Apart from its role as a corrective system for criminals, the Gulag system quickly became a significant part of the national economy of the Soviets. The cheap labor afforded by the camps made it integral to the continuation of the Stalinist government, and the repressive policies implemented ensured that this constant source of cheap (if relatively inefficient) labor remained large, by keeping the Gulag camps full.
Throughout the decades, new labor to replace the dead in the Gulags came from different sources. The Great Purges filled the Gulag during the late 1930s, and the forced repatriation of around two million Soviets from Western Europe after World War II contributed to an increase in prison populations during this time. From 1935-1950, an increased enforcement of property and theft legislation caused hundreds of thousands of Soviets to be sentenced to years in the Gulag for theft or small crimes.
This was characteristic of the Gulag system--Soviets were arrested for crimes they did not commit, or imprisoned for suspected counterrevolutionary activities (often simply for being part of the intelligentsia), or simply on arbitrary charges to meet a labor need in the Gulag. They would then be transported across the country, in overcrowded train cars, with hundreds of other prisoners, many of whom would not survive the journey. However, economically, this was seen as necessary for the Soviet economy, especially for Stalin's Five-Year Plans. The Gulag, though proven to be inefficient as a source of labor, was regarded as crucial to the industrialization of the Soviet Union and global economic competitiveness.
From the viewpoint of the Soviet government under Stalin, the Gulag was necessary to retain the Soviet Union's power. Quotas were set on specific prisons, and prisoners would be beaten, starved, tortured, or shot if they failed to meet quotas (which happened often). This generally led to a cycle, as the now even more broken prisoners were even less able to fulfill the quotas, that resulted in highly inefficient labor practices. However, by sheer determination that the system would be effective, major infrastructure projects were constructed through the Gulag, including railroads, highways, more prisons, apartment buildings, and the White Sea-Baltic Canal.
Ultimately, specifically in this early Cold War period, the Gulag system functioned as an ostensibly free source of labor to fill the government's needs both in terms of infrastructure and individualization and in terms of a penal system that isolated political dissenters and other unsavory (from the Stalinist point of view) individuals.
Throughout the decades, new labor to replace the dead in the Gulags came from different sources. The Great Purges filled the Gulag during the late 1930s, and the forced repatriation of around two million Soviets from Western Europe after World War II contributed to an increase in prison populations during this time. From 1935-1950, an increased enforcement of property and theft legislation caused hundreds of thousands of Soviets to be sentenced to years in the Gulag for theft or small crimes.
This was characteristic of the Gulag system--Soviets were arrested for crimes they did not commit, or imprisoned for suspected counterrevolutionary activities (often simply for being part of the intelligentsia), or simply on arbitrary charges to meet a labor need in the Gulag. They would then be transported across the country, in overcrowded train cars, with hundreds of other prisoners, many of whom would not survive the journey. However, economically, this was seen as necessary for the Soviet economy, especially for Stalin's Five-Year Plans. The Gulag, though proven to be inefficient as a source of labor, was regarded as crucial to the industrialization of the Soviet Union and global economic competitiveness.
From the viewpoint of the Soviet government under Stalin, the Gulag was necessary to retain the Soviet Union's power. Quotas were set on specific prisons, and prisoners would be beaten, starved, tortured, or shot if they failed to meet quotas (which happened often). This generally led to a cycle, as the now even more broken prisoners were even less able to fulfill the quotas, that resulted in highly inefficient labor practices. However, by sheer determination that the system would be effective, major infrastructure projects were constructed through the Gulag, including railroads, highways, more prisons, apartment buildings, and the White Sea-Baltic Canal.
Ultimately, specifically in this early Cold War period, the Gulag system functioned as an ostensibly free source of labor to fill the government's needs both in terms of infrastructure and individualization and in terms of a penal system that isolated political dissenters and other unsavory (from the Stalinist point of view) individuals.