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Vorkuta prisoners strike for improved conditions, Russia, 1953

Country
Russia
Time period
Late July, 1953 to Early August, 1953
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Adriana Popa, 03/12/2010

Prison camps were set up in Russia by the Bolsheviks soon after the October 1917 revolution and the scale of imprisonment expanded enormously beginning in the late 1920s, with most prisoners forced to labor, especially in mining, logging, and construction. From the 1930s through the mid 1950s, camps around the country contained millions of prisoners (from common criminals to political prisoners such as dissidents and opponents of the regime) working in inhumane conditions. Many died due to overwork, extreme climate, disease and malnutrition.