" Enemies of the People " " Traitors of the Motherland " and the Bolshevik Terror Structure

Used by Lenin as early as the decree of 28th November 1917, the phrase ‘enemy of the people’, was a loose term that could be applied to anyone the authorities conceived as a threat. ‘Enemies of the people’ were imprisoned, expelled or executed. Their relatives and friends also fell under suspicion and could be sent to the Gulag as ‘Family Members of Traitors of the Motherland’.

Family Members of Traitors of the Motherland’ and the ‘Socially Dangerous’* had to register with the NKVD- MVD. These were relatives of the ‘enemies of the people’, exiled without trial to the northern and north-eastern regions. They lived there in conditions of cold and hunger and died by the thousands.

The Gestapo, the bloody younger brother of the NKVD, never matured enough to adopt the notion of ‘universal wrathful condemnation of the enemies of the Fatherland’, and it lagged far behind in terms of ‘labour efficiency’.

By order of the NKVD, workers’ meetings were held at factories, plants, kolkhozes, scientific institutes and educational institutions throughout the country. At these meetings people took the stage to publicly condemn ‘spies, wreckers, and saboteurs in the pay of international intelligence’, who had been exposed by the NKVD. They demanded they be exterminated ‘like a pack of wild dogs’. Many of those who stood on the podium soon became part of the pack ‘wild dogs’ themselves, and were executed by firing squad.”

* During Stalin’s many purges some of his most loyal followers fell victim to his deadly paranoia. His ruthless cleansing of (mostly imagined) political opposition, was a constant feature of his regime. No one was immune, including those who had previously denounced others. “We think that a powerful and vigorous movement is impossible without differences — “true conformity” is possible only in the cemetery.’ Joseph Stalin, ‘Our purposes’, Pravda, 22 January 1912.

The Gulag, created on 10th June, 1934 by a decree of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Millions of people died through purges, genocide and apartheid, in the name of the bright future. The alphabetical list (far from complete) of the cities and settlements, near which were located ITL (Corrective Labour Camps), OLP (Separate Camp Points), sharashkas (secret R&D laboratories in the Gulag system), komandirovkas,* construction sites, service centres, columns, roads, OKB (Special Design Offices), ITK (Corrective Labour Camps / Colonies), and special settlements of the Gulag. 1. Abakan *(vi) 2. Abez-Inta *(1) 3. Aim (vii) 4. Akmolinsk * (vi) 5. Aktyubinsk *(vi) 6. Aleksandrovskoye (vi) 7. Aldan *(vi) 8. Allaykha (viii) 9. Alma-Ata (vii) 10. Andizhan *(v) 11. Arkhangelsk *(i) 12. Askold Isle (viii) 13. Astrakhan * (iti) 14. Asha (iv) 15. Ayan *(vii1) 16. Baku * (iii) 17. Balychigan *(viii) 18. Belomorsk * (1) 19. Belushye (i) 20. Berezovo (v) 21. Birobidzhan (ix) 22. Bodaybo *(vi) 23. Borovichi (ii) 24. Byreya *(ix) 25. Byugyuke (v) 26. Vanz (i) 27. Vaygach Isle (i) 28. Velsk (i) 29. Vereshchagino (v) 30. Verkhoyansk * (viii) 31. Verkhne-Imbatskoye (v) 32. Verkhne-Uralsk (iv) 33. Verkhny Ufaley *(iv) 34. Veslyana (v) 35. Vilyuisk *(vi) 36. Vitim *(vi) 37. Vologda *(ii) 38. Volkhov (ii) 39. Vorkuta *(i) 40. Vytegra *(1) 41. Gorali (v) 42. Gorky * (11) 43. Dzhezkazgan *(vii) 44. Dnepropetrovsk * (iii) 45, Elabuga (i) 46. Erofey Pavlovich *(vi) 47. Zhigansk (v) 48. Zayarsk (vi) 49. Franz Joseph Land *(i) 50. Zyryanka (viii) 51. Ivanovo (11) 52. Ivdel * (iv) 53. Izhevsk * (11) 54. Izvestkovy (viii) 55. Iman (viii) 56. Irgiz (vil) 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. . Irkutsk *(vi) . Ishimbay *(iv) . Kagan (vii) . Kazalinsk (vii) . Kazan * (ii) . Kamchatka * (viii) . Kandalaksha *(i) . Karabash (iv) . Karaganda * (vi) . Karakas (vii) . Karaul (v) . Kargopol *(i) . Kashin (ii) . Kemerovo *(vi) . Kzyl-Orda (vii) . Kizel * (ii) Kirov (Vyatka) *(ii) Knyazh-Pogost (i) Kozhva (i) Kokchetav *(vi) Kolbashevo (vi) Kolyma * (viii) 79. Commander Islands * (viii) 80 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91 92; 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 . Komsomolsk * (ix) Kondopoga *(1) Kopeisk *(iv) Kostroma * (11) Kotlas *(i) Krasnovodsk (iv) Krasnoturinsk (iv) Krasnogorsk *(vi) Kuznetsk *(vi) Kuibyshev * (ii) Kuloy (1) . Kungur *(iv) Kurgan-Tyube * (vii) . Kuril Islands * (viii) . Kurya (i) . Kustanay *(vi) . Kyzyl (vi) . Kyusyur (v) . Leningrad *(11) . Leninogorsk (vi) 0. Magdagachi (viii) 1. Magnitogorsk * (iv) 2. Mariinsk *(vi) 3. Mayor-Krest (viii) 4, Makhachkala (iii) 5. Medvezhiegorsk (i) 6. Mezen (i) 7. Miass *(iv) 8. Mirnoye (v) 9. Molotov (Perm) *(11) 0. Molotovsk (i) 1. Monchegorsk (i) 2. Morshansk (ii) 113. Moscow *(ii) 114. Nalchik (iii) 115. Narian-Mar *(i) 116. Nikolayevsk (vi) 117. Nikopol (ii1) 118. Nizhniye Kresty * (viii) 119. Nizhne-Tambovsk (viii) 120. Nizhny Tagil * (iv) 121. Novaya Zemlya *(i) 122. Nizhneye Shadrino (vi) 123. Novosibirsk *(vi) 124. Nordvik (v) 125. Norilsk *(v) 126. Ozhogino (viii) 127. Olyokminsk *(vi) 128. Omsk *(vi) 129. Orsk *(iv) 130. Ostashkov (11) 131. Pakhta-Aral (vii) 132. Penza (11) 133. Petrozavodsk *(i) 134. Petropavlovsk (vi) 135. Pechora *(i) 136. Plesetsk (i) 137. Podkamennaya Tunguska *(v) 138. Pokur (v) 139. Pokcha (i) 140. Prokopyevsk (vi) 141. Ramenskoye (i1) 142. Revda (iv) 143. Rezh (iv) 144. Rugoozero (1) 145. Savinobor (1) 146. Salekhard *(v) 147. Salyany (iii) 148. Sama (iv) 149. Saransk-Potma *(ii) 150. Sakhalin *(ix) 151. Sverdlovsk * (iv) 152. Svirstroy (11) 153. Segezha (i) 154. Seychman * (viii) 155. Semipalatinsk *(vi) 156. Solikamsk *(iv) 157. Solovets Islands *(i) 158. Sortavala (1) 159. Srednekolymsk * (viii) 160. Sretinsk (vi) 161. Stalingrad *(ii1) 162. Stalino (Donetsk) * (iii) 163. Stalinogorsk (ii) 164. Stalinsk (vi) 165. Stanchik (viii) 166. Starodub (ii) 167. Stolbovoye (viii) 168. Suojarvi *(1) 169. Sukhumi (iii) 170. Suchan *(ix) 171. Syzran *(ii) 172. Syktyvkar *(i) 173. Tavda *(iv) 174. Tayshet-Bratsk *(v1) 175. Tashkent * (vii) 176. Tbilisi (iii) 177. Tekyulyak (viii) 178. Tetyushi (ii) 179. Tiksi (v) 180. Tikhvin (11) 181. Tobolsk *(vi) 182. Totma *(i) 183. Tomsk *(vi) 184. Tula (11) 185. Tura (v) 186. Turinsk *(iv) 187. Turkestan * (vii) 188. Turukhansk *(v) 189. Tyumen *(vi) 190. Uglich (ii) 191. Ulyanovsk (ii) 192. Ulan-Ude * (vi) 193. Uman (111) 194. Uralsk (iv) 195. Ust-Vorkuta *(1) 196. Ust-Vym *(1) 197. Ust-Kamenogorsk *(vi) 198. Ust-Kamchatsky * (vil) 199. Ust-Kulom *(i) 200. Ust-Mil * (ii) 201. Ust-Port (v) 202. Ust-Srednikan (viii) 203. Ust-Usa * (viii) 204. Ust-Ukhta *(i) 205. Ust-Shugor (i) 206. Ufa *(iv) 207. Fergana (vil) 208. Frunze (vii) 209. Khabarovsk *(ix) 210. Kholmogory (i) 211. Khonu (viii) 212. Chardzhou (vii) 213. Chelkar (vii) 214. Chelyabinsk *(iv) 215. Chita *(vi) 216. Chkalov (Orenburg) (iv) 217. Chusovoy *(iv) 218. Shadrinsk *(iv) 219. Shcherbakov (ii) 220. Ekibastuz-Ugol (vi1) 221. Yakutsk *(v) 222. Yaroslavl (ii)