“The shadow economy of the Gulag”: on the example of Western Siberia in the 30s of the XX century

The shadow economy caused serious damage to the financial state structure of the USSR, which negatively affected budget replenishment, and also threatened the maintenance of public order and worsened the crime situation. The command-administrative system in the Soviet Union was finally established in the 30s of the last century, based on the distribution of material goods, which led to a shortage of goods and services. This contributed to the spread of shadow economic relations, due to the ban in the country on engaging in entrepreneurial activities, which was interpreted as a criminal offense - speculation. The restriction of financial activity was aggravated by the existing strict regulations for the regime of detention of prisoners in the Gulag units of the NKVD of the USSR. Engagement in illegal business activities was provoked by the desire to get rich at any cost, difficult sanitary and living conditions for prisoners, as well as poor-quality medical care. In places of deprivation of liberty, numerous cases of theft of public funds, registrations, sales of property, organization of gambling, etc. were recorded. In addition, illegal trafficking in places of deprivation of liberty was also recorded: alcohol, weapons, drugs and other prohibited things, which threatened the security system in prisons, forced labor colonies and forced labor camps, contributed to attacks on guards, escapes of convicts, and murders and causing bodily harm to both the supervisory staff and the convicts themselves. This was largely due to the activities of a criminal element concentrated in one place. A serious problem remained the insufficient, often formal, educational work among the personnel of the Gulag of the NKVD of the USSR. Law enforcement officials carried out measures to combat and prevent shadow economic relations in the Soviet penitentiary system in the West Siberian region, including with the involvement of intelligence agencies and conducting scheduled and unannounced inspections of the financial activities of correctional labor institutions.

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