Chapter 86 2

Of course, the air is much cleaner.This was also confirmed by a female teacher at a school in the immigrant area.She wrote: "Anyone who dares to secretly laugh in a political discussion class will lose the possibility of early parole. However, if you are an activist, then you can be more violent, you just need to pay attention to people not throwing cigarette butts , Quickly take off your hat and other behaviors, you can do light work yourself, get a good appraisal, and will take care of you when you open an account in the future." There are also so-called "collective committees" and "groups for the maintenance of internal order". (Marchenko called these groups; "Bitch Out Walking Groups," with the same initials.) These groups resemble vigilantes, with members wearing red armbands whose mission is to monitor prisoners for violations of the system and help guard!And this kind of committee has the power to recommend punishment!Anyone who is conditionally applicable to the "two-thirds sentence" and "one-half sentence" must help the work of the "maintaining internal order team", otherwise the "early parole" will not have your share.And those who have to serve their full sentence don't go because they don't have to.Alekseev wrote: "In comparison, most of the masses would prefer a slow death penalty to participation in such committees and groups."

Isn't this some kind of purified atmosphere?right?Look, there are social activities in the labor camps!What noble qualities this kind of social activity produces in people (to be servile, to inform, to push one's neighbor into the fire)!And here's that bling, ladder to makeover heaven!But how slippery the ladder is! For example, Olukhov (communist, former store manager, imprisoned for corruption) from Tiraspo's 2nd labor camp sent a letter complaining.He made a speech at the model producer representative meeting, exposing some people, and "calling on those sons and daughters of the motherland who have gone astray to seriously participate in labor and reform themselves", and the audience responded with warm applause.However, when he stepped off the podium and returned to his seat, a prisoner came up to him and said, "If you had said what you just said ten years ago, I would have killed you in public on the podium." Kill it. Not now, the law is in my way, protecting you bitch! Kill you, and I'll be shot too."

Readers will feel that all things are dialectically connected, will they feel the unity of opposites and the mutual transformation of contradictions?Lively social activity on the one hand and orders to shoot on the other, no? (Also, did the reader notice the time this person said? "If it was ten years ago...", this means that the prisoners ten years ago are still in place today. An era has passed, and it no longer exists , but this prisoner is still locked in place...) The same Olukhov also narrated about the prisoner Isaev.Isaev, formerly a major, is now in the fourth labor camp in Moldavia. He has always been uncompromising with the prisoners who violated the discipline in the labor camp. He dared to criticize by name in the collective committee. certain prisoners", which amounts to objecting to the preferential treatment of early parole for these prisoners, or to calling for their punishment.But how? "The next night he lost one of his big calfskin boots. He had to wear leather shoes, but another day later, he lost another one." See, in our time, the class enemy who is being chased to nowhere What an unseemly way to fight! ...

Of course, social life is very sensitive, like a double-edged sword, it needs to be taken seriously and be good at guiding.Otherwise something can happen that is corrosive to the prisoner.The case of Vanya Alekseev is an example.The process was as follows: the leader decided to hold the first plenary meeting of the labor camp at 8:00 p.m.The people arrived, but until ten o'clock, only the band in front of the stage was heard, and the meeting was delayed, although the officers had already taken their seats on the rostrum.So, Vanya Alekseev visited the band to "pause" and asked the leader to answer: When will the conference start?The answer is: not open.Then Alexeyev said: Well.We prisoners are going to have our own meeting. The topic of our discussion is: "Life and Time".The prisoners in the audience were also noisy and supportive.The officers got off the stage one after another.Alekseev stepped onto the podium with his notebook and began to speak, starting with the question of personality superstitions.At this time, several officers rushed over, dismantled the rostrum, unscrewed the light bulb, and kept pushing away the prisoners who flocked to the rostrum.The officers were ordered to arrest Alekseev, but Alekseev appealed to them: "Guardians, citizens! You are all members of the Komsomol! You heard me, what I just said is true. The real situation. Who do you want to attack? Do you want to attack the conscience of Lenin's thought?" Even the conscience of Lenin's thought must be arrested!However, a group of Caucasian prisoners hid Alekseev in his shed, and he was not caught that night.Later, he was still squatted in the confinement room.After the confinement, his speech was identified as "anti-Soviet propaganda". The "Collective Committee" demanded that the camp authorities put Alekseev in isolation for his anti-Soviet propaganda.Based on this request, the authorities filed a charge in the People's Court, as a result of which Alekseev was sentenced to three years of strict imprisonment.

In order to correctly guide people's thinking, it is very important that political classes are given every week in the immigration area.Political lessons are taught by officers who are captains of brigades (each brigade of 200 to 250 men), and each session revolves around a certain topic, such as: the humanitarian nature of our system, the superiority of our system, the achievements of socialist Cuba , The Awakening of Colonial Africa, etc.It is said that the prisoners in the immigration area are very concerned about these issues. After they understand these issues, they will better abide by the various systems of the immigration area and work harder. (Of course, not everyone understands it correctly. For example, someone wrote from Irkutsk: "In the starving labor camps we are told that our country's products are extremely rich. Here we are in We see only picks, shovels, baskets, and pans at work, but we are told that mechanization is everywhere.")

Before the above-mentioned general meeting, Vanya Alexeyev also did such a strange thing: he raised his hand in a political class to ask for the floor, then stood up and said to the lecturer, "You are the housekeeper. Officers of the Ministry, we are prisoners, we all committed crimes during the period of personality superstition. Therefore, we are enemies of the people as well as you. Now we should all plead guilty to the Soviet people with our selfless labor. Therefore, I I seriously advise you, Citizen Major, to resolutely take the road of communism!" This incident was considered to be his "unhealthy anti-Soviet sentiment", which was later written into his file.

This Alexeyev sent a long and extensive letter from the Ustvim labor camp.The letter paper had been crumpled and the handwriting was illegible, and it took me six hours to read it.It really has it all!It is worth noting that he utters this general remark: "Who is squatting now in the labor camp, in this slave ghetto? This is the most courageous and uncompromising class of people excluded from society... ...it is the bureaucracy that pushes this part of the brave youth down the abyss of life, because it sees that if this part of the youth is armed with theories of social justice, it will be very dangerous for the bureaucracy." "The prisoner is pushed out The children of the proletariat are the property of the labor camp."

Another tool is broadcasting, which can also be very useful if used correctly. (Not music and love songs, but educational programs!) The radio, like everything else, is treated differently according to the system: 213 hours for the special system immigration area, and 213 hours for the general immigration area. Plus there's school! (That goes without saying! We are going to rehabilitate the prisoners and send them back to the society!) It's just that "everything is formalistic. It's to cover people's eyes and ears... People are driven to school with sticks, and their interest in learning is suppressed." The enhanced control shed was canceled", and the young people were "ashamed to let the free woman teacher see themselves like this" because of their shabby clothes.

Yes, it was a big deal for a prisoner to see a live woman! Needless to say.Only according to the principle of separate detention for men and women implemented by Stalin and Beria after the war, can prisoners be properly educated and reformed, especially for adult prisoners, especially for those whose sentences lasted for decades.This approach has been taken for granted in the Gulag Archipelago.Although the entire human world recognizes that the interaction between men and women is the factor that promotes improvement and development, this principle is absolutely unacceptable in the Gulag Islands, because then the life of the prisoner will be "like living in a sanatorium" .Moreover, the closer we get to the brilliance of communism that has illuminated half the sky, the more we must resolutely separate male and female criminals. Only through this separation can he (she) suffer a little bit and be reformed.

In our era where there is no openness and people have no rights, the entire system of reformation through labor camps and immigration areas is still subject to social supervision.Yes, we have an oversight board.Readers have not forgotten it, it has not been cancelled. The Supervisory Committee is composed of "representatives of local organisations".But in fact, in remote areas, in villages and towns of free inhabitants, who can participate in such committees except the wives of the executive?It's nothing more than a women's committee that just repeats her husband's opinion.

However, this approach sometimes has completely unexpected consequences in some large cities.For example, the district party committee appointed female communist Galina Petrovna Filipova to the supervisory committee of the Odessa prison.She tried her best to refuse: "I don't want to deal with criminals!" However, the party has party discipline, and she has to participate.After participating, she was completely captivated by the work!She saw all kinds of people in prison, and how many innocent victims there were among them!How many have been thoroughly converted!So she came up with a solution: Instead of the prison authorities participating, she would talk to the prisoners individually (which naturally made the prison authorities very unhappy).Some of the inmates looked at her like the enemy for months at first, but finally changed their minds.She has been going to prison often since then, twice, three, four times a week.Stay in prison until late roll call, sometimes even on holidays.Now, of course, those who sent her were not very happy.She reported to the higher authorities the situation of prisoners serving a 25-year sentence (the penal code no longer has such a long sentence, but people are still serving their sentences), and asked Zi to arrange work for those released after serving their sentences, and to report the situation of permanent exile.The higher authorities may find it incomprehensible to her report (the director of the Penitentiary Administration of the Republic of the Russian Federation, a general, tried to convince her in 1963 that there was no such thing as a twenty-five-year sentence in the Soviet Union. What's more, the most ridiculous thing is that the bureau chief turned out to be "unaware"!) or fully aware of what she was talking about, but firmly opposed her opinion.Then began to persecute and frame her in the Ukrainian government system and party system.The committee she was on was also disbanded because of constant comments. Yes, people cannot be allowed to interfere with the rulers of the Gulag Islands!People cannot be allowed to get in the way of actual workers!Readers probably remember: "The people who worked there then are still working there now, maybe about ten percent more people", isn't that what we just learned from them themselves! ? However, has something changed in their thinking?Do they now have some degree of compassion for the people in their care?Yes, all the newspapers and magazines have said over and over again that they do have mercy now.I did not look specifically for it, but we have already seen in the "Literature Zeitung" (Chapter 1) how much the current camp masters in the village of Yertsevo care for their prisoners.In addition, "Literature News" also invited the head of the immigration area to give a speech: (March 3, 1964) "It's easy to criticize people who work in education (in the labor camps). It's much harder to help them. It's about choosing the right people -- motivated, educated, Literate (and must be literate!), interested and talented candidates for the job, it is even more difficult... Good working and living conditions should be created for these people... Their salary It's very meager, and the daily work is very heavy, which I deeply understand..." If only we could end this chapter here, let's just assume that!Then one can live more peacefully, dedicate one's life to art, and one can dedicate one's life to science more safely.But these accursed letters, these crumpled, frayed letters, sent from the labor camps by illegal "trails" will not allow me to end it.So what do these ungrateful people say in their letters about those who are daily burdened with hard work and who give their whole body and soul to prisoners?Please see: Ian wrote: "You tell the educator what's on your mind, but it feels like your words are bouncing off his gray army coat. At this point, you can't wait to ask him: Sorry, your family Is the cow doing well lately? Because the trainer spends far more time in the barn with the cow than he does with the subjects." (From Gulas Special Labor Camp, Lesotti. ) Leon wrote: "Still the old fools as guards. The head of the labor camp is a typical Volkovoy-type character. You must not talk back to the guards, otherwise you will be put into solitary confinement immediately." Ko-en writes: "The captains talk to us in the same phrasing that they used in the labor camps. It's rotten meat! Bitches! Animals!..." (Yertsov stands. What a coincidence!) Koyi wrote: "The leader of our labor camp here can be said to be Volkovoy's brother. Yes, he doesn't beat people with a whip, he beats with his fists. When he looks at people, his eyes look like a hungry dog. Wolves... The captain of the brigade was the original operative. He kept a bad news reporter, and rewarded that person with a little narcotics every time he reported something... Those guys who used to beat people, torture people, and shoot people are now just It was transferred from one labor camp to another, with a slight change of position." (From Irkutsk Oblast) Pav wrote: "The head of the immigration area has six direct assistants. All the production and construction units are driving away people who have nothing to eat, so these guys ran to the immigration area... Those who were in the former labor camps Idiots...still working to this day. They're dawdling, working age, waiting to reach retirement age. Some don't retire when they reach age. They haven't lost weight at all. Prisoners weren't human beings in their eyes, and they still aren't people." De-Wey's letter said: "There is not a single new face here in our Norilsk Box No. 288. It is all the original Beria elements. Some people have retired, but these people have replaced them (that is, in 1956 Those who were kicked out)...their working years are counted as double, the wages are set very high, the vacation period is long, and the food is good. They work one year and count as two years, so some of them plan to go to thirty Retire at five! . . . " Pa-en wrote: "There are a dozen or three strong boys in our branch, wearing a boiled fur coat almost to the feet, wearing a fur hat, and wearing felt boots issued by the army. Why don't these people come to the mines? Or open up wasteland to work and exert strength? Why not give up the positions here to older people? No, even if they are put on ropes and dragged by ships down the Volga River, they will not be dragged away! Probably only this group of parasites will report to the superiors that the prisoners are not easy to reform. Because when there are fewer prisoners, they will be cut." It can be seen that the prisoners still planted potatoes in the ruler's vegetable garden, watered the fields, raised livestock for them, and made furniture for them as before. Seeing this, some unprepared readers may cry out in bewilderment: So, who is right?Who should I trust? Of course, you should believe the reports in the newspapers!Readers, trust the newspapers!Always trust our newspapers! The personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs constitute a force.They will never let it go, they will never back down.Since we were able to stand up in 1956, we will stand firm in the future, we will stand firm! This does not only refer to labor reform institutions.It's not just the Sheriff's Department, either.We have seen how willingly the press, the Soviet representatives, supported them. Because they are the pillars, the pillars on which many things live. And, they don't just have power.They also have theoretical arguments.It is not so easy to argue with them. I tried it. In fact, I never had such a plan.I was simply driven by these letters, which I did not expect at all from the prisoners of today.The inhabitants of the archipelago today ask me with great hope: Speak for them!Stand up for their rights!Make those people a little human! But who do I tell?You know, people don't even listen to it... If there is a free newspaper, I will publish all this, and once it is published, it will encourage everyone to discuss it! But at the moment (January 1964) I am just a private, hesitant, and uneasy beggar wandering around the corridors of various agencies, waiting in front of the small window of the reception room, Under the impatient and suspicious eyes of the soldiers on duty.If a political writer wants to let busy government officials listen to him even for half an hour, how much social honor and care must he win to do it! However, this is not the main difficulty.My main difficulty, as it was at the meeting of the captains of the Ekbastuz labor camp, was: what to tell them?What language do you speak in? It is both dangerous and utterly useless to speak out of my true thoughts which I have written in this book.It would just be a socially inaudible person swooning in a silent office, those desperately looking forward to it would not know it, and the actual problem would not be solved in the slightest. So, what should I say?As soon as I walked through their marble, mirror-clear office building lobby and stepped onto the soft and comfortable carpet, I had to accept some minimum restraints--these were ropes made of raw silk, They seemed to go through my tongue, ears, and eyelids, and they were sewn tightly to my shoulders, to the skin of my back, and to my belly.The minimum fetters I have to accept are: 1.I have to admit: the past, present and future glory belong to the party! (That said, the general policy of punishment cannot be incorrect. I cannot doubt the necessity of the entire Gulag archipelago. Nor can I stress enough that "most of those in prison are innocent.") 2. I have to confess: the dignitaries with whom I am going to talk are loyal to their cause and concerned about the prisoners.I cannot accuse them of duplicity, callousness, and ignorance. (Since they work wholeheartedly for the cause, how can they not understand their own cause!) Conversely, my own motives for interfering in this matter are questionable; who am I?Since it's not my job, why should I intervene?Do I have some nasty selfish purpose? ...Even without me, the party will see everything and handle everything correctly, so why should I intervene? ... In order to make myself more or less self-assured, I chose the status of being nominated as a candidate for the Lenin Prize.So, like a "pawn" on a chessboard, I "arched" forward step by step, thinking to myself: Can I be a "car" if I cross the "river"? So, I came to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.Come to Bills Committee.It turned out that this committee was formulating a new labor reform code, and this work had been going on for more than a year.The new code would be the norm for future life in the archipelago, and it would replace the code of 19323, which actually existed and never existed, and seemed never to have been written.The committee agreed to meet me, to give me, who had grown up in the Gulag Islands, a taste of their wisdom and to embellish them with some of my childish ideas. There were eight people who met me.Four of them were so young that I was amazed: these kids would be fine if they made it through college, and they didn't look like they did.They have risen to power, too fast!See how at ease they are in this palace of marble and parquet!As for me, the mere fact of being allowed to enter here is subject to extremely careful consideration at all levels.The chairman of the committee, Ivan Andreevich Babushin, was an elderly, very good gentleman.Seems like if it was up to him, he'd be disbanding the Gulag tomorrow.But here's his job: to sit silently on the sidelines throughout our conversation.Among them, the two little old men who spoke the most were like the little old men in the Ochakov era described by Griboyedov, who conquered Crimea.They are the typical type of people who, once they learn something, freeze it in their heads forever.I can assure you that they haven't even read a newspaper since March 5, 1953; nothing that happens to them can affect their opinion!One of them was wearing a blue jacket. I always thought it looked like the light blue court uniform of Empress Ekaterina's time. I even saw the trace left after the Ekaterina silver star was unscrewed on the chest.These two old men expressed their disgust for me and my visit from the moment I stepped through the door.Still, they decided to show due patience. When you have a lot to say in your heart, it is often not easy to speak.What's more, at this time, I was still bound by many silk ropes, as if I would be very painful if I moved a little bit. However, my keynote address is still ready, and it does not seem to be tied to any strings.I first talked to them: some people think (I can't say they think) that the labor camps are now in danger of becoming "sanatoriums", and it seems that if the labor camps are free from hunger and cold, they will be too happy.I don't know where to start with this remark?I ask them, despite their lack of personal experience, to imagine the pain and punishment that imprisonment itself inflicts: a man cannot live in his own home with people he does not wish to live with, he cannot live with himself. Wants people (family, friends) to be together; he cannot see the growth of his children; cannot move around freely, and generally cannot engage in professional labor that he loves; he often feels that others—people with different life experiences, opinions and habits Other prisoners have pressure and even hatred towards him; he is not affected by the softening effect of the opposite sex (no need to talk about physical problems); even the medical conditions are so bad that they cannot be compared with those outside the prison.How can this be compared with a sanatorium on the shore of the Black Sea?Why so much fear that prisons will become "nursing homes"?No, the idea doesn't impress them at all.They sat like a mountain, unmoved by it. So let's talk broadly.Isn't our purpose to reintegrate prisoners into society after reformation?So why let them live in harsh conditions so often?Why does the current system still abuse prisoners in every possible way and often torture them physically?What good does it do the country to cripple them? I put the thought out.So they explained my mistakes to me: First, I didn’t understand the composition of today’s prisoners enough, I was looking at things based on old impressions, and I was behind life (this is indeed my weakness, I really don’t see the people in the car now).And for those segregated recidivists, the things I just listed are not deprivation at all, the current system can only make them conscious (the silk rope hurts me! Yes, to this extent they have Right to speak, they understand who is in jail now).reintegrate them into society? ...yes, of course it's not a problem.The old men were talking like a gramophone, but all I could hear in the voice was: No, of course not, let them die in the immigration area, and we'll all be at peace. So, what about the current management system?One of the chief prosecutors answered, the old man in the blue uniform with the star marks on his chest, the white hair on his head was thinning, and his face looked a bit like General Suvorov's.He replied: "Since the implementation of the strict management system, we have achieved some results: the number of homicides per year has dropped from two thousand (you can talk about such figures in this room) to the current few dozen." This is an important number, I quietly wrote it down.It seems that this is the biggest gain of my visit. Who is in prison?Of course, if we want to talk about the properness of the system, we must first find out who is in prison.Figuring this out required dozens of psychologists and jurists, who had to go to the scene and talk freely to the prisoners before a discussion could begin.And the letters from my "labour camp correspondents" don't write about these things, they don't write about why they and other prisoners are in prison.1964 - Prisoner's relatives still swallow tears in solitude.The free people of Moscow did not yet know the details of the labor camps ("One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" describes "the past"), they were still timid and divided, and there was no social movement of any kind.It's the same old one, the dead silence of the Stalin era. The general discussion is over and we transition to thematic discussions.Actually, needless to say, the committee is clear about it and everything has been decided.They don't need me, they just want to see me out of curiosity. Postal parcel?It can only be limited to less than five kilograms, and it must be divided into categories and treated differently according to the current method.I propose that the limit for each class should be at least doubled. According to the regulations of the post office, the weight limit of each postal package can be within eight kilograms.I said, "They are starving! Can hunger transform people?!" "How can you be hungry?!" The committee expressed their indignation unanimously. "We've been there ourselves, and we've seen the leftover bread being eaten there and turned into cars!" (Is it pulled to feed the pigs to the guards?...) what should I do?I should have shouted to them, "You liars! It's impossible!" But the silk rope sewn to my hip through my shoulders held my tongue tight.I cannot violate the original conditions: they should be admitted to be informed, sincere, and caring for the prisoners.Show them the letters the prisoners gave me?These letters are nothing more than a pile of waste paper to them, and it is ridiculous and out of place to put those crumpled papers on this red velvet-covered conference table.And it must not be shown to them, they will write down their names, and these boys will suffer! "But it doesn't do the country any harm by letting them get a few more parcels in the mail!" "Do you know who is using these parcels?" the commissioners retorted, "basically rich families." (The word "rich" is used here because it is needed to talk about real national problems.) It is the people who stole and concealed their property before going to jail. Therefore, allowing an increased number of parcels to be received will relatively disadvantage working families!" In this way, I was tied by the rope again, and it literally strangled into my flesh!Yes, this is another condition that cannot be violated: the interests of the working class are above all else.They sit here all day for the benefit of the working class! I found that I was not astute enough.I don't know how to refute them.Say to them: "No, you didn't convince me?" They don't care, what am I, am I their boss? ! "So, what about the commissary?" I went through it from the other side! "Why don't we implement the principle of socialist remuneration? Let him spend the money he earns from his own labor!" "You should also accumulate some funds for use when you are released!" They refuted me again, "otherwise the prisoner will be penniless when he is released after serving his sentence, and he will have to rely on the state to support him." The interests of the country are above all else.The rope was also taut, and I still couldn't move my tongue.How can I propose to increase the labor remuneration for prisoners by generously serving the country? ! "Then, one must make sure that all Sundays are rested!" "It's already laid out. That's how it's done." "However, there are dozens of ways in which a prisoner's Sunday rest can be violated inside the camp. So please emphasize that Sunday rest is not to be violated." "It can't be so detailed in the code." The working day is eight hours.I said a few words about the seven-hour working day feebly, but I also felt that it was too much: it was no longer twelve hours of labor, nor ten hours.What else do you want? ! "Correspondence, which is one of the channels that keeps prisoners connected to our socialist society. (Look, I've also learned to make high-sounding reasons!) Please don't limit correspondence." However, at this point they do not want to reopen the discussion.The quota has been established, and it is not as strict as it used to be... They also showed me the list of the number of visits, which also included a three-day "single visit", which was not allowed for many years in our time.Therefore, it is also passable.I even feel that their regulations are relatively lenient in this regard, and it is almost not a compliment to them. I am tired.I was tied up everywhere and couldn't move.I am of no use here.I have to go now Judging by the splendor of this festively splendored, spacious office, and by the chatter of the commissars in these ottomans, the labor camp was not a terrible place at all, it was even quite reasonable.Look, truckloads of leftover bread are being pulled out... Shouldn't all these horrible people be released back into society?At this time, I remembered the faces of those criminal leaders... I have not been in the cell for ten years, how do I know who is in the county where I am now in prison?My brethren, the political prisoners, seem to have been released.Those ethnic groups who were forced to relocate also went back... Another annoying old man wants to hear my opinion on hunger strikes: If the food is more nutritious than rotten vegetable soup, I can’t disapprove of force-feeding hunger strikers through a hose, right? I had no choice but to say to them with a cheeky face: Prisoners not only have the right to use hunger strike as the only means to defend their claims, but also have the right...to starve to death. My arguments astonished them.But here I am stuck in everything: I cannot talk to them about the relationship between the hunger strike and domestic public opinion. I left there tired and overwhelmed; I was even a little shaken, but they didn't.They will do exactly what they want, and the Supreme Council will unanimously approve it. Minister of Social Security of the Soviet Union Vadim Stepanovich Tikunov.How fantastic!Am I, the insignificant "M-232" political convict, going to see the Minister of the Interior and teach him how to run the Gulag? ! To approach the minister's office, one had to meet some colonels.One by one, they were raised with fat heads, big ears, thin skin and tender flesh, but they were all very agile in their movements.After entering the chief secretary's office, there is no way to go forward.There are no other doors in this room.But there was a huge glass cabinet with crepe curtains hanging in the glass.The chest was big enough to hold two men on horseback.It turned out that this was the gate that entered the minister's office.The office is very large, and it is roomy enough to seat two hundred people. The minister himself was morbidly fat, with a wide jaw, and his entire face was trapezoidal.Throughout the conversation he continued to speak gravely and coldly, with no interest in what I had to say, and was obliged to listen only out of duty. I start off with a long discussion about "sanatoriums".Moving on to the general questions above: Is there a common task before "us" (me and them) to rehabilitate prisoners? (My views on "transformation" have already been discussed in the fourth part) Why is there a transformation in 1961?Why are there four kinds of labor reform areas?I repeated to him the dry questions mentioned earlier in this chapter: about meals, postal packages, clothes, labor arrangements, about lawlessness, about what a "practical worker" looks like. (As for the letters I received, I didn’t even dare to bring them with me this time: I was afraid he would confiscate them on the spot. I just copied some of them and didn’t mention the writer.) I talked to him for forty minutes, Perhaps an hour, which is quite a long time, and I was a little surprised that he would listen patiently to the end. He also interrupted me sometimes to agree or disagree immediately.He didn't deny me all.I originally envisioned him as a wall of pride, but this man is much gentler.He said yes to many questions!He agreed that more pocket money should be given out to buy things at the commissary, and the postal package limit should be relaxed, and there is no need to specify the contents of the package like the Bills Committee. （但是，这些都不取决于他呀！不是由他这位部长决定的。由新劳改法典规定！）他也同意让囚犯可以煮点或烧点自己的东西吃。 （可是东西哪里来呢？）通信和邮寄书报可以不管限制。 （这可要给劳改营的书报检查人员增加负担。）他也反对阿拉克切耶夫式的过分暴虐的措施，例如，经常站队之类。 （但是，领导机关去干涉这类具体事情是不策略的：破坏纪律容易，要重整纪律可就难了。）他同意营区里的草不必拔掉。 （可是，杜布洛夫特种营的囚犯竟然在机械制造厂旁边开辟了私人菜地，机床工们休息时就去侍弄自己的菜地，每人有二三平方米，种些西红柿和黄瓜之类。部长已经下令立即全部刨掉它，而且他言下颇有些洋洋自得之意！我对他说："人和土地的联系有助于道德教育！"他却反驳说："犯人私有菜地会培养私有制的本能！"）当部长听到又把"营区外拘禁"的人们抓回劳改营时，他甚至为之震惊。this is too scary! （我没好意思问他：你当时担任什么职务？你是怎样反对这种作法的？）不仅如此，这位部长还承认：现在对囚犯的看管比"伊万?杰尼索维奇"那时候严厉得多！ 既然如此，我还有什么可以说服他的呢！我们简直没有什么可谈了。（一个不担任职务的人的建议，部长认为是不必记下来的！） 我该提出什么建议？把群岛解散，改为无警戒监禁吗？说都说不出口，十足的乌托邦！何况任何一个重大问题都不取决于个别人，它总是在许多机关中串来串去，而不取决于其中任何一个个人的。 部长则相反，他信心十足地坚持说：条纹布囚服对那些累犯来说是需要的。（"您如果知道这是些什么人，就不会反对给他们穿条纹布囚服了！"）而听到我对看守人员和警卫人员的指责时，他觉得很委屈，他说："这是你弄错了，要么就是你的感受与众不同，这或许是你的个人经历所造成的。"他极力使我相信现在谁也不愿意去当看守，赶都赶不去，因为现在没有优待了。（我真想对他高兴地叫起来："不愿意去，这是一种健康的、人民大众的心理呀！"但是耳朵、舌头和眼皮全被预防性的丝绳牵扯住，动不得。而且，我忽略了一点：不愿意去的只是上等兵和军士，军官们还是在争先恐后往那里钻。）他说，不得不依靠预备役人员去当看守。相反，部长向我说明，是囚犯越来越放肆了，现在看守同囚犯谈话时很有礼貌，规规矩矩。 既然微不足道的囚犯们的来信和部长的谈话如此大有径庭，我们应该相信谁呢？很明显；囚犯们在扯谎。 而且这位部长讲话时还说这是他亲眼所见。他是部长，当然有机会去劳改营看看，我就没有机会。我想不想去看看？去克柳科沃，去杜布洛夫劳改营？（一听他主动提出这两处，我就知道这是波将金式的、安排布置好专供参观的地方。再说，我以什么身份去？是部长派来的监察员吗？那我在囚犯面前连头也抬不起来……我当然不同意去看……） 部长反过来指责囚犯们不够通情达理，对给予他们的关怀毫无反响。他来到马路尼托哥尔斯克劳改移民区问他们："你们对目前的生活有什么意见？"他们当着特种劳改点领导的面就齐声说："没有意见！"而他们自己永远是不满的。 而且部长从下列各种表现上看到了"劳改区改造工作的卓越成效： --受到劳改点首长表扬的机床工脸上流露出自豪的神情； --劳改区的囚犯得知他们的产品（煮水器）是供应英雄的古巴的，都为此感到自豪； --劳改营的"维持内部秩序小组"（既"母狗出去散步小组"）按期报告工作并进行改选； --杜布洛夫劳改营里有很多（公家的）鲜花。 部长现在主要关心的是：使每个劳改区都建立起自己的工业基地。部长认为，只要各项有意义的工作都开展起来，囚犯也就不会再逃跑了。（至于我对他的反驳，指出"人对自由的渴望"等，他甚至无法理解。） 我又一次拖着疲惫的身体离开了部长办公室，深信这一切是不会有尽头的。我认识到自己丝毫未能推动什么，人们将依旧照章办理。我离去时心情十分沉重--不同的人对事物的理解是多么互不相同啊！除非让囚犯亲身高踞于这间办公室的宝座，否则他不可能理解部长脑心理；而部长，只要他自己没有落入铁丝网里，他辛辛苦苦开出来的一小块菜地没有被卫兵们践踏掉，只要人们没有强迫他丢掉自由去学习开机床，他也不可能理解囚犯。 犯罪原因研究所。我在这里的谈话倒很有意思。同我座谈的是两名知识分子到所长和几位研究室主任。这些人都很活跃，各有独立的见解，他们也互相争论。座谈会之后，一名副所长B?H?库德里亚夫采夫送我出来，在走廊里他责怪我："不对，您还是没有把各种观点都考虑进去。托尔斯泰就会考虑的……"接着，他突然对我耍了个欺骗手法："来，咱们顺便去看看我们所长吧，就是伊戈尔?伊万诺维奇?卡尔佩茨。" 原来没计划访问所长。我们什么都谈过了，还有什么必要？也好，去打个招呼。哪能不去呢！人家要跟你寒暄两句是抬举你了；这些副所长们、副主任们竟然是在这样一个领导手下工作，这里的整个研究工作是由这样一个人主持的，真叫人没法相信。（我还不知道主要的呢：这位卡尔佩茨还是国际民主法律工作者协会副主席呢！） 卡尔佩茨见我进屋，便带着敌意和轻蔑的表情站起来（整个五分钟的谈话好像就是这样站着进行的）--倒像是我再三求见，好不容易才如愿以偿似的。也行啊。他脸上透着踌躇满志；坚强；厌恶（这是对我的）。胸前拧着一枚像勋章一样的大徽章，也不可惜那身高级西服。图案是一把直立的创，刺穿了底下的什么东西，文字是：内务部。（这是一枚很重要由证章。它表示佩戴者特别早就有了"干净的手，火热的心，冰冷的头脑"。） "你们刚才谈了些什么？谈了些什么？"他住着眉头问道。 我根本不需要同他谈，但我还是出于礼貌简单地重复了几句。 "噢，"这位民主法律工作者似乎刚一听就全明白了，"自由化吗？放纵囚犯？！" 我曾经带着各种问题走访过大理石造的办公室，穿过大玻璃镜的门斗，徒劳无益地寻找答案，而现在，他的几句话就使我意外地豁然开朗，完全回答了我所有问题： 提高囚犯的生活水平？no!因为这会使劳改营附近的自由居民的生活得不如囚犯，这是不能允许的。 允许囚犯接受更多的邮包？no!这会对看守人中产生有害一影响，因为看守人员也吃不到首都生产的食品。 批评并教育看守人员？no!我们是依靠这些人来维持的！现在谁都不愿意去干这种工作，可我们又不能给他们很多钱，优惠条件已经取消了。 我们剥夺了囚犯按社会主义原则取得劳动报酬的权利？不，是他们自绝于社会主义社会的！ "但是，我们不是想让他们重返社会生活吗？！……" "让他们回来？？？……"佩带利剑徽章的人感到很惊奇。"劳改营可不是为了这个目的的。劳改营是惩罚！" 是惩罚！ --这声音充满了整个房间--惩罚！ ! 惩--罚--！ ! ! ． 一把垂直的利剑，它刺杀，它穿透，休想把它移开！ 是惩罚！ ! 古拉格群岛过去存在过，这群岛今天依然存在，这群岛今后还要存在！ 不然的话，把那"先进学说"的失算--人们并没有按照它设想的样子成长--的责任推到什么人身上去呢？