Russian Gulag: The WORST Form of Legalized Slavery in Modern History

[@elvirabary]

Thank you for all your awesome comments! Have you ever wondered How Stalin Stole Christmas in Soviet Union? Find out in my latest video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIfTeYiJo5qVhKc

[@robst247]

When I was about 15 years old (50 years ago), a schoolboy living a few miles from Shakespeare's birthplace, I developed a passion for literature. Encouraged by my English teacher and some classmates, I began reading Russian literature (translated into English, of course). The books that left the most indelible impression on my young psyche were those of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn about the Gulag: 'One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich', 'The First Circle', 'Cancer Ward' and 'The Gulag Archipelago'. Learning about the inconceivable brutality of the Soviet system was one factor than contributed to my utter disillusionment with humanity and resultant teenage angst and depression. Surely, there is no society more traumatised than that of the former USSR.

[@wilhelmvonn9619]

Following the Cultural Revolution, China probably ran it a close second.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

No - which is why Ukrainians fought it - and Russians just buckled under and let the psychotic kleptocrats walk all over them with a doleful shrug and no doubt with a suitable morosely bitter epithet to garnish it.

[@karimtabrizi376]

Oh yeah well screwed up

[@robst247]

@karimtabrizi376 Yes, I was.

[@PolarExpress_11-10]

Yes, the USSR was kind of a rough place, which is why we became enemies after WW2; Communism doesn't really work. The Gulags were started long before the USSR, in the old Russian Empire. If you think Soviet history is bad, than don't read further back in time, things get worse.

[@SportPlusDad]

Elvira I’m really enjoying your stories about Russia and the USSR. I’m familiar with much of the history and geography of the country but you’re filling in the details and I appreciate your efforts. Looking forward to seeing your books come out in English.

[@elvirabary]

Thank you! Glad you find my videos helpful.

[@BigMuff520]

I cannot get enough of these USSR stories! Keep them coming!!!

[@barbarcreighton6726]

Yes , agree - this channel gets better and better : the topics are fascinating and spot on !

[@erichstocker8358]

A very nice summary of the implications of a gulag type system. Very interesting!!

[@petercantwell]

Your video was very enlightening. Thank-you Elvira.

[@elvirabary]

My pleasure

[@Del350K4]

I have a book, first published in 1948, called "This Was My Choice", by a gentleman called Igor Gouzenko. It paints a similarly bleak picture of the effects of life in the USSR, I'm afraid. What puzzles me is the nostalgia for the USSR which I see in German friends who are now in their early to mid forties. They seem to revere a romanticised version of Soviet daily life, in which friendship, love, and community spirit easily compensated for all the poverty and hardships, lack of autonomy and the other factors which led to that pervasive sense of hopelessness so powerfully evoked by Elvira in a recent video on endemic alcoholism.

[@Del350K4]

I should clarify; my friends are from West Germany : )

[@TheRealGnolti]

I suspect "nostalgia" for the USSR is basically no different from other nostalgias, i.e., the fantasy that the distant past was better than the present. (Though I must admit it gets harder and harder not to think so with every passing decade.) But what your friends may specifically miss is the so-called moral clarity of the Cold War era, when the world was more or less divided into two clearly understood ideologies.

[@PolarExpress_11-10]

The romanticism for the Communist system stems from the theory that the system is not bad, its the people running it. If Leonid Breshnev had not been in charge for nearly 2 decades, than the USSR might still be around and humming. Its all a fallacy; Communism was a system that let Leonid Breshnev be in charge for nearly 2 decades.

[@GerFarrell-tm2ee]

Good evening Elvira, all your videos are marvelous but in this one you have really surpassed yourself, absolutely brilliant, you are a great historian and you are willing to share personal stories of your family's past. I was glued to it and focused on every word. You explained the collective trauma in a most coherent way. Previously I tried to respond and describe Ireland to you. Maybe it's becuase of my lack of ability with words or my closeness to the situation but at the time words failed me. This video has enabled me to speak a little, what resonated with me was the fearfullness and betrayed you mentioned about the gulag system. To a lesser degree this is a feature of Ireland, looking over your shoulder, not trusting, clever moves over minor issues, this is part of culture of Ireland, it is oppressive but understandable given our history of domination by Britain. To finish I just want to say that in the world of Utube videos, you are at the top, culturally, intellectually and spiritually, thank you ❤

[@elvirabary]

Thank you so much for your kind comment. I’m truly honored that my video resonated with you on such a deep level.

[@GerFarrell-tm2ee]

Great woman

[@johngorentz6409]

Thank you for the video. Here's a little story in return. In 1953 when I was five years old, my mother came into my bedroom and had a talk with me about the midnight knock on the door, and how it could come to our country, too. I know it wasn't Stalin's death that provoked that little session, because I remember the bedroom very well and we had been in a different house with a different bedroom when Stalin died. I wasn't very aware of the date at the time, but I've checked dates of when we moved in my parents' diaries and journals. My best guess was that it was when the news of Beria's execution reached us. I don't remember what words I used to think about it at that age, but I thought I was kind of young to be in on such an important conversation. It wasn't exactly a new idea to me, though, because I had listened many times while my mother and her father talked about things like this. The topic of communism was kind of an obsession with my grandfather. It made me feel a little older and more important to be brought into the conversation of such topics. Did I have nightmares after that little talk? I did dream about the midnight knock on the door a couple of times and it was scary (and thrilling) to have had those dreams, but I wouldn't exactly call them nightmares. I was just barely learning to read then, but when I got older I read lots of Gulag prison camp stories, as well as Nazi concentration camp stories. A year ago I learned that a brother of one of my great-grandmothers had died in a Nazi concentration camp. And some years ago I learned that my grandfather's father didn't like Russians. The people he didn't want to have anything to do with were Ukrainians, not Russians, but he called them Russians. And my great-grandfather's grandfather had had to flee overnight to Germany from Moscow, leaving one child behind, probably around 1825. The family had been fairly wealthy and important in Moscow, and my best guess is that it had to do with some ripple effect from the Decembrist revolt, though I have no evidence for that.

[@elvirabary]

That is a truly fascinating story.

[@raycarnis9540]

Excellent video Elvira, thought provoking. Many thanks. Watched it twice.

[@elvirabary]

Glad it was helpful!

[@raycarnis9540]

@elvirabary 🪕🎻🪗

[@Whirlwind990]

I visited the Karlag camp museum in Kazakhstan last year (as well as another repression museum), very interesting places. You can read some of the dossiers of prisoners there, I remember one guy was arrested and perished and then when khrushchev came into power (who dissolved the Gulag system), his case was reviewed and he was exonerated. And i remember in one room, it was like a gallery for artwork by ex prisoners (post USSR collapse), but the art was so contrasting against all the propaganda pictures in the rest of the museum it was unsettling. A few of the paintings were so horrifying, i can never forget them

[@elvirabary]

Wow, thanks for this cool story. I have never been to Kazakhstan myself, but it's definitely on the list.

[@espirulografo]

Love you Elvira from Uruguay.

[@staphylea1]

Elvira, thank you! Your moving personal testimony is a fascinating historical document. What are we to make of Maxim Gorky's role in favourably reporting the camps when we'd expect him to empathise with the inmates?

[@elvirabary]

Oh it's a such fascinating story! I need to tell you guys about Maxim Gorky's double life.

[@staphylea1]

@@elvirabary Looking forward to your insight. Thanks for a gem of a KZbin channel.

[@Hans-WalterThun-np3yz]

To understand Russia, you need to know the history. Your work is very important. Thank you! ❤

[@elvirabary]

Thank you for your support!

[@PolarExpress_11-10]

Yes, one needs to know history. The Gulags were actually started by the Russian Empire, and Vladimir Ulyanov being the kind of guy he was, expanded them instead of abolishing them.

[@Mysticaldarks]

I would suggest to invest into a lav or dynamic mic to cut on the echo, or to treat the room. It would definitely step up the production value 😊

[@elvirabary]

Thank you for the suggestion, I'm working on solving the background noise issue, hopefully I will get it fixed soon. :)

[@shillanassi]

Terrifically succinct précis of the horrific phenomenon.

[@skipmcgrath]

Thanks!

[@elvirabary]

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the video. It's so great to see positive response to my content, it's inspiring me to create more. :)

[@300PercentFlyingV]

Please keep sharing this history - alas, almost unknown in the West.

[@XiOjala]

Very interesting but not surprising. Almost everyone who gets into a position of power starts with good intentions. But you know what we say about good intentions.

[@ellebelle8515]

Thank you, Elvira, Yours is a very unique channel, the only one I have seen which is telling these stories- this Russian Soviet history which must not be overlooked or forgotten. I am the first generation of both my parents' families to have been born in Canada- only because my parents along with their parents, were forced to flee Stalin's regime. But, many on both sides were not able to flee Russia. The great uncles who were executed quickly were far more fortunate than those who died in the gulags. Even numbers of children died of starvation. These stories are still happening the world over, but it is important to tell the whole of all that happens with a country/nation- both the good and the bad. It may seem that our troubled world has learned nothing from past wars and authoritarian leaders, but each person does have a choice to learn, accept truth, and individually work to make a difference for the good of mankind.

[@elvirabary]

Thank you watching and commenting! I love writing and researching history, and I have many such stories in my archives, so I promise to keep making these videos if keep watching them! :)

[@LaurenBerns]

Thanks for this work.

[@elvirabary]

My pleasure.

[@mrdavemyles]

This is fascinating. It really helps to understand the cultural mindset of Russia. I have a bit more empathy now for them.

[@Liberatingamericans]

Just found your channel good stuff sub earned.

[@elvirabary]

Thank you for your support!

[@Liberatingamericans]

@elvirabary your quite welcome.

[@G5rry]

Don't forget that the 13th amendment in the US allows for prisoner slaves TO THIS DAY, which is why the US has for-profit prisons and the highest incarceration per-capita of any nation on Earth and laws which target minority populations.

[@bradleyhalfacre7992]

Thank you so much for this video. It has helped me a lot to understand why and how the current situation with the SMO has come about. Prior to the SMO I was an avid follower and believer in RT and was convinced that Russia was the greatest military and moral power in the world and that the West was truly evil. When the SMO failed I had to start researching as to why the Russian military failed and slowly I began to understand the true situation in Russia. Your chapter , "Shadow of The Gulag" has helped to add a little more to the picture of the Russian psyche. I feel a great sorrow for the Russian people. They have had a very hard and chaotic history. From serfdom to Socialism and the gulag , to the humiliation of the great collapse and now a terrible war for which I think Russians again feel very humiliated. I think that once the generations that lived through the Soviet era pass away the young Russians will pick themselves up and start a new era of prosperity and honesty for Russia. God bless them.

[@elvirabary]

Thanks for such an insightful comment. I think I mentioned in one of the comments before, I do believe in Eckhart Tolle's concept of "National Collective Pain Body", Russia unfortunately has a pretty heavy one.

[@WalterThorne-h5k]

Speaking of Ayn Rand…I don’t know her famous works but her earlier “We the Living” was stunning!

[@BlackHattie]

I like your videos more and more...

[@observersum1180]

Spasiba!

[@josestelle250]

Good to know.

[@WalterThorne-h5k]

Elvira, I enjoy your detailed presentations..l have read all the Solzhenitsyn Gulag related books and commentaries of other surviving prisoners such as Evgenia Ginsburg, V Shalamov and writers who lived under communism such as Ayn Rand. If I ask why Russia is like it is ….it seems it has almost always been a coercive state.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

Elvira it's a wonderful story as always but I always feel somewhat uneasy when I hear ones like it. While I'm sure it was not your intention, there is always just a hint - a suggestion - of making excuses. Russians have been diabolically bad at making their true feelings known at their present Emperor's atrocities in Ukraine - yet while knowing a bit of Russian history we might glimpse the national trauma of the gulag inflicted upon the population and how it left lasting - and deep scars - we might UNDERSTAND why Russians are so passive as they are. But we cannot CONDONE it. Easy for me to say - I admit that. But we all have our own crosses to bear - and I think Russians, frankly, have been flattened by the weight of theirs, rather than having dug deep to find the strength and resilience. At the end of the day, despite the strenuous clampdown attempted by the Yanukovych government, Ukrainians were simply too many, too united and too determined to let their mini-wannabe-dictator Russian glove puppet (strings pulled by Putain of course - forgive me but I cannot even accord that creature the correct spelling of his name - and anyway, the French is far more apposite....) get the better of them. Despite the fact the Berkut used LIVE AMMUNITION on the crowds at Maidan Square, they prevailed. And Ukraine was no more no less a part of the Soviet Union under Stalin - as Russia was. So while the gulag gives us understanding of why Russians are the way they are - it does anything but excuse them.

[@elvirabary]

Thank you for this insightful comment. I also believe in the concept of national trauma. I think I first heard about the concept of "national and racial pain-bodes" in Eckhart Tolle's "The New Earth".

[@StateEducated]

Hey, Elvira, these labor camp rules you mention seem to have proliferated far beyond Russia... naming no names. Don’t stick your head out if you don’t want to lose it. Don’t expect, and certainly don’t demand, anything from your superiors. If you can cheat the system, do it. Laws are just a suggestion. Try to join the strongest pack. Try to get a good position in the system, and milk it dry while you can. The highest authorities are good. Sometimes they make a call and punish the local bosses, who are thieves, murderers, and traitors, without exception. Do not trust anyone except your family and closest friends. If a stranger tries to be good to you, he surely wants to rip you off. Take advantage of a stupid stranger who’s just asking to be tricked. Stealing from the state is not a crime but a smart way to do business. The world is ruled by force, and goodwill doesn’t exist, especially to strangers.

[@elvirabary]

Awesome comment and even a better poem. Is an an original work? :)

[@MrMarktrumble]

Thank you

[@elvirabary]

My pleasure!

[@TheMaxKids]

Nobody ever mentions the gulag. Only germans get the blame. this should change.

[@toby9999]

That's not true, actually. I know about them, so they must have been mentioned. I'm not even a historian. In fact, I'm pretty clueless about most things to do with history. But I think the gulags would be fairly common knowledge.

[@GeraldBeagan-ee6se]

But in Russia it was kept on the down-Lo during ussr years….

[@andriidubinin955]

ussr had many ways to use it's citizens as slave workers but gulags by far have been the worse... Thank you! 👍👍

[@Historybooks-456]

I've read the first two volumes of Solzhenitsyn.

[@gtd-sq2pj]

She's a great narrator.

[@cyberpunkalphamale]

Kolyma is cold

[@RalfBernhard-g1c]

Gulags (camps): To quell dissent, to enable top-down unity.

[@HelloMartians]

Could you please do a video why Russians living abroad in countries were there is safety and freedom of speech have not demonstrated against the war in Ukraine? Or against Putin for that matter. Thanks for your videos.

[@dukenukem8381]

russian opposition abroad are trying to whitewash russians are not in favot of paying reparations to Ukraine or taking any responsibility . Not in favor of giving up occupied territories or returning children . Basically they are imperialists light.

[@elvirabary]

We did. We several times had demonstrations. Together with the Ukrainians and on our own.

[@kellfletch1]

@@elvirabary How about a video on the Russian Soul?

[@andreib2489]

I've lived through the nineties and left at the end of that decade. I do not want to see a repeat even from a distance. Pro-Western government in Russia will be better for the West. But the Russia itself? I am not so sure about that.

[@Threetails]

The US prison system holds more people than the Gulag Archipelago did at its peak, and they are legally kept as slaves by the punishment clause of the 13th amendment.

[@answerman9933]

For some reason the interstitial illustrations remind me of Kafka.

[@elvirabary]

The same vibe

[@UnityFromDiversity]

I wish more young leftists knew about this.

[@omglolbbqftw]

Oh you are a GEM!! The best information of the Soviet era i've come across. I've learned a lot about why they think they can just take Ukraine. Why shouldn't they, if they're the stronger force, else the west will. (which is true IN A WAY) (like that the Ukraine would've rather just wanted to trade with the west, and enjoy some more freedom of self governence). What you said makes me feel like this sentiment is deeply ingrained in the national russian mindset Thanks again for educating us I hope you get MUCH more subscribers. You deserve it! =) Cheers from Sweden

[@elvirabary]

Thank you!

[@mikegrady2756]

You should get a clip-on microphone. The echoes in your room reduce intelligibility.

[@QuizmasterLaw]

Stalin's gulag is there so i can write my bilingual romance novel starring me and Elvira Bary or, write jokes. It would be funny if it weren't so sad!

[@adrianainespena5654]

You are aware that the system already existed under the czar?

[@elvirabary]

Force labor camps did exist, but not to scale of Gulag, which started in 1930s.

[@adrianainespena5654]

@@elvirabary The system was there. There is a difference between an established regime whose legitimacy is not questioned and a new one whos hold on power is tenuous. The second will always be more ruthless.

[@pauldruhg2992]

Gulagers were paid a living wage+. What an absolute cruelty! After 10 years of Gulag you could buy a house, after 10 years in US prison you could get a months rent. Solzhenitsyn got a cancer treatment in there. What a horrible thing to do.😢

[@elvirabary]

@@pauldruhg2992 there was no real estate market in the USSR. You couldn’t buy a house or apartment.

[@pauldruhg2992]

@elvirabary ofc you could. Suburban houses were privately owned. You could buy and sell a house as an individual. The more you know.

[@pauldruhg2992]

@@elvirabary no market, but buying/selling thru ads. You do know that slavery implies buying and selling people? No market needed, thru an ad will suffice. Instead try 13th amendment and corporations who auction that labor. Peace 🕊️

[@choppergirlfpv]

People won't admit to all the ev ll s of sta tism. They will argue, well, we need at least some form of government. You swallow a whole lot of ev ll with that pill though. We live with it in the United States too on a wide spread scale. Like being forced to conform and com ply and having to live in fear of not obeying strangers and being imprisoned and even tor tur ed and ex ecu ted for it.

[@Khatoon170]

Thank you for your wonderful cultural documentary channel dr Elvira . Iam Arabic lady subscriber to several British and American KZbin channels. We are as foreigners subscribers as overseas students want to increase our cultural level and improve our English as well . First of all I gathered vital information about Russia briefly here it’s borders east Europe and north Asia . It’s largest country In the world by era , most populous country. There are thinkers and artists such as Leo Tolstoy, fyodor Dostoevsky, composers as pyotor llyich . Important facts about Russia it’s country of giants in all senses largest deepest lake in world , coldest place on earth , highest mountain in Europe. Largest medieval fortified complex in world . Russian known ad frozen kingdom without people. USA and Russ like brothers only 4 km from Chicago to Moscow . Alaska was Russian territory. St Peterborough is town of bridges and channels . Russians are real explorers for example been on Everest deepest cave in world denis provalov . Russia has great culture, arts , ballet , architecture including 200 museums, 100 theatres , 2000 libraries. St. Petersburg is cultural capital. No slavery in Russia for many peasants similar to slavery . In 1861 surfdow was abolished, peasants belonged to landowners, Russian big tea drinkers . First person in space was yuri Gagarin. Leninis are everywhere monuments. World war 11 was tragedy many Russians killed. Russia is country of churches. Immigrants are problem there are 12 million immigrants from Uzbekistan , Tajikistan call them black referred to their black hair . 15 percent of Russians live in Moscow. Babuskhra is grand mother call for senior woman .

[@elvirabary]

It is truly inspiring to see the world through the eyes of those who are curious to learn!

[@MrSniperdude01]

"legalized slavery" ?? ............ You go to gulag !

[@NoOneElse]

I don’t believe they had the wrong blueprints but that it was used at the wrong time and incorrectly. Marx mentions how communism is the end game of capitalism, in a society where there is an abundance of commodities to create a successful transition into socialism. Where Russia got it wrong is that the only abundance of commodities was labor and more labor. A very sad outcome for a hypothetically positive social structure that was created with good intention. Marx made a lot of wrong assumptions 😵‍💫

[@andrejprodan4016]

...hypothetically positive social structure... Kommunism is EVIL, dont be a useful idiot and spread these lies

[@ENGRAINING]

the Gulag was not that bad compared to modern western prison judicial complex, where in the gulag you were allowed rights and were allowed to be educated, and were given jobs to do based on your willingness, so there were many extremely smart and competent people who were allowed new opportunities due to the Gulag system. one example is Sergei Korolev, who was great astroengineer, and was allowed the opportunity to do space engineering, rocket design etc. out of the Gulag. without gulag there would be fewer opportunities for jobs for those willing to save the soviet society. there are a lot of reasons for good memory of gulag

[@toby9999]

That sound like pure propaganda

[@wilhelmvonn9619]

Not that bad? Look up the figures of how many people were worked to death in terrible conditions.

[@Notrusbot]

​@@toby9999If you look at the numbers, then no, especially if you compare it with the penitentiary system of the “first” country in the world now. but you don’t dive into the topic further than “the communists wanted to kill everyone”; who, why, doesn’t interest you

[@Whirlwind990]

​@@wilhelmvonn9619 Yes, Varlam Shalamov's book Kolyma Tales, Chapter "An Epitaph" where he describes in detail how each of his camp mates died is quite a hard read

[@perfektpeter8037]

Looks very AI generated