The Gulag: what we know now and why it matters

Speaker(s): Anne Applebaum
Chair: Professor Arne Westad
We now understand far better what the gulag was, how it evolved, what purposes it served, how many people lived and died within it. Yet what do we really remember of the camp system? What do Russians remember? And how does that memory, or the lack of it, affect Russian politics today?
Anne Applebaum is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2012-13.

[@lenesu86]

That's exactly the point of her speech. The gulag will happen again because we haven't learnt it's lesson.

[@ib1ray]

And I just saw in another documentary that they want to close down the last remaining Gulag prison in Russia which will effectively allow people to forget and repeat cycle

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

@@ib1ray the last remaining gulag? says who? your tv? gulags were shut down in 1960! not 2021/22! plus the Russians are taught to demonise Stalin etc. its just that when Russians grow a bit older they start to support Stalin! good!

[@ib1ray]

@@JohnKobaRuddy it's set up as a museum. I meant that they are trying to get rid of all history related to that tragic period of time. It's not an active gulag.

[@dmitryreshetko9]

Revolt in Kenya during the 1940s, eventually breaking into open warfare with the British and other Imperial troops in 1952. The majority of the Mau Mau revolutionaries were Kikuyu. After declaring an emergency the British pursued a policy of divide and conquer. Civil liberties were suspended. Kikuyu were rounded up into “work camps.” One and a half million people were held in camps or villages surrounded and fortified by British troops. The camps bore signs which read, “Labor and Freedom.” Torture and mass executions were common. Some Kiyuku were dragged by military vehicles until their bodies broke into pieces. Others were mauled by guard dogs before being executed.

[@hakunamatata4809]

Thank you for your book!

[@patrickbass3542]

Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.

[@anthonywayne7937]

“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes” Albert Einstein

[@NoahBodze]

Those who learned the lies of history don’t know what they’re repeating. Who was in charge of the Gulags? Who perpetrated the Holodomor? Anne APPLEBAUM considers them part of the tribe, so she left that out of the story.

[@huphtor]

Thank your for posting. Is there a version online that had the FULL Q&A? Would love too see it.

[@pawelpap9]

Fascinating! Not so much in terms of information the lecture brings, but in fact that some care about this still open chapter of our history. I am writing this comment in August 2014 with Russian troops exerting pressure on Ukraine and it is quite clear to me that one element that makes it possible is the lack of understanding by young Russians of their own history. Anne explains it very clearly and she is very persuasive. Indeed, how a major country can exist and function honestly without coming to terms with its own horrifying past. I have to admit I am pessimistic. It will take new and probably yet unborn generation of Russians to let some fresh air into their society.

[@freeforall1394]

I agree with your comment. Sadly, Russian school children are still being taught from a Soviet era viewpoint without all the rubbish about Marx, imperialists, and enemies of the State. Rather, Putin and his goose-stepping young lapdogs of the Nashi movement rely heavily on the faded laurels of Stalins "accomplishments" and the Red Star still holds sway on the aged and Red Starry-eyed youth. Russian middle class offer their full approval for expansionist policies and many youngsters have believed misinformation passed down from drunk Uncles who say they were not personally affected by Soviet injustice and tout old Party slogans. Too many of Russias senior citizens laud their Soviet past and suspect Western intentions based on antiquated Party rhetoric rather than objectively assessing Putins dictatorial hold on power that lulls them comfortably back into obedient comrades. I too am very pessimistic and fear a great, great war is in the making.

[@charlesdale1462]

As of April 2022 your observations then are pertinent now......

[@m1g0t0]

I read her book and it makes Solzhenitsyn's Archipelagos seem slim. Thoroughly researched and backed up with dozens of interviews, it damns communism in the worst, most unrecoverable way.

[@m1g0t0]

Jeff L it's quite interesting. many people damn Hitler's slave labor use of Jews, but have no idea how much more times over Stalin put his own people into slave labor. Very sad stories of how female prisoners had their children starved to death as well.

[@ib1ray]

@@Lil_paulee that's amazing! I have just finished The Abridged version of the gulag archipelago at 21 hours and I find it utterly amazing that so many of the soldiers and police treating their fellow countrymen less than dirt on the bottom of their shoes and actually enjoy the torturing process and revel in their misery.

[@ib1ray]

@@Lil_paulee I'm going to have to lock myself away for a couple days. I find this extremely relevant in this time as well. I can see how something like this could happen today, even with the access we have to information. Some place like China with a strong hold on what information the people get, and more importantly, the information that gets out could allow another instance like this to happen. It's too easy for 'civilized' folks to deliberately ignore these atrocities especially since 'it's not affecting them'. It ultimately affects all of us in some form.

[@ib1ray]

@@Lil_paulee wow! Thank you so much for these links.

[@brianshaw6813]

@@ib1ray and yet here we are in 2021 and being censored by Twitter, KZbin, Facebook etc.. basically anyone that speaks out or asks questions not suited to Government agenda... DEPLATFORMED OR DELETED. Rings bells.. doesnt it?

[@vancouvercanada8714]

Anna Applebaum A BRILLIANT HISTORIAN ON EASTERN EUROPE

[@elizabethtencer7950]

Very biased journalist. Sees things that aren't there. Exaggerates.

[@NoahBodze]

She shares the same ethnic roots of the people who took over Eastern Europe and imposed communism on them.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

@@NoahBodze nice try Noah! less than 7% of Russia was Jayish! less than 7% of the Bolsheviks (a word you dont know the meaning of without searching for it online)were jays! i know the jays own far too much and own everything pretty much but how stupid are the rest of humanity that they can do that?! think about it! youll be claiming Stalins name means son of a jew next!

[@CaptainGrimes1]

What the hell does she mean no one knows the anthems lyrics? It's been around for 18 years, I know Russians believe me they know it!

[@steezburger609]

Wow i have read A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but I never realized how extensive the GULAG system was

[@chrispywilliams1992]

Where's the rest??

[@Macho7446]

Thank you for paying the price of such good and ACCURATE scholarship. We need to be frequently reminded of Soviet criminality lest we forget; as if we could with what we see going on daily over there. Keep up the great work. There are millions of us unseen people behind you.

[@michaelschneider8201]

May I ask y'all for just one thing? GULAG is NOT an actual word. It's a shortening from Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei - or Main Bureau of Camps (MBCAM I guess?). It was an organization with the main office in the capital city, in Moscow - and the corrective labour camps scattered all over the country. We in Russia never call this system "gulag" or "gulags". Instead, we say "corrective labour camps" or just "the camps", "the Soviet camps". If you say "gulags" that just shows how you don't give a single damn about historical accuracy - or understanding what's going on. Or the Soviet people whose deaths you pretend to mourn, for that matter.

[@samadams3687]

equating the American penal system with that of the USSR is absurd. equating criminals with political dissenters is totalitarian.

[@samadams3687]

I can vouch for the subjective damage drugs have done to me. How is that in any way conflated with a political crime, on the same level as a Soviet-era dissident?

[@undeadpresident]

@Sam Adams "war on terror" is giving the intelligence agencies an excuse to do just that

[@johnglover5071]

@@undeadpresident bullstink!

[@undeadpresident]

@@johnglover5071 huh?

[@DimmedDiamond]

For all the cold war talk of gulags, anyone else find it amazing that more US citizens are in prison today (percentage wise), and more wealth is created from prison labour (percentage wise) than at the "height" of the gulag system?

[@MsFreshadenu]

Dimmed Diamond the efficiency to create wealth in russian prisons was not maximized. Tho its churning out of dead bodies was. How does that percentage stack up? Why stack the number of those in prison at one time and not those who died while there? Or the sentences. We release our prisoners. They actually have to commit a crime to be taken back and unlike russia we dont give amnesty to rapists and murderers over political prisoners.

[@ib1ray]

And it does seem that the United States prisoners are treated extremely well compared to the rest of the world

[@Stalley75]

Gulag lectures and documentaries are very sad

[@Odderup]

Awfull sound.

[@anthonywayne7937]

I understood it just fine ! You might just be a little bitch

[@rajkamald684]

Vorukuta comment is unnecessary.People can decide where to live

[@eugenebrown102]

*state

[@jimmihotdog3469]

W Churchill: One may dislike Hitler's system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations."( NWO today want NO BORDERS) From his Great Contemporaries, 1937

[@legalvampire8136]

Good lecture. Her books are good too. The minority of pro-Putin and/or anti-Semitic comments here are unbelievable.

[@kathyadair8552]

Or, our big push to promote such Hatred. From li'l Donny Dimwit! Yiddish folks, here, are Educators, Symphony level Musicians, Biz ppl, Drs. - ALL contributing to our Community! I'll admit I'm anti-Zionist, or for any other corrupt Gov., like our own. Sure, let's export some good ol' 🇺🇸 democracy. $crew your legally elected Good guy! We'll put in our Kiss@$$ Puppet! ('Cuz hey, we haven't been Competitive in over 60 Years!) We're here to Rob your Resources, cuz our own ppl are too deprived and Traumatized to even Learn, K-12!! I 💚 me some Bernie, but, we have waaaaay too many damn Duo-citizens among the many Criminal$ of our so-called political class! Red or Blue. $crewing YOU!! DEMANDING $$$$$$$Millions More from Barry O! So Israeli kids get the FREE College Education and their citizens get socialized Health Care!! WTF!! You folks better start looking for a 4th and 5th JOB! (Your Sig.O., too.) Your paltry Tax $$$$$$$ aren't cutting it, anymore. Ya gotta Work til you DROP! DEAD. Each kid will Cost you much more than $$$$$1MILLION. And, They can't extract any more productivity out of you! As, just a "Labor Unit," (to Bean Counters) and where ever you Land! ~ The $.O.$. And those 27? RIGHT TO WORK States want your LIFE, $LAVE! The New* Adolescence will END at 25 y.o., the kids that are Already DOOMED - even the 30 & younger crowd aren't any better off + it will take the $WAMP Creatures 10-to-15 Years to $ort it All out! Yawl better have a Basement!! Cuz your 45 y.o. won't get the Hours, at Mickey D's! Their "model-citizen's," Downs Syndrome kids will*!! Proud as Pie to have the job, performing at their Peak level AND Always Happy, besides! Providing, some Trumbfuk BULLY, or other (R) A-H never TRAUMATIZE or Terrorize them; because they Hate their own* emotional, cognitive and intellectual deficiencies and other insecurities, frailities and vulnerabilities and Failure to ever Launch!! I guess little "entitled" Rich kids, or "Ugly Americans" - Red or Blue, DON'T need to know ANYTHING! Money must Grow on Trees, eh? They just suK it out of Daddy's posterior their whole Live's! Killing off the Golden Goose, because they're not educated enough to ever learn enough to learn How to Think! That's why these Dimwits were so very underrepresented at their own Insurrection. Duh! They only Paid to help get the Disgruntled 'Professionals' to D.C., who had better chances of covering their own* Legal defense L0$$E$!! 🤣 Unfortunately, "there are $TUPID ppl in EVERY population"! Including Ph.D.s Drs., D.O.s, shyster lawyers, Hospital Administrators, surgeons, (politicians; Lawyer types) etc. Master's: PAs, How about an Uncivil Engineer? And NPs, all just More eXpensive ways to rack up the CHA CHING! Don't Trust your Life to Any of them!! Especially, IF they had to take their State Boards a 2nd AND 3rd. Time! As only CORP DOCS nowadays, w/ no Autonomy, many are even more severe Alcoholics & Druggies, too. LETHAL! ~ BUYER BEWARE!

[@yp77738yp77739]

Would be even more interesting if it compared and contrasted with Guantanamo Bay.

[@thomasmcewen5493]

LSE where Marxism is still a good idea and communism was never done correctly. Czechia praha, part of the atheists-communists empire 1948-1989.

[@steezburger609]

I dunno it looks like this LSE professor comes down quite hard on communism and the LSE is known as a route to a successful career in business/finance. Seems like the LSE is doing a really bad job of promoting communism

[@ib1ray]

@@steezburger609 lol

[@johnsnowkumar359]

Gulags are hard labor camps. Nazi war criminals were nearly always paid. Nazi war criminals were to stay a max of 10 years, max up to 1955. I ready that every year, starting from about 1946, while Stalin was still alive, about 10,000 Nazi POW prisoners were released every year. Early release was based of severity of crimes committed. Why East Germany was an ally of the Soviet Union, and had equal say on matters, such as POW release. Stalin : Nazi war criminals have relative and friends back in their home villages. I cannot allow death sentences on Nazi prisoner of war. Nazi war criminals will work for any period between 1 year up to a max of 10 years. Stalin said all of them had death in their hands. /there were witnesses still alive. Stalin felt his way forward was the best way forward. Stalin felt the Nazi war criminals were an honest lot. They feely admitted their war crimes, once Stalin declared they will not be given death sentences.

[@michaelschneider8201]

Even the Nazi helpers, anti-communist, anti-human scum (I mean those Soviet citizens who went to serve the Nazis in that war) weren't mass executed. Even such people were given a chance to redeem themselves through hard work in the labour camps. If it doesn't prove you that the Soviet government was humane af, your judgement is seriously clouded. P. S. The real Nazi war criminals (those who burnt villages, etc) were still executed. The ones which were sent to camps were the average Nazi soldiers and the Soviets who went to serve in the Nazi occupational police forces

[@BlutoandCo]

Both are telling russian lies. History (even russisn history before putin locked it all away and made it a crime to research it) shows both of you are lying. Typical russians.

[@eugenebrown102]

Russia's government is inept when it comes to stage craft

[@deceiver123m]

FIRST!

[@zamanium7517]

Первонафт

[@aon10003]

This Indian lecture complain about the jack of interest by Russians of the Gulag. I bet he hasnt had any interest himself of the 50 million of Indians who died by The British occupation of India.

[@NoahBodze]

A Jew explaining the GULAGs is like Henry Ford explaining the assembly line.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Gulags were run by Russians not jews

[@jonnywatts2970]

How wrong she was about the hold communism would come to have in our youth. Great lecture though

[@johnalbert5786]

😳

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

hahahaha if you think young libs running riot is communism then youre a yank. and that is not a term of endearment!

[@jonnywatts2970]

@@JohnKobaRuddy did I say that?

[@saucycheeky]

Propaganda.

[@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq]

I have to agree with Moses M, Applebaum suffers from Russophobia. I would prefer someone else to talk about Gulags. She uses Gulag as a tool of Anti Russian Jewish propaganda. My uncle was sent to Gulag after WWII because he was in Home Army fighting Nazis during WWII. I do not want Ms. Applebaum to represent him or other people who were sent to Gulag. They do not need to be used as a tool of Jewish propaganda.

[@steezburger609]

How the hell is this jewish anti-Russian propaganda? That's such a crazy conspiracy theory that I don't think I've ever even heard a russian troll suggest it. Not that I concede that you actually are a 'california girl' as your username suggests.

[@ib1ray]

@@steezburger609 this is the ignorance from above that's going to allow it to happen again as is what is likely happening in China with the uyghurs. Stalin effectively killed tens of millions of his own people by sending them to the gulags in pursuit of making the Soviet Union an industrialized Powerhouse

[@juanramonrojas6138]

GUANTANAMO PRISONS, what do we know now???