一片。 然而，在那边小林的后面，石墙中间， 在那牢房的黑暗洞穴里， 须知有多少无处倾诉的痛苦 深深地永远锁在里边。 唯有一条汽车路通到这里， 它是与外界的唯一维系。 路旁的电线杆在嗡鸣， 不久前才把它立起。 上帝啊，我们多么懦弱、 无能、没有骨气！ 上帝啊，我们是一群 多么驯顺的奴隶！ 真是奴隶！这不仅表现在我们慑于马克西缅科少校的威胁而尽量把石墒砌得整齐，把洋灰抹得尽量平整，好让将来的囚犯们不容易把这墙破坏掉，而且还表现在尽管我们连定额都没有完成，但还是给我们砌石班发了补助粮，我们也确实吃掉了，没有把它往少校的脸上摔。而我们的同志，沃洛佳?格尔舒尼，就被关押在加强管制工棚的已经建成的一间小屋里。没有犯任何错误的伊万?斯帕斯基由于档案里的一个什么记号也被关进了惩戒班。我们中间将来还会有许多人要住进这个叫做"加强管制工棚"的监狱，可我们现在却正认真地、牢固地砌造它。就在我们用石块和灰浆忙碌建造监狱的时候，草原里传来一阵枪声。不一会儿，一辆乌鸦车开到离我们不远的岗楼。（这是警卫部队本部用的一辆真正的黑乌鸦囚车，车身上并没有漆着哄骗傻瓜的大字"请喝苏联香槟酒！"）从囚车里推出了四个人，都已被打得满身是血；两个人跌跌撞撞地往前走，另一个被士兵在地上拖着。只有伊万?沃罗比约夫恨恨地傲然走在最前面。 四个企图逃跑的囚犯就这样穿过了我们的脚手架，从我们脚下被带过去，带进了左边那个已建成的加强管制工棚。 What about us?我们仍在继续砌石，建造监狱…… 逃跑！绝望的挣扎！身上没有平民穿的衣服，不带食物，两手空空就想穿过枪弹纷飞的营区，跑进那没有水草、没有树木的无边草原去！这甚至不能说是一种谋划，它简直是挑战，是一种骄傲的自杀。我们中间那些最坚强最勇敢的人是敢于进行这样的反抗的！ 但是，我们呢？我们的继续砌石，建造监狱。 我们纷纷议论起来了。这是一个月内发生的第二次逃跑事件。第一次也没有成功，不过那次确实太笨了。外号叫"大肚皮"的瓦西里?布留欣、工程师穆吉亚诺夫和一个原波兰军官，三个人都在机械制造厂劳动。他们节约下一点食物，偷偷在厂房的一间屋里挖好了个一立方米大的坑，藏到里面去了。他们把坑顶盖起来，天真地指望警戒人员会在傍晚收工后像往常一样撤走，那时他们就可以逃跑。但是，收工时发现人数不够，但四周的铁丝网完好无损。警戒部队没有撤走，继续日夜守卫着工厂。这期间搜索的人带着军犬在隐藏者的头顶上走来走去，他们三人就把浸了煤油的棉花塞到坑顶盖子的缝里，破坏军犬的嗅觉。总共只有一立方米的地方，三个人只能把四肢交叉着挤在一起，不动，也不说话。他们这样蹲了三天三夜，最后实在受不住了，只好自己钻出来了。 别的作业班回到营区后，我们才听说沃罗比约夫等人逃跑的情况：他们原打算驾驶一辆卡车冲出隔离区去的。 A week passed.我们还在砌石头。现在加强管制工棚旁边的这些小房已经有个轮廓了：这里是舒适的禁闭室，这是单人囚室，这是门斗。我们已经在这块不大的地方堆砌了不少石头，采石场供应的石头源源不断。本来嘛，石头是不花钱的，采石场和这里的人力也都不花钱，国家只拨给点水泥就行，为什么不建筑呢。 又过了一星期。对埃克巴斯图兹的四千名囚犯来说，已经有足够的时间认清一个现实了：逃跑是发疯，它不会有任何好结果。可是，就在这时，同样是一个晴朗的天，草原上又响起了枪声：又是逃跑2！ !是啊，逃跑简直像瘟疫一样蔓延着。又是一辆黑囚车驶过去：抓回了两个人（另一个当场被打死了）。这两个人（巴塔诺夫和一个矮小的年轻人）也被打得血肉模糊了。又是把他们从我们身旁，从脚手架下面拖了过去，关进了已盖好的监狱，在那里还要继续打他们，然后扒掉衣服扔在石头地上，既不给吃，也不给喝。当你看到这些被摧残得不成样子的骄傲的人时，你这个奴隶作何感想呢？难道会卑鄙地庆幸被抓到、被毒打、注定要遭殃的不是你自己吗？ "快点干！快点把这左厢房盖起来！"大肚皮马克西缅科少校对我们喊叫。 我们继续砌墙。收工后我们还会领到一碗粥的补助粮呢！ 海军中校布尔科夫斯基继续在运送灰浆。凡是正在建设的东西总是对祖国有利的吧。 晚上回到生活区，我们才听说巴塔诺夫也是想乘汽车冲出去的，汽车轮胎被枪打坏了。 现在你们这些奴隶总该明白了吧：逃跑等于自杀！谁也不可能跑出一公里。你们可以自由选择：是劳动，还是自杀？ ! 没过五天。谁也没有听到射击声，可是，一个新消息就像用巨大铁锤敲打整个铁铸的天空似的震惊了全劳改营：逃跑了！ !又有人逃跑了！ ! !这回逃跑成功了！ 这次逃跑发生在九月十七日，星期天，他们跑得干净、利落，甚至连晚间的点名也平安无事地过去了，掌管钥匙并负责锁门的看守查对人数时也没有发现。只是到了十八日早晨才觉得有点不对头。于是，停止派班劳动，全员清点！先是排队全体清点了几次，然后又按工棚点名，接班组数人数，然后又按每个人的履历卡片查对。这帮本来只会在会计科数工资的鹰犬们数了几次，每次人数都不一样！到这时还没弄清到底跑了几个人？who?when?从哪儿？怎么跑的？ 已经是星期一的傍晚了，还不给我们吃中饭。 （把炊事员也从伙房里赶出来排队，点数！）可是，我们却一点也不生气。我们多高兴啊！不管是谁，只要他成功地跑掉，就是全体囚犯的最大喜事！不管在此之后警卫人员会变得多么凶狠，制度变得多么严酷，我们都毫不怨恨。我们高兴啊！每一次成功的逃跑都是对你们这帮走狗的打击！我们的人不是跑掉了吗！ ? （我们盯着劳改营领导人的眼睛，心里暗暗在祝愿：可别让这些家伙捉住啊！可别给他们捉住！） 这一整天没叫我们出工，星期一就像第二个休息日一样地过去了。（很好，那些人没有在星期六跑。他们想必是考虑到了不要破坏我们的星期天休息吧！） 但是，他们是谁呢？who is it? 直到星期一晚上才传开来：跑掉的是格奥尔吉?膝诺和科利亚?日丹诺克。 我们砌的狱墙越来越高了。我们已经装好门上的横板。一个个小窗口也都砌好了。我们已经在墙上留出了上人字梁的位置。 逃跑发生后三天过去了。七天。ten days.十五天了！ 没有任何消息。 逃掉了！ !