Stalin's repressions:
What was it?

On the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression

In this material we have collected the memories of eyewitnesses, fragments from official documents, figures and facts provided by researchers in order to provide answers to questions that haunt our society again and again. The Russian state has never been able to give clear answers to these questions, so until now, everyone is forced to look for answers on their own.

Who was affected by the repression?

Representatives of the most different groups population. The most famous names are artists, Soviet leaders and military leaders. About peasants and workers, often only names are known from execution lists and camp archives. They did not write memoirs, tried not to remember the camp past unnecessarily, and their relatives often abandoned them. The presence of a convicted relative often meant the end of a career or education, so the children of arrested workers and dispossessed peasants might not know the truth about what happened to their parents.

When we heard about another arrest, we never asked, “Why was he taken?”, but there were few like us. People distraught with fear asked each other this question for pure self-comfort: people are taken for something, which means they won’t take me, because there’s nothing! They became sophisticated, coming up with reasons and justifications for each arrest - “She really is a smuggler,” “He allowed himself to do this,” “I myself heard him say...” And again: “You should have expected this - he has such terrible character”, “It always seemed to me that something was wrong with him”, “This is a complete stranger.” That’s why the question: “Why was he taken?” – became forbidden for us. It's time to understand that people are taken for nothing.

- Nadezhda Mandelstam , writer and wife of Osip Mandelstam

From the very beginning of the terror until today attempts continue to be made to present it as a fight against “sabotage”, enemies of the fatherland, limiting the composition of the victims to certain classes hostile to the state - kulaks, bourgeois, priests. The victims of terror were depersonalized and turned into “contingents” (Poles, spies, saboteurs, counter-revolutionary elements). However, the political terror was total in nature, and its victims were representatives of all groups of the population of the USSR: the “cause of engineers”, the “cause of doctors”, persecution of scientists and entire areas in science, personnel purges in the army before and after the war, deportations of entire peoples.

Poet Osip Mandelstam

He died during transit; the place of death is not known for certain.

Directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold

Marshals of the Soviet Union

Tukhachevsky (shot), Voroshilov, Egorov (shot), Budyony, Blucher (died in Lefortovo prison).

How many people were affected?

According to the estimates of the Memorial Society, there were 4.5-4.8 million people convicted for political reasons, and 1.1 million people were shot.

Estimates of the number of victims of repression vary and depend on the calculation method. If we take into account only those convicted on political charges, then according to an analysis of statistics from the regional departments of the KGB of the USSR, carried out in 1988, the bodies of the Cheka-GPU-OGPU-NKVD-NKGB-MGB arrested 4,308,487 people, of which 835,194 were shot. According to the same data, about 1.76 million people died in the camps. According to the estimates of the Memorial Society, there were more people convicted for political reasons - 4.5-4.8 million people, of which 1.1 million people were shot.

The victims of Stalin's repressions were representatives of some peoples who were subjected to forced deportation (Germans, Poles, Finns, Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars and others). This is about 6 million people. Every fifth person did not live to see the end of the journey - about 1.2 million people died during the difficult conditions of deportation. During the dispossession, about 4 million peasants suffered, of which at least 600 thousand died in exile.

In total, about 39 million people suffered as a result of Stalin's policies. The number of victims of repression includes those who died in the camps from disease and harsh working conditions, those deprived of their money, victims of hunger, victims of unjustifiably cruel decrees “on absenteeism” and “on three ears of corn” and other groups of the population who received excessively harsh punishment for minor offenses due to repressive the nature of the legislation and the consequences of that time.

Why was this necessary?

The worst thing is not that you are suddenly taken away from a warm, well-established life like this overnight, not Kolyma and Magadan, and hard labor. At first, the person desperately hopes for a misunderstanding, for a mistake by the investigators, then painfully waits for them to call him, apologize, and let him go home to his children and husband. And then the victim no longer hopes, no longer painfully searches for an answer to the question of who needs all this, then there is a primitive struggle for life. The worst thing is the senselessness of what is happening... Does anyone know what this was for?

Evgenia Ginzburg,

writer and journalist

In July 1928, speaking at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Joseph Stalin described the need to fight “alien elements” as follows: “As we move forward, the resistance of capitalist elements will increase, the class struggle will intensify, and Soviet power, forces which will increase more and more, will pursue a policy of isolating these elements, a policy of disintegrating the enemies of the working class, and finally, a policy of suppressing the resistance of the exploiters, creating a basis for the further advancement of the working class and the bulk of the peasantry.”

In 1937, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR N. Yezhov published order No. 00447, in accordance with which a large-scale campaign to destroy “anti-Soviet elements” began. They were recognized as the culprits of all the failures of the Soviet leadership: “Anti-Soviet elements are the main instigators of all kinds of anti-Soviet and sabotage crimes, both on collective and state farms, and in transport, and in some areas of industry. The state security agencies are faced with the task of most mercilessly defeating this entire gang of anti-Soviet elements, protecting the working Soviet people from their counter-revolutionary machinations and, finally, once and for all putting an end to their vile subversive work against the foundations of the Soviet state. In accordance with this, I order - from August 5, 1937, in all republics, territories and regions, to begin an operation to repress former kulaks, active anti-Soviet elements and criminals.” This document marks the beginning of an era of large-scale political repression, which later became known as the “Great Terror.”

Stalin and other members of the Politburo (V. Molotov, L. Kaganovich, K. Voroshilov) personally compiled and signed execution lists - pre-trial circulars listing the number or names of victims to be convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court with a predetermined punishment. According to researchers, the death sentences of at least 44.5 thousand people bear Stalin’s personal signatures and resolutions.

The myth of the effective manager Stalin

Until now, in the media and even in textbooks one can find justification for political terror in the USSR by the need to carry out industrialization in a short time. Since the release of the decree obliging those sentenced to more than 3 years to serve their sentences in forced labor camps, prisoners have been actively involved in the construction of various infrastructure facilities. In 1930, the Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps of the OGPU (GULAG) was created and huge flows of prisoners were sent to key construction sites. During the existence of this system, from 15 to 18 million people passed through it.

During the 1930-1950s, GULAG prisoners carried out the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Moscow Canal. Prisoners built the Uglich, Rybinsk, Kuibyshev and other hydroelectric power stations, erected metallurgical plants, objects of the Soviet nuclear program, the most extensive railways and freeways. Dozens of Soviet cities were built by Gulag prisoners (Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Dudinka, Norilsk, Vorkuta, Novokuibyshevsk and many others).

Beria himself characterized the efficiency of prisoners’ labor as low: “The existing food standard in the Gulag of 2000 calories is designed for a person sitting in prison and not working. In practice, even this reduced standard is supplied by supplying organizations only by 65-70%. Therefore, a significant percentage of the camp workforce falls into the categories of weak and useless people in production. In general, labor utilization is no higher than 60-65 percent.”

To the question “is Stalin necessary?” we can give only one answer - a firm “no”. Even without taking into account the tragic consequences of famine, repression and terror, even considering only economic costs and benefits - and even making all possible assumptions in favor of Stalin - we get results that clearly indicate that Stalin's economic policies did not lead to positive results. Forced redistribution significantly worsened productivity and social welfare.

- Sergey Guriev , economist

The economic efficiency of Stalinist industrialization at the hands of prisoners is also rated extremely low by modern economists. Sergei Guriev gives the following figures: by the end of the 30s, productivity in agriculture had reached only the pre-revolutionary level, and in industry it was one and a half times lower than in 1928. Industrialization led to huge losses in welfare (minus 24%).

Brave New World

Stalinism is not only a system of repression, it is also the moral degradation of society. The Stalinist system made tens of millions of slaves - it broke people morally. One of the most terrible texts I have read in my life is the tortured “confessions” of the great biologist Academician Nikolai Vavilov. Only a few can endure torture. But many – tens of millions! – were broken and became moral monsters for fear of being personally repressed.

- Alexey Yablokov , Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Philosopher and historian of totalitarianism Hannah Arendt explains: in order to turn Lenin's revolutionary dictatorship into a completely totalitarian rule, Stalin had to artificially create an atomized society. To achieve this, an atmosphere of fear was created in the USSR and denunciation was encouraged. Totalitarianism did not destroy real “enemies,” but imaginary ones, and this is its terrible difference from an ordinary dictatorship. None of the destroyed sections of society were hostile to the regime and probably would not become hostile in the foreseeable future.

In order to destroy all social and family ties, repressions were carried out in such a way as to threaten the same fate to the accused and everyone in the most ordinary relations with him, from casual acquaintances to closest friends and relatives. This policy penetrated deeply into Soviet society, where people, out of selfish interests or fearing for their lives, betrayed neighbors, friends, even members of their own families. In their quest for self-preservation, masses of people abandoned their own interests and became, on the one hand, a victim of power, and on the other, its collective embodiment.

The consequence of the simple and ingenious device of "guilt for association with the enemy" is that, as soon as a person is accused, his former friends immediately turn into his worst enemies: To save their own skin, they rush out with unsolicited information and incrimination, supplying non-existent evidence against the accused. Ultimately, it was by developing this technique to its latest and most fantastic extremes that the Bolshevik rulers succeeded in creating an atomized and disunited society, the likes of which we have never seen before, and whose events and catastrophes would hardly have occurred in such a pure form without it.

- Hannah Arendt, philosopher

The deep disunity of Soviet society and the lack of civil institutions were inherited by the new Russia and became one of the fundamental problems hindering the creation of democracy and civil peace in our country.

How the state and society fought the legacy of Stalinism

To date, Russia has survived “two and a half attempts at de-Stalinization.” The first and largest was launched by N. Khrushchev. It began with a report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU:

“They were arrested without the prosecutor’s sanction... What other sanction could there be when Stalin allowed everything. He was the chief prosecutor in these matters. Stalin gave not only permission, but also instructions for arrests on his own initiative. Stalin was a very suspicious man, with morbid suspicion, as we became convinced of when working with him. He could look at a person and say: “something is wrong with your eyes today,” or: “why do you often turn away today, don’t look straight into the eyes.” Morbid suspicion led him to sweeping mistrust. Everywhere and everywhere he saw “enemies”, “double-dealers”, “spies”. Having unlimited power, he allowed cruel arbitrariness and suppressed people morally and physically. When Stalin said that so-and-so should be arrested, one had to take it on faith that he was an “enemy of the people.” And the Beria gang, which ruled the state security agencies, went out of its way to prove the guilt of the arrested persons and the correctness of the materials they fabricated. What evidence was used? Confessions of those arrested. And the investigators extracted these “confessions.”

As a result of the fight against the cult of personality, sentences were revised, more than 88 thousand prisoners were rehabilitated. However, the “thaw” era that followed these events turned out to be very short-lived. Soon many dissidents who disagreed with the policies of the Soviet leadership would become victims of political persecution.

The second wave of de-Stalinization occurred in the late 80s and early 90s. Only then did society become aware of at least approximate figures characterizing the scale of Stalin’s terror. At this time, the sentences passed in the 30s and 40s were also revised. In most cases, the convicts were rehabilitated. Half a century later, the dispossessed peasants were posthumously rehabilitated.

A timid attempt at carrying out a new de-Stalinization was made during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. However, it did not bring significant results. Rosarkhiv, at the direction of the president, posted on its website documents about 20 thousand Poles executed by the NKVD near Katyn.

Programs to preserve the memory of victims are being phased out due to lack of funding.

Public interest in Stalin's repressions continues to exist, and this is no coincidence.
Many feel that today's political problems somewhat similar.
And some people think that Stalin's recipes might be suitable.

This is, of course, a mistake.
But it is still difficult to justify why this is a mistake using scientific rather than journalistic means.

Historians have figured out the repressions themselves, how they were organized and what their scale was.

Historian Oleg Khlevnyuk, for example, writes that “...now professional historiography has reached high level agreement based on in-depth research of the archives."
https://www.vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2017/06/29/701835-fenomen-terrora

However, from another of his articles it follows that the reasons for the “Great Terror” are still not entirely clear.
https://www.vedomosti.ru/opinion/articles/2017/07/06/712528-bolshogo-terrora

I have an answer, strict and scientific.

But first, about what “consent of professional historiography” looks like according to Oleg Khlevnyuk.
Let's discard the myths right away.

1) Stalin had nothing to do with it; he, of course, knew everything.
Stalin not only knew, he directed the “great terror” in real time, down to the smallest detail.

2) The “Great Terror” was not an initiative of regional authorities or local party secretaries.
Stalin himself never tried to blame the regional party leadership for the repressions of 1937-1938.
Instead, he proposed a myth about “enemies who infiltrated the ranks of the NKVD” and “slanderers” from ordinary citizens who wrote statements against honest people.

3) The “Great Terror” of 1937-1938 was not at all the result of denunciations.
Denunciations of citizens against each other did not have a significant impact on the course and scale of repressions.

Now about what is known about the “Great Terror of 1937-1938” and its mechanism.

Terror and repressions under Stalin were a constant phenomenon.
But the wave of terror of 1937-1938 was exceptionally large.
In 1937-1938 At least 1.6 million people were arrested, of whom more than 680,000 were executed.

Khlevnyuk gives a simple quantitative calculation:
“Taking into account the fact that the most intensive repressions were used for just over a year (August 1937 - November 1938), it turns out that about 100,000 people were arrested every month, of which more than 40,000 were shot.”
The scale of violence was monstrous!

The opinion that the terror of 1937-1938 consisted of the destruction of the elite: party workers, engineers, military men, writers, etc. not entirely correct.
For example, Khlevnyuk writes that there were several tens of thousands of managers at different levels. Of the 1.6 million victims.

Here's attention!
1) The victims of terror were ordinary Soviet people who did not hold positions and were not members of the party.

2) Decisions to conduct mass operations were made by the leadership, more precisely by Stalin.
The “Great Terror” was a well-organized, planned procession and followed orders from the center.

3) The goal was to “liquidate physically or isolate in camps those groups of the population that the Stalinist regime considered potentially dangerous - former “kulaks”, former officers of the tsarist and white armies, clergy, former members of parties hostile to the Bolsheviks - Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and other “suspicious” , as well as “national counter-revolutionary contingents” - Poles, Germans, Romanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Greeks, Afghans, Iranians, Chinese, Koreans.

4) All “hostile categories” were taken into account in the authorities, according to the available lists, and the first repressions took place.
Subsequently, a chain was launched: arrest-interrogations - testimony - new hostile elements.
That is why arrest limits have increased.

5) Stalin personally directed the repressions.
Here are his orders quoted by the historian:
"Krasnoyarsk. Krasnoyarsk. The arson of the flour mill must be organized by enemies. Take all measures to uncover the arsonists. The perpetrators will be judged expeditiously. The sentence is execution"; “Beat Unschlicht for not handing over Polish agents to the regions”; “To T. Yezhov. Dmitriev seems to be acting rather sluggishly. It is necessary to immediately arrest all (both small and large) participants in the “rebel groups” in the Urals”; "To T. Yezhov. Very important. We need to walk through the Udmurt, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovian republics, walk with a broom"; "To T. Yezhov. Very good! Keep digging and cleaning out this Polish spy dirt"; "To T. Yezhov. The line of the Socialist Revolutionaries (left and right together) is not unwound<...>It must be borne in mind that we still have quite a few Socialist-Revolutionaries in our army and outside the army. Does the NKVD have a record of the Socialist Revolutionaries (“former”) in the army? I would like to receive it as soon as possible<...>What has been done to identify and arrest all Iranians in Baku and Azerbaijan?"

I think there can be no doubt after reading such orders.

Now let's return to the question - why?
Khlevnyuk points out several possible explanations and writes that the debate continues.
1) At the end of 1937, the first elections to the Soviets were held on the basis of secret ballot, and Stalin insured himself against surprises in a way that he understood.
This is the weakest explanation.

2) Repression was a means of social engineering
Society was subject to unification.
A fair question arises: why did unification need to be sharply accelerated in 1937-1938?

3) The “Great Terror” pointed out the reason for the difficulties and hard life of the people, while at the same time allowing them to let off steam.

4) It was necessary to provide labor for the growing Gulag economy.
This is a weak version - there were too many executions of able-bodied people, while the Gulag was unable to absorb new human intake.

5) Finally, a version that is widely popular today: the threat of war emerged, and Stalin was clearing out the rear, destroying the “fifth column”.
However, after Stalin's death, the vast majority of those arrested in 1937-1938 were found innocent.
They were not a “fifth column” at all.

My explanation allows us to understand not only why there was this wave and why it was in 1937-1938.
It also explains well why Stalin and his experience have not yet been forgotten, but have not been implemented.

The “Great Terror” of 1937-1938 took place during a period similar to ours.
In the USSR of 1933-1945 there was a question about the subject of power.
In the modern history of Russia, a similar issue is resolved in 2005-2017.

The subject of power can be either the ruler or the elite.
At that time, the sole ruler had to win.

Stalin inherited a party in which this same elite existed - the heirs of Lenin, equal to Stalin or even more eminent than himself.
Stalin successfully fought for formal leadership, but he became the undisputed sole ruler only after the Great Terror.
As long as the old leaders - recognized revolutionaries, Lenin's heirs - continued to live and work, the preconditions remained for challenging Stalin's power as the sole ruler.
The "Great Terror" of 1937-1938 was a means of destroying the elite and establishing the power of a single ruler.

Why did the repression affect the common people and not be limited to the top?
You need to understand the ideological basis, the Marxist paradigm.
Marxism does not recognize loners and the initiative of the elite.
In Marxism, any leader expresses the ideas of a class or social group.

Why is the peasantry dangerous, for example?
Not at all because it can rebel and start a peasant war.
The peasants are dangerous because they are the petty bourgeoisie.
This means that they will always support and/or nominate from their midst political leaders who will fight against the dictatorship of the proletariat, the power of the workers and the Bolsheviks.
It is not enough to root out prominent leaders with dubious views.
It is necessary to destroy their social support, those same “hostile elements” that have been taken into account.
This explains why the terror affected ordinary people.

Why exactly in 1937-1938?
Because during the first four years of each period of social reorganization, basic plan and the leading force of the social process arises.
This is such a law of cyclical development.

Why are we interested in this today?
And why do some dream of a return to the practices of Stalinism?
Because we are going through the same process.
But he:
- ends,
- has opposite vectors.

Stalin established his sole power, in fact fulfilling the historical social order, albeit with very specific methods, even excessively.
He deprived the elite of its subjectivity and established the only subject of power - the elected ruler.
Such imperious subjectivity existed in our Fatherland until Putin.

However, Putin, more unconsciously than consciously, fulfilled a new historical social order.
In our country now the power of a single elected ruler is being replaced by the power of an elected elite.
In 2008, just in the fourth year of the new period, Putin gave presidential power to Medvedev.
The sole ruler was desubjectivized, and there were at least two rulers.
And it’s impossible to return everything back.

Now it’s clear why some part of the elite dreams of Stalinism?
They don’t want there to be many leaders, they don’t want collective power in which compromises must be sought and found, they want the restoration of individual rule.
And this can only be done by unleashing a new “great terror”, that is, by destroying the leaders of all other groups, from Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky to Navalny, Kasyanov, Yavlinsky and our modern Trotsky - Khodorkovsky (although perhaps the Trotsky of the new Russia was still Berezovsky), and out of habit of systemic thinking, their social base, at least some crackers and protest-opposition intelligentsia).

But none of this will happen.
The current vector of development is the transition to the power of an elected elite.
The elected elite is a set of leaders and power as their interaction.
If someone tries to return the sole power of an elected ruler, he will end his political career almost instantly.
Putin sometimes looks like the only, sole ruler, but he certainly is not.

Practical Stalinism has and will not have a place in modern social life in Russia.
And that's great.

Brief description of the myth

Mass political repressions are unique property Russian state, especially during the Soviet period. "Stalin's mass repressions" 1921-1953. were accompanied by violations of the law; tens, or even hundreds of millions of citizens of the USSR suffered in them. Slave labor of Gulag prisoners is the main labor resource of Soviet modernization of the 30s.

Meaning

First of all: the word “repression” itself, translated from Late Latin, literally means “suppression.” Encyclopedic dictionaries interpret it as “a punitive measure, punishment applied by state bodies” (“Modern Encyclopedia”, “Legal Dictionary”) or “a punitive measure emanating from state bodies” (“ Dictionary Ozhegov").

There are also criminal repressions, i.e. the use of coercive measures, including deprivation of liberty and even life. There are also moral repressions, i.e. creating in society a climate of intolerance towards some forms of behavior that are undesirable from the point of view of the state. For example, “hipsters” in the USSR were not subjected to criminal repression, but they were subjected to moral repression, and very serious ones: from caricatures and feuilletons to expulsion from the Komsomol, which in the conditions of that time entailed a sharp reduction in social opportunities.

As a fresh foreign example of repression, we can cite the current massive spread across North America the custom of not allowing lecturers whose views students are dissatisfied with to speak at universities, or even dismissing them from teaching. This applies specifically to repression, and not only moral - because in this case there is the possibility of depriving a person of a source of existence.

The practice of repression has existed and exists among all peoples and at all times - simply because society is forced to defend itself from destabilizing factors, the more actively, the stronger the possible destabilization.

This is the general theoretical part.

In today's political usage, the word “repression” is used in a very specific meaning - we mean “Stalinist repressions”, “mass repressions in the USSR 1921-1953”. This concept, regardless of its dictionary meaning, is a kind of “ideological marker”. This word itself is a ready-made argument in a political discussion; it does not seem to need definition or content.

However, even in this usage it is useful to know what is actually meant.

Court verdicts

“Stalinist repressions” were elevated to the rank of a “marker word” by N.S. Khrushchev exactly 60 years ago. In his famous report at the plenum of the Central Committee, elected by the 20th Congress of the CPSU, he significantly overestimated the extent of these repressions. Moreover, he inflated it in the following way: he announced quite accurately information about the total number of convictions under the articles “treason” and “banditry” issued from the end of 1921 (when the Civil War ended in the European part of the country) and until March 5, 1953, the day of death, - but he structured this part of his report in such a way that it seemed that he was talking only about convicted communists. And since the communists made up a small part of the country’s population, the illusion of some incredible total amount of repression naturally arose.

This overall volume different people assessed differently - again, guided not by scientific and historical considerations, but by political ones.

Meanwhile, data on repressions are not secret and are determined by specific official figures, which are generally considered more or less accurate. They are indicated in the certificate drawn up on behalf of N.S. Khrushchev in February 1954 by the USSR Prosecutor General V. Rudenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov and the Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin.

Total number of sentences convictions - 3,770,380. At the same time, the actual number of those convicted is smaller, since quite a few were convicted of various crimes, then covered by the concept of “Treason to the Motherland,” several times. The total number of people affected by these repressions over 31 years, according to various estimates, is about three million people.

Of the mentioned 3,770,380 sentences 2 369 220 provided for serving sentences in prisons and camps, 765,180 - exile and deportation, 642,980 - capital punishment (death penalty). Taking into account the sentences under other articles and according to later studies, they also give another figure - about 800,000 death sentences, of which 700 thousand were carried out.

It should be taken into account that the number of traitors to the Motherland naturally included everyone who, in one form or another, collaborated with the German occupiers during the Great Patriotic War. In addition, this number also included thieves in law for refusing to work in the camps: the camp administration classified refusal to work as sabotage, and sabotage was then included in the number various forms treason to the Motherland. Consequently, among those repressed there are several tens of thousands of thieves in law.

I can add another purely everyday option: let’s say you stole a sheet of iron from a factory to cover your shed. This, naturally, qualifies as theft of state property under a purely criminal article. But if the plant where you work is a defense plant, then this may be considered not just theft, but an attempt to undermine the defense capability of the state, and this is already one of the elements of the crime provided for in the article “Treason.”

During the period while L.P. Beria acted as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, the practice of passing off criminal offenses as politics and “political makeweights” in purely criminal cases ceased. But on December 15, 1945, he resigned from this post, and under his successor this practice resumed.

Here's the thing. The criminal code of that time, adopted in 1922 and revised in 1926, was based on the idea of ​​“external conditioning of crimes” - they say that a Soviet person breaks the law only under the pressure of some external circumstances, incorrect upbringing or the “difficult legacy of tsarism.” Hence the incongruously lenient punishments provided for by the Criminal Code for serious criminal articles, to “make them heavier” political articles were added.

Thus, it can be judged that, at a minimum, of the convictions under the article “treason” issued under N.I. Yezhov, approximately half of the convictions were unfounded(we pay special attention to what happened under N.I. Yezhov, since it was during this period that the peak of the repressions of 1937 - 1938 occurred). How far this conclusion can be extrapolated for the entire period 1921 - 1953 is an open question.

At the liar's contest

Archival documents say

"To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee

Comrade Khrushchev N.S.

…
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"

Number of prisoners

Prisoner mortality

Special camps

Notes:

6. Ibid. P. 26.

9. Ibid. P. 169

24. Ibid. L.53.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid. D. 1155. L.2.

Repression

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The results of Stalin's rule speak for themselves. In order to devalue them, to form a negative assessment of the Stalin era in the public consciousness, fighters against totalitarianism, willy-nilly, have to escalate the horrors, attributing monstrous atrocities to Stalin.

At the liar's contest

In an accusatory rage, the writers of anti-Stalin horror stories seem to be competing to see who can tell the biggest lies, vying with each other to name the astronomical numbers of those killed at the hands of the “bloody tyrant.” Against their background, dissident Roy Medvedev, who limited himself to a “modest” figure of 40 million, looks like some kind of black sheep, a model of moderation and conscientiousness:

“Thus, the total number of victims of Stalinism reaches, according to my calculations, approximately 40 million people.”

And in fact, it is undignified. Another dissident, the son of the repressed Trotskyist revolutionary A.V. Antonov-Ovseenko, without a shadow of embarrassment, names twice the figure:

“These calculations are very, very approximate, but I am sure of one thing: the Stalinist regime bled the people dry, destroying more than 80 million of its best sons.”

Professional “rehabilitators” led by former member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Yakovlev are already talking about 100 million:

“According to the most conservative estimates of rehabilitation commission specialists, our country lost about 100 million people during the years of Stalin’s rule. This number includes not only the repressed themselves, but also members of their families doomed to death and even children who could have been born, but were never born.”

However, according to Yakovlev, the notorious 100 million includes not only direct “victims of the regime,” but also unborn children. But the writer Igor Bunich without hesitation claims that all these “100 million people were mercilessly exterminated.”

However, this is not the limit. The absolute record was set by Boris Nemtsov, who announced on November 7, 2003 in the “Freedom of Speech” program on the NTV channel about 150 million people allegedly lost by the Russian state after 1917.

Who are these fantastically ridiculous figures, eagerly replicated by the Russian and foreign media, intended for? For those who have forgotten how to think for themselves, who are accustomed to uncritically accepting on faith any nonsense coming from television screens.

It’s easy to see the absurdity of the multimillion-dollar numbers of “victims of repression.” It is enough to open any demographic directory and, picking up a calculator, make simple calculations. For those who are too lazy to do this, I will give a small illustrative example.

According to the population census conducted in January 1959, the population of the USSR was 208,827 thousand people. By the end of 1913, 159,153 thousand people lived within the same borders. It is easy to calculate that the average annual population growth of our country in the period from 1914 to 1959 was 0.60%.

Now let's see how the population of England, France and Germany grew in those same years - countries that also took an active part in both world wars.

So, the rate of population growth in the Stalinist USSR turned out to be almost one and a half times higher than in Western “democracies,” although for these states we excluded the extremely unfavorable demographic years of the 1st World War. Could this have happened if the “bloody Stalinist regime” had destroyed 150 million or at least 40 million inhabitants of our country? Of course no!

Archival documents say

To find out the true number of those executed under Stalin, it is not at all necessary to engage in fortune telling on coffee grounds. It is enough to familiarize yourself with the declassified documents. The most famous of them is a memo addressed to N. S. Khrushchev dated February 1, 1954:

"To the Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee

Comrade Khrushchev N.S.

In connection with signals received by the CPSU Central Committee from a number of individuals about illegal convictions for counter-revolutionary crimes in past years by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, and the Special Meeting. By the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals and in accordance with your instructions on the need to review the cases of persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and currently held in camps and prisons, we report:

According to data available from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the period from 1921 to the present, 3,777,380 people were convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas, the Special Conference, the Military Collegium, courts and military tribunals, including:

Of the total number of those arrested, approximately, 2,900,000 people were convicted by the OGPU Collegium, NKVD troikas and the Special Conference, and 877,000 people were convicted by courts, military tribunals, the Special Collegium and the Military Collegium.

…
Prosecutor General R. Rudenko
Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov
Minister of Justice K. Gorshenin"

As is clear from the document, in total, from 1921 to the beginning of 1954, 642,980 people were sentenced to death on political charges, 2,369,220 to imprisonment, and 765,180 to exile.

However, there are more detailed data on the number of those sentenced to death for counter-revolutionary and other especially dangerous state crimes

Thus, between 1921 and 1953, 815,639 people were sentenced to death. In total, in 1918–1953, 4,308,487 people were brought to criminal liability in cases of state security agencies, of which 835,194 were sentenced to capital punishment.

So, there were slightly more “repressed” than indicated in the report dated February 1, 1954. However, the difference is not too great - the numbers are of the same order.

In addition, it is quite possible that among those who received sentences on political charges there were a fair number of criminals. On one of the certificates stored in the archives, on the basis of which the above table was compiled, there is a pencil note:

“Total convicts for 1921–1938. - 2,944,879 people, of which 30% (1,062 thousand) are criminals"

In this case total“victims of repression” does not exceed three million. However, to finally clarify this issue, it is necessary extra work with sources.

It should also be borne in mind that not all sentences were carried out. For example, of the 76 death sentences handed down by the Tyumen District Court in the first half of 1929, by January 1930, 46 had been changed or overturned by higher authorities, and of the remaining, only nine were carried out.

From July 15, 1939 to April 20, 1940, 201 prisoners were sentenced to capital punishment for disorganizing camp life and production. However, then for some of them the death penalty was replaced by imprisonment for terms of 10 to 15 years.

In 1934, there were 3,849 prisoners in NKVD camps who were sentenced to death and commuted to imprisonment. In 1935 there were 5671 such prisoners, in 1936 - 7303, in 1937 - 6239, in 1938 - 5926, in 1939 - 3425, in 1940 - 4037 people.

Number of prisoners

At first, the number of prisoners in forced labor camps (ITL) was relatively small. So, on January 1, 1930, it amounted to 179,000 people, on January 1, 1931 - 212,000, on January 1, 1932 - 268,700, on January 1, 1933 - 334,300, on January 1, 1934 - 510 307 people.

In addition to the ITL, there were correctional labor colonies (CLCs), where those sentenced to short terms were sent. Until the fall of 1938, the penitentiary complexes, together with the prisons, were subordinate to the Department of Places of Detention (OMP) of the NKVD of the USSR. Therefore, for the years 1935–1938, only joint statistics have been found so far. Since 1939, penal colonies were under the jurisdiction of the Gulag, and prisons were under the jurisdiction of the Main Prison Directorate (GTU) of the NKVD of the USSR.

How much can you trust these numbers? All of them are taken from the internal reports of the NKVD - secret documents not intended for publication. In addition, these summary figures are quite consistent with the initial reports; they can be broken down monthly, as well as by individual camps:

Let us now calculate the number of prisoners per capita. On January 1, 1941, as can be seen from the table above, the total number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,400,422 people. The exact population of the USSR at this time is unknown, but is usually estimated at 190–195 million.

Thus, we get from 1230 to 1260 prisoners for every 100 thousand population. On January 1, 1950, the number of prisoners in the USSR was 2,760,095 people - the maximum figure for the entire period of Stalin's reign. The population of the USSR at this time numbered 178 million 547 thousand. We get 1546 prisoners per 100 thousand population, 1.54%. This is the highest figure ever.

Let's calculate a similar indicator for the modern United States. Currently, there are two types of places of deprivation of liberty: jail - an approximate analogue of our temporary detention centers, in which those under investigation are kept, as well as convicts serving short sentences, and prison - the prison itself. At the end of 1999, there were 1,366,721 people in prisons and 687,973 in jails (see the website of the Bureau of Legal Statistics of the US Department of Justice), which gives a total of 2,054,694. The population of the United States at the end of 1999 was approximately 275 million Therefore, we get 747 prisoners per 100 thousand population.

Yes, half as much as Stalin, but not ten times. It’s somehow undignified for a power that has taken upon itself the protection of “human rights” on a global scale.

Moreover, this is a comparison of the peak number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR, which was also due first to the civil and then the Great Patriotic War. And among the so-called “victims of political repression” there will be a fair share of supporters of the white movement, collaborators, Hitler’s accomplices, members of the ROA, policemen, not to mention ordinary criminals.

There are calculations that compare the average number of prisoners over a period of several years.

The data on the number of prisoners in the Stalinist USSR exactly coincides with the above. According to these data, it turns out that on average for the period from 1930 to 1940, there were 583 prisoners per 100,000 people, or 0.58%. Which is significantly less than the same figure in Russia and the USA in the 90s.

What is the total number of people who were imprisoned under Stalin? Of course, if you take a table with the annual number of prisoners and sum up the rows, as many anti-Sovietists do, the result will be incorrect, since most of them were sentenced to more than a year. Therefore, it should be assessed not by the amount of those imprisoned, but by the amount of those convicted, which was given above.

How many of the prisoners were “political”?

As we see, until 1942, the “repressed” made up no more than a third of the prisoners held in the Gulag camps. And only then their share increased, receiving a worthy “replenishment” in the person of Vlasovites, policemen, elders and other “fighters against communist tyranny.” The percentage of “political” in correctional labor colonies was even smaller.

Prisoner mortality

Available archival documents make it possible to illuminate this issue.

In 1931, 7,283 people died in the ITL (3.03% of the average annual number), in 1932 - 13,197 (4.38%), in 1933 - 67,297 (15.94%), in 1934 - 26,295 prisoners (4.26%).

For 1953, data is provided for the first three months.

As we see, mortality in places of detention (especially in prisons) did not reach those fantastic values ​​that denouncers like to talk about. But still its level is quite high. It increases especially strongly in the first years of the war. As was stated in the certificate of mortality according to the NKVD OITK for 1941, compiled by the acting. Head of the Sanitary Department of the Gulag NKVD I.K. Zitserman:

Basically, mortality began to increase sharply from September 1941, mainly due to the transfer of convicts from units located in the front-line areas: from the BBK and Vytegorlag to the OITK of the Vologda and Omsk regions, from the OITK of the Moldavian SSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Leningrad region. in OITK Kirov, Molotov and Sverdlovsk regions. As a rule, a significant part of the journey of several hundred kilometers before loading into wagons was carried out on foot. Along the way, they were not at all provided with the minimum necessary food products (they did not receive enough bread and even water); as a result of this confinement, the prisoners suffered severe exhaustion, a very large % of vitamin deficiency diseases, in particular pellagra, which caused significant mortality along the route and along arrival at the respective OITKs, which were not prepared to receive a significant number of replenishments. At the same time, the introduction of reduced food standards by 25–30% (order No. 648 and 0437) with an extended working day to 12 hours, and often the absence of basic food products, even at reduced standards, could not but affect the increase in morbidity and mortality

However, since 1944, mortality has decreased significantly. By the beginning of the 1950s, in camps and colonies it fell below 1%, and in prisons - below 0.5% per year.

Special camps

Let's say a few words about the notorious Special Camps (special camps), created in accordance with Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 416-159ss of February 21, 1948. These camps (as well as the Special Prisons that already existed by that time) were supposed to concentrate all those sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, sabotage, terrorism, as well as Trotskyists, right-wingers, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, nationalists, white emigrants, members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups and “individuals who pose a danger due to their anti-Soviet connections.” Prisoners of special prisons should have been used for heavy physical work.

As we see, the mortality rate of prisoners in special detention centers was only slightly higher than the mortality rate in ordinary correctional labor camps. Contrary to popular belief, the special camps were not “death camps” in which the elite of the dissident intelligentsia were supposedly exterminated; moreover, the largest contingent of their inhabitants were “nationalists” - the forest brothers and their accomplices.

Notes:

1. Medvedev R. A. Tragic statistics // Arguments and facts. 1989, February 4–10. No. 5(434). P. 6. The well-known researcher of repression statistics V.N. Zemskov claims that Roy Medvedev immediately renounced his article: “Roy Medvedev himself even before the publication of my articles (meaning Zemskov’s articles in “Arguments and Facts” starting with no. 38 for 1989. - I.P.) placed in one of the issues of “Arguments and Facts” for 1989 an explanation that his article in No. 5 for the same year is invalid. Mr. Maksudov is probably not entirely aware of this story, otherwise he would hardly have undertaken to defend calculations that are far from the truth, which their author himself, having realized his mistake, publicly renounced” (Zemskov V.N. On the issue of the scale of repression in USSR // Sociological Research. 1995. No. 9. P. 121). However, in reality, Roy Medvedev did not even think of disavowing his publication. In No. 11 (440) for March 18–24, 1989, his answers to questions from a correspondent of “Arguments and Facts” were published, in which, confirming the “facts” stated in the previous article, Medvedev simply clarified that responsibility for the repressions was not the entire Communist Party as a whole, but only its leadership.

2. Antonov-Ovseenko A.V. Stalin without a mask. M., 1990. P. 506.

3. Mikhailova N. Underpants of counter-revolution // Premier. Vologda, 2002, July 24–30. No. 28(254). P. 10.

4. Bunich I. Sword of the President. M., 2004. P. 235.

5. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlanis. M., 1974. P. 23.

6. Ibid. P. 26.

7. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.2. D.450. L.30–65. Quote by: Dugin A.N. Stalinism: legends and facts // Word. 1990. No. 7. P. 26.

8. Mozokhin O. B. Cheka-OGPU Punishing sword of the dictatorship of the proletariat. M., 2004. P. 167.

9. Ibid. P. 169

10. GARF. F.R-9401. Op.1. D.4157. L.202. Quote by: Popov V.P. State terror in Soviet Russia. 1923–1953: sources and their interpretation // Domestic archives. 1992. No. 2. P. 29.

11. About the work of the Tyumen District Court. Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR of January 18, 1930 // Judicial practice of the RSFSR. 1930, February 28. No. 3. P. 4.

12. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 6. P. 15.

13. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.7.

14. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.1.

15. Number of prisoners in the correctional labor camp: 1935–1948 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.2; 1950 - Ibid. L.5; 1951 - Ibid. L.8; 1952 - Ibid. L.11; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.

In penal colonies and prisons (average for the month of January):. 1935 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L. 17; 1936 - Ibid. L.ZO; 1937 - Ibid. L.41; 1938 -Ibid. L.47.

In the ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.2ob; 1940 - Ibid. D.1155. L.30; 1941 - Ibid. L.34; 1942 - Ibid. L.38; 1943 - Ibid. L.42; 1944 - Ibid. L.76; 1945 - Ibid. L.77; 1946 - Ibid. L.78; 1947 - Ibid. L.79; 1948 - Ibid. L.80; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.Z; 1950 - Ibid. L.6; 1951 - Ibid. L.9; 1952 - Ibid. L. 14; 1953 - Ibid. L. 19.

In prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1145. L.1ob; 1940 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.6. L.67; 1941 - Ibid. L. 126; 1942 - Ibid. L.197; 1943 - Ibid. D.48. L.1; 1944 - Ibid. L.133; 1945 - Ibid. D.62. L.1; 1946 - Ibid. L. 107; 1947 - Ibid. L.216; 1948 - Ibid. D.91. L.1; 1949 - Ibid. L.64; 1950 - Ibid. L.123; 1951 - Ibid. L. 175; 1952 - Ibid. L.224; 1953 - Ibid. D.162.L.2ob.

16. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.20–22.

17. Population of the countries of the world / Ed. B. Ts. Urlaisa. M., 1974. P. 23.

18. http://lenin-kerrigan.livejournal.com/518795.html | https://de.wikinews.org/wiki/Die_meisten_Gefangenen_weltweit_leben_in_US-Gef%C3%A4ngnissen

19. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D. 1155. L.3.

20. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.26–27.

21. Dugin A. Stalinism: legends and facts // Slovo. 1990. No. 7. P. 5.

22. Zemskov V. N. GULAG (historical and sociological aspect) // Sociological studies. 1991. No. 7. pp. 10–11.

23. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.1.

24. Ibid. L.53.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid. D. 1155. L.2.

27. Mortality in ITL: 1935–1947 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.1155. L.2; 1948 - Ibid. D. 1190. L.36, 36v.; 1949 - Ibid. D. 1319. L.2, 2v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.5, 5v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.8, 8v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.11, 11v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 17.

Penal colonies and prisons: 1935–1036 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.52; 1937 - Ibid. L.44; 1938 - Ibid. L.50.

ITK: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1. D.2740. L.60; 1940 - Ibid. L.70; 1941 - Ibid. D.2784. L.4ob, 6; 1942 - Ibid. L.21; 1943 - Ibid. D.2796. L.99; 1944 - Ibid. D.1155. L.76, 76ob.; 1945 - Ibid. L.77, 77ob.; 1946 - Ibid. L.78, 78ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.79, 79ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.80: 80rpm; 1949 - Ibid. D.1319. L.3, 3v.; 1950 - Ibid. L.6, 6v.; 1951 - Ibid. L.9, 9v.; 1952 - Ibid. L.14, 14v.; 1953 - Ibid. L.19, 19v.

Prisons: 1939 - GARF. F.R-9413. Op.1. D.11. L.1ob.; 1940 - Ibid. L.2ob.; 1941 - Ibid. L. Goiter; 1942 - Ibid. L.4ob.; 1943 -Ibid., L.5ob.; 1944 - Ibid. L.6ob.; 1945 - Ibid. D.10. L.118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133; 1946 - Ibid. D.11. L.8ob.; 1947 - Ibid. L.9ob.; 1948 - Ibid. L.10ob.; 1949 - Ibid. L.11ob.; 1950 - Ibid. L.12ob.; 1951 - Ibid. L.1 3v.; 1952 - Ibid. D.118. L.238, 248, 258, 268, 278, 288, 298, 308, 318, 326ob., 328ob.; D.162. L.2ob.; 1953 - Ibid. D.162. L.4v., 6v., 8v.

28. GARF. F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1181.L.1.

29. System of forced labor camps in the USSR, 1923–1960: Directory. M., 1998. P. 52.

30. Dugin A. N. Unknown GULAG: Documents and facts. M.: Nauka, 1999. P. 47.

31. 1952 - GARF.F.R-9414. Op.1.D.1319. L.11, 11 vol. 13, 13v.; 1953 - Ibid. L. 18.

All tables in Excel file, can be downloaded from the link

Estimates of the number of victims of Stalin's repressions vary dramatically. Some cite numbers in the tens of millions of people, others limit themselves to hundreds of thousands. Which of them is closer to the truth?

Who is to blame?

Today our society is almost equally divided into Stalinists and anti-Stalinists. The former draw attention to the positive transformations that took place in the country during the Stalin era, the latter call not to forget about the huge number of victims of the repressions of the Stalinist regime.
However, almost all Stalinists recognize the fact of repression, but note its limited nature and even justify it as political necessity. Moreover, they often do not associate repressions with the name of Stalin.
Historian Nikolai Kopesov writes that in most investigative cases against those repressed in 1937-1938 there were no resolutions of Stalin - everywhere there were verdicts of Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria. According to the Stalinists, this is proof that the heads of the punitive bodies were engaged in arbitrariness and in support of this they cite Yezhov’s quote: “Whoever we want, we execute, whoever we want, we have mercy.”
For that part of the Russian public that sees Stalin as the ideologist of repression, these are just details that confirm the rule. Yagoda, Yezhov and many other arbiters of human destinies themselves turned out to be victims of terror. Who else but Stalin was behind all this? - they ask a rhetorical question.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, chief specialist of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Oleg Khlevnyuk notes that despite the fact that Stalin’s signature was not on many execution lists, it was he who sanctioned almost all mass political repressions.

Who was hurt?

The issue of victims acquired even greater significance in the debate surrounding Stalin's repressions. Who suffered and in what capacity during the period of Stalinism? Many researchers note that the very concept of “victims of repression” is quite vague. Historiography has not yet developed clear definitions on this matter.
Of course, those convicted, imprisoned in prisons and camps, shot, deported, deprived of property should be counted among those affected by the actions of the authorities. But what about, for example, those who were subjected to “biased interrogation” and then released? Should criminal and political prisoners be separated? In what category should we classify the “nonsense”, convicted of minor isolated thefts and equated to state criminals?
Deportees deserve special attention. What category should they be classified into – repressed or administratively expelled? It is even more difficult to determine those who fled without waiting for dispossession or deportation. They were sometimes caught, but some were lucky enough to start a new life.

Such different numbers

Uncertainties in the issue of who is responsible for the repression, in identifying the categories of victims and the period for which the victims of repression should be counted lead to completely different figures. The most impressive figures were called by the economist Ivan Kurganov (Solzhenitsyn referred to these data in the novel Gulag Archipelago), who calculated that from 1917 to 1959 the victims of the internal war Soviet regime 110 million people turned against their people.
This number of Kurgans includes victims of famine, collectivization, peasant exile, camps, executions, civil war, and the “neglectful and sloppy handling of the Second World War.”
Even if such calculations are correct, can these figures be considered a reflection of Stalin's repressions? The economist, in fact, answers this question himself, using the expression “victims of the internal war of the Soviet regime.” It is worth noting that Kurganov counted only the dead. It is difficult to imagine what figure could have appeared if the economist had taken into account all those affected by the Soviet regime during the specified period.
The figures given by the head of the human rights society “Memorial” Arseny Roginsky are more realistic. He writes: “Across the entire Soviet Union, 12.5 million people are considered victims of political repression,” but he adds that in in a broad sense Up to 30 million people can be considered repressed.
Leaders of the Yabloko movement Elena Kriven and Oleg Naumov counted all categories of victims of the Stalinist regime, including those who died in the camps from disease and harsh working conditions, those dispossessed, victims of hunger, those who suffered from unjustifiably cruel decrees and those who received excessively harsh punishment for minor offenses in the force of the repressive nature of legislation. The final figure is 39 million.
Researcher Ivan Gladilin notes in this regard that if the count of victims of repression has been carried out since 1921, this means that it is not Stalin who is responsible for a significant part of the crimes, but the “Leninist Guard”, which immediately after the October Revolution launched terror against the White Guards , clergy and kulaks.

How to count?

Estimates of the number of victims of repression vary greatly depending on the method of counting. If we take into account those convicted only on political charges, then according to the data of the regional departments of the KGB of the USSR, given in 1988, the Soviet bodies (VChK, GPU, OGPU, NKVD, NKGB, MGB) arrested 4,308,487 people, of which 835,194 were shot.
Employees of the Memorial Society while counting victims political processes are close to these figures, although their data are still noticeably higher - 4.5-4.8 million were convicted, of which 1.1 million were executed. If we consider everyone who went through the Gulag system as victims of the Stalinist regime, then this figure, according to various estimates, will range from 15 to 18 million people.
Very often, Stalin’s repressions are associated exclusively with the concept of the “Great Terror,” which peaked in 1937-1938. According to the commission led by academician Pyotr Pospelov to establish the causes of mass repressions, the following figures were announced: 1,548,366 people were arrested on charges of anti-Soviet activity, of which 681,692 thousand were sentenced to capital punishment.
One of the most authoritative experts on the demographic aspects of political repression in the USSR, historian Viktor Zemskov, names a smaller number of those convicted during the years of the “Great Terror” - 1,344,923 people, although his data coincides with the number of those executed.
If dispossessed people are included in the number of those subjected to repression during Stalin’s time, the figure will increase by at least 4 million people. The same Zemskov cites this number of dispossessed people. The Yabloko party agrees with this, noting that about 600 thousand of them died in exile.
Representatives of some peoples who were subjected to forced deportation also became victims of Stalin's repressions - Germans, Poles, Finns, Karachais, Kalmyks, Armenians, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars. Many historians agree that the total number of deportees is about 6 million people, while about 1.2 million people did not live to see the end of the journey.

To trust or not?

The above figures are mostly based on reports from the OGPU, NKVD, and MGB. However, not all documents of the punitive departments have been preserved; many of them were purposefully destroyed, and many are still in restricted access.
It should be recognized that historians are very dependent on statistics collected by various special agencies. But the difficulty is that even the available information reflects only those officially repressed, and therefore, by definition, cannot be complete. Moreover, it is possible to verify it from primary sources only in the rarest cases.
An acute shortage of reliable and complete information often provoked both the Stalinists and their opponents to name radically different figures in favor of their position. “If the “right” exaggerated the scale of the repressions, then the “left”, partly out of dubious youth, having found much more modest figures in the archives, hastened to make them public and did not always ask themselves the question of whether everything was reflected - and could be reflected - in the archives, – notes historian Nikolai Koposov.
It can be stated that estimates of the scale of Stalin’s repressions based on the sources available to us can be very approximate. Documents stored in federal archives would be a good help for modern researchers, but many of them were re-classified. A country with such a history will jealously guard the secrets of its past.