Some rabid anti-communist told be to read this book as proof of a Soviet genocide in Ukraine.
I did a quick search and saw it being passed around and referenced in anti-communists circles like /r/ENOUGHCOMMIESPAM, but I haven't seen any leftist evaluations of this book or this author. So is anyone familiar with this, and how seriously should I take it?
Gulag is literally an acronym meaning Directorate of Prison Camps in Russian. Prison work camps is basically how penitentiary system worked for like two centuries in Russia and it still works like that.
You know what I mean
Uncalled for, but my point is that do you really believe in Soviet Union enough to think people weren't jailed unfairly there?
It was uncalled for, I am sorry. I realized that and cut it out immediately.
The vast majority probably were there for good reason
I dunno. According to Soviet data 14 million people passed through the Gulag system for 1929 to 1952. That's a shitload of people for a country that hovered at a population of around 160 mil.
Don't forget that a significant portion of those were also nazi POWs
You have a point but there were also more than 1.5 mil people in camps every year from 38 to 41.
Yeah absolutely. I hesitate to say this in case it's interpreted as support of that policy, but for a nation under siege against all the capitalist powers, and several fascist ones popping up on the literal doorstep, it kinda tracks that the USSR would be looking out for anyone who may be a subversive. Horrible, but like, WWII was right there.
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Literally right nextdoor is the exact same as across the fucking Pacific Ocean
Imagine missing the point
No, I explained the thought process of the USSR. I do not think it was ok, nor do I condone it, but their behavior was explainable
Citation?
I just looked it up on Russian wikipedia . It supposedly references books based on Soviet archives.
Yeah I’m not gonna lie that’s a lot.
On the second look 14 mil point turned up to be Conquest, lol. Soviet data is from 0.5 to 2.5 mil in camps at any one time. That doesn't sound that bad but might sum up to those 10+ number anyway.
The NKVD was pretty heavy handed in their purges