Almanack número14

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Almanack. Guarulhos, n.14, p.91- 117 dossiê scales of global history

The Two Tales of Forced Labour:

Kat orga

and Ref ormed Prison in Imperial

Russia (1 8 7 9 - 1 9 0 5 )

DOI: ht t p://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236- 463320161406

Zhanna Popova

Int ernat ional Inst it ut e of Social Hist ory, Amst erdam, Net herlands zhannapop@ gmail.com

Abst ract : This art icle explores t he advance of t he prison reform in t he Russian Empire.

It examines t he government al depart ment t hat was t he driver of t his reform, t he M ain

Prison Administ rat ion, and focuses on it s policy in t he domain of t he forced labour of

prisoners. Two t ypes of forced labour are of part icular int erest here. One is t he

t radit ional hard penal labour, or kat orga, and t he ot her is t he obligat ory labour for t he prisoners serving short er t erms. I out line here how t his second t ype of labour came t o

play t he decisive role in the discourse on punishment in t he lat e imperial period, what

kind of concept ions support ed it , and how it was implement ed t hroughout t he empire.

Keywords: penal reform, prisons, convict labour, global hist ory

I. Int roduct ion

The penal reform has already been ident ified in t he lit erat ure as a global

phenomenon1_{. However, over long t ime t he research of penal regimes has been}

focusing on very specific geographical cont ext s, generally West ern or Nort hern

European ones2_{, and t he global charact er of t he prison reform had largely been}

1_{DIKÖTTER, Frank. The Promise of Repent ance: Prison Reform in M odern China.}

The Brit ish Journal of Criminology, vol. 42. no.2, spring 2002, p. 240.

2_{Some examples of such research are FOUCAULT, M ichel.}

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neglect ed in t he scholarship unt il t he beginning of t he 2000s. In his programmat ic

art icle on prisons in modern China, Frank Diköt t er suggest ed t hat t he unfolding of t his

reform was not a mere disseminat ion of pract ices and knowledge from t he t o

ot her count ries, but a creat ive process of circulat ion, incult urat ion and mut ual

influence3_{. In t his art icle, I seek t o cont ribut e t o the scholarship of t he global penal}

reform by examining t he Russian case4_.

The hist ory of Imperial punishment s has largely been overshadowed by t he

hist ory of t he far bigger inst it ut ions t hat came lat er: t he Soviet labour camps.

However, t hese lat er development s cannot be fully underst ood wit hout t he st udy of

t he early at t empt s t o modernize t he penal syst em. Some of t he ideas and pract ices first

art iculat ed and probed by t he Imperial prison officials were lat er appropriat ed by t he

Gulag officials. Daniel Beer examined a similar seemingly improbable inherit ance by

focusing on t he human sciences (namely, criminology, psychology and psychiat ry) in

Russia at t he t urn of t he cent uries: as he argues, own concept ion of

societ al renovat ion (and t he nat ure of t he forces impeding it ), was heavily indebt ed t o

visions of reform and progress art iculat ed by liberal elit es in t he f in- de- siècle 5. Here I do not examine t he quest ions of cont inuit y in det ail, but analyze t he main t rait s of

development of t he Imperial penal syst em in t he last decades of t he ninet eent h

cent ury.

Some of t hese t ransformat ions have already been approached in t he lit erat ure6_.

Scholars st udied t he reforms, namely t he reform of corporal punishment of 18637_and

t he prison reform of 1879, t hrough t he analysis of t he discussions among t he highest

-ranking officials. The book by Bruce Adams, for inst ance, is a painst aking

London: M acmillan, 1978; SPIERENBURG, Piet er. The Prison Experience: Disciplinary Inst it ut ions and t heir Inmat es in Early M odern Europe. New Brunswick, London: Rut gers Universit y Press, 1991.

3_DIKÖTTER.

Op. Cit ., p. 240- 241.

4_{The Int ernat ional Prison Congresses of t he second half of t he ninet eent h cent ury provide anot her case}

for t he st udy of t he global circulat ion of t he penological knowledge. It is but one of t he possible approaches; in t he present work I seek t o examine how informat ion on prisons w as collect ed and used on t he count ry level, in order t o be able t o draw comparisons in t he fut ure research.

5_{BEER, Daniel.}

Renovat ing Russia: t he Human Sciences and t he Fat e of Liberal M odernit y, 1880- 1930. It haca: Cornell Universit y Press, 2008, p. 206.

6_{SCHRADER, Abby M .}_{Languages of t he Lash}_{: Corporal Punishment and Ident it y in Imperial Russia.}

Dekalb, Illinois: Nort hern Illinois Universit y Press, 2002; and ADAM S, Bruce F. The Polit ics of Punishment: Prison Reform in Russia, 1863- 1917. DeKalb, Illinois: Nort hern Illinois Universit y Press, 1996.

7_{Abby Schrader connect ed t he penal pract ices t o t he wider polit ical and social cont ext of t he Russian}

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reconst ruct ion of t he t ensions bet ween t he M inist ry of Int erior and t he M inist ry of

Just ice surrounding t he est ablishment of t he cent ralized penal syst em. Such research

provides a det ailed overview of t he decisions t hat shaped t he legal form of t he penal

syst em, and it const it ut es t he base which allows me t o approach t he administ rat ors of

lower levels and t he expert s who produced knowledge about prisons in t he Russian

Empire. Decisions of minist ers were crucial, but t hey were generally based upon

long-running work of t he officials and administ rat ors of mult iple depart ment s, commissions,

and subdivisions. This work was much less visible, but pivot al for t he shape of t he

reform. Hence t he import ance of adopt ing a perspect ive t hat would not be limit ed t o

t he st udy of t he final legal decisions and t he polit ical rivalry bet ween t he M inist ries.

In t his art icle going t o approach t he reform t hrough a st udy of t he main

administ rat ive innovat ion it produced: t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion (Glavnoe

Tiuremnoe Upravlenie, GTU). Three part s seek t o explain how t he reform t ook shape and what long- running impact it had, wit h a part icular focus on t he development s in t he

domain of t he forced labour of convict s. First , I will discuss punishment s before t he

reform and out line t he legislat ive and administ rat ive act ions t hat const it ut ed t he

reform. Second, I will propose a close- up look at one of t he heads of t he reform and

t he longest - running head of t he GTU (1879- 1895), M ikhail Galkin- Vraskoi8_{. St udying}

his t raject ory will allow t o underst and t he int ricat e mechanics of t he preparat ion of

t he reform: as he was one of t he drivers behind it , t racing his act ions somet imes allows

pinpoint ing precise moment s of innovat ion. The t hird part is dedicat ed t o unveiling t he

collect ive work of knowledge product ion about t he Imperial penal syst em and t he

convict labour. Swit ching bet ween t hese different unit s of analysis would allow a more

balanced view of t he changes of t he convict labour from 1879 t o 1905.

II. Landscape of Russian Punishment s Bef ore t he Ref orm

The defeat of t he Russian Empire in t he Crimean War is considered t o be t he

moment t hat made t he government realize t he necessit y of profound reforms9_{. The}

8_{His surname has several possible spellings. Before 1885, he would sign t he document s as}

and aft er t hat unt il his deat h as in- As he himself, as well as t he cont emporary secondary sources, favoured t he lat t er spelling, I follow t hem in t his.

9_{ZAKHAROVA, Larisa.}

The reign of Alexander II: a wat ershed? In: LIEVEN, Dominic (org.) Cambridge

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most famous and most t ransformat ive of t hem was t he abolit ion of serfdom in 1861,

but t he financial reform (1863), t he reforms of higher (1863) and middle (1871)

educat ion, t he judicial reform and t he reform of local governance (bot h from 1864)

had as well changed t he polit ical and social landscape of t he Russian Empire. The

prison reform is not t radit ionally considered t o be a part of t hese 10_{: in}

t he short - t erm perspect ive, it was far less t ransformat ive t han any of the

above-ment ioned. The legislat ive act s t hat shaped t his reform and defined t he direct ion of

development of t he penal syst em in t he decades t o come were finished only in 1879.

This was t he law t hat creat ed t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion, and t he project of legal

t ransformat ion t hat was used as a foundat ion for a new Criminal Code t hat finally

would become effect ive in 1903. However, t his reform was in preparat ion for almost a

decade. During t he early 1870s, t wo commit t ees were organized in order t o elaborat e

it s early blueprint s. Right from t he st art , t he prison reform was a ground of

cooperat ion and rivalry bet ween t he M inist ry of Int erior and t he M inist ry of Just ice.

The commit t ee organized by t he lat t er was preoccupied wit h t he legal part of t he penal

reform; simult aneously, a special commit t ee headed by Count Sollogub creat ed a

project for t he prison administ rat ion improvement s. This project suggest ed t he

int roduct ion of t he solit ary confinement11_{, t he obligat ory convict labour, and religious}

educat ion for t he convict s, as well as t he const ruct ion of several new, modern prison

buildings12_{. During t he same t ime some pract ical changes have already been made: in}

an at t empt t o alleviat e t he rampant prison overpopulat ion, seven milit ary buildings

were refurbished as civil prisons13_.

Finally, t he special commission of Konst ant in Grot , organized in 1877, worked

t o incorporat e t he proposit ions of t he previous commissions and map out a plan for

organizat ion of t he prison affairs (t iuremnoe delo) along more rat ional

14_{. These works result ed in creat ion of a law ent it led} _{t he main principles}

t o be observed during t he reform of t he prison affairs and during t he revision of t he

10_{EKLOF, Ben; BUSHNELL, John; ZAKHAROVA, Larisa Georgievna (org.).}

Russia's Great Ref orms, 1855-1881. Bloomingt on and Indianapolis: Indiana Universit y Press, 1994.

11_{Some of t he suggest ions and t he int roduct ion of t he solit ary confinement for all prisoners in part icular}

have never been realized.

12

Tiuremnoe preobrazovanie, vol. 1. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1905, p. 6- 7.

13

Tiuremnoe preobrazovanie, vol. 1. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1905, p. 5.

14

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Criminal It was passed on 19 December 1879, and t hus t he M ain Prison

Administ rat ion was creat ed.

From t he very beginning t he officials were not overly opt imist ic about t he

dept h and t he pace of t his reform: as it is st at ed in t he overview of t he first t en years

of t he GTU s act ivit y, government has resolut ely abandoned t he idea of realizing

t his reform inst ant ly and on a full 15_{. The t rade- off bet ween t he desire of reform}

and t he lack of means (bot h financial and administ rat ive) t o realize it has been

achieved t hrough t he decision t o st art t he reform wit h execut ive measures, namely t he

organizat ion of t he GTU16_.

Abolit ion of serfdom was one of t he event s t hat made t he officials realize t he

pressing necessit y of a prison reform. It creat ed a new wave of inmat es: as serfs, t he

peasant s were subject t o t he will of t heir landlord (pomeschik), who could punish t hem

wit hout being account able t o t he st at e. Aft er abolit ion of serfdom, however, t he freed

peasant s came under t he jurisdict ion of t he st at e and t herefore were supposed t o serve

t he punishment in t he st at e- sponsored prisons. The exist ing prison syst em was

decent ralized and fragment ed, many prison buildings were ext remely run- down, living

condit ions of t he prisoners were ext remely poor, and overpopulat ion was crit ical.

Anot her event t hat cont ribut ed t o t he crisis of t he prison syst em was the

reform of t he corporal punishment . Prior t o 1863, corporal punishment , along wit h t he

exile, was t he predominant t ype of punishment in t he Russian Empire. Despit e t he fact

t hat Empress Elizavet a Pet rovna suspended t he deat h penalt y for common criminals in

1754, t hus legally making kat orga17_{t he gravest punishment , t he officials admit t ed}

lat er t hat punishment by knout18_{const it ut ed a qualified deat h penalt y}19_{. Knout was}

abolished by Nicholas I in 1845, and even more change has been brought by t he reform

of 1863. This reform did not complet ely abolish corporal punishment , but it s use was

significant ly curbed. Lash (plet) was abolished as a separat e punishment and as a part

15_{Obzor desiat ilet nei deiiat elnost i Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia, 1879- 1889. Saint - Pet ersburg,}

1889, p. 1.

16_{Tiuremnoe preobrazovanie, vol. 1. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1905, p. 8.} 17

Kat orga w as a complex punishment combining hard physical labour and exile (and, prior t o 1863, corporal punishment ). It could be administ ered for t erms from 4 t o 25 years, followed by exile. I will t alk more about it in t he final part of t he art icle.

18

Knout is a t ype of heavy whip, somewhat similar t o scourge; it could have many variet ies, some of which had wires and ot her met al part s.

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of punishment for t hose sent enced t o kat orga and exile, but it was st ill used as a disciplinary punishment for t hose who were already serving t heir kat orga and exile

t erms. In ot her words, for t he wrongdoings t hat convict s would have commit t ed while

serving t heir t erm, t hey could be punished by up t o 100 hit s of lash. In t he same way,

birching was abolished as a part of punishment f or t hose sent enced t o prison, but it

was st ill used against t he male exiled and t he kat orzhnye up unt il February 191720. From early on, preserving t he corporal punishment of t he exiles and kat orzhnye was

argued for wit h t he t he fact t hat , according t o t he head of t he Second Sect ion of his

Imperial M ajest y s Own Chancery Count D.N. Bludov, exiles are already civilly

dead [and t hat ] means t hat corporal punishment is pract ically t he only means by which

t he just ice syst em can penalize t hose who commit t ed furt her offences while in

21_{. The severest t ypes of t he corporal punishment for t he convict s (lash, st icks and}

running t he gaunt let ) were only abolished on 3 June 190322_{. Polit ical prisoners were}

generally exempt from corporal punishment s unt il 1888. George Kennan remarked t hat

t his exempt ion from lashing and birching was not regulat ed by any legal act s, but

rat her by t he social norms: in t he last decades of t he ninet eent h cent ury t he majorit y

of polit ical prisoners were noble, and t he prison doct ors have allegedly rout inely

exempt ed t hem from punishment by at t est ing t hat t he prisoners were not in good

enough healt h condit ion t o survive t he beat ing23_.

Apart from t he corporal punishment , t he Imperial penal syst em heavily relied

on exile: it was not only a criminal punishment for more serious wrongdoings, but also

an administ rat ive measure t hat could allow t he landlords and t he urban and rural

communit ies t o expel t he For most hist ory of t he Russian Empire, exile

preceded incarcerat ion in t he role of t he dominant penal pract ice; it implied a different

organizat ional st ruct ure of punishment and also dist inct ive underlying ideas t hat

largely relied upon t he imperat ive of colonizat ion. Even wit h t he growing import ance

of imprisonment , exile was far from disappearing.

20_{ISAEV, M aksim.}

Osnovy penit ent siarnoi polit iki. M oscow: Gosizdat , 1926, p. 87.

21_{SCHRADER, Abby M .}

The Languages of t he Lash: t he Russian Aut ocracy and t he Reform of Corporal Punishment , 1817- 1893. PhD. dissert at ion. Universit y of Pennsylvania, 1996, p. 211.

22_{RGIA, f.1151, op.15, d. 196, l. 2.} 23_{KENNAN, George.}

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Prior t o creat ion of t he GTU, some of t he civil prisons were supervised by t he

Russian Prison Aid Society (Popechit elnoe Obschest vo o t iurmakh, or POoT). It was a

charit able associat ion of gent ry founded in 1819 in Saint - Pet ersburg. This associat ion

soon opened up local commit t ees in ot her import ant cit ies of t he empire, generally

put t ing a st rong emphasis on t he religious educat ion of prisoners. It s members

ot herwise rarely sought t o improve t he physical and social condit ion of prisoners, apart

from several except ionally act ive philant hropist s24_{. Wit h t ime, t he POoT was complet ely}

overt aken by apat hy and did not undert ake any at t empt s t o make changes t o t he

prison syst em25_{, and when t he M inist ry of int ernal affairs st art ed t o t ake act ion against}

t he deplorable condit ion of Imperial prisons, t he minist er did not t urn t o t he POoT, but

addressed t he own Depart ment of Execut ive Police26_{inst ead.}

Unlike t he POoT, t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion proclaimed t hat it would

organize t he places of confinement along t he principles, and t he

int roduct ion of t he obligat ory labour of prisoners was a cornerst one of t hese

t ransformat ions27_{. These principles were embodied in t he} _{pract ice t hat included}

research int o t he prison and exile condit ion in t he Empire28_{, cont inuous collect ion of}

uniform st at ist ical informat ion from t he regional prisons29_{, st andardizat ion of t he}

everyday life in prison aimed bot h at prevent ion of escapes and t he improvement of

prisoners condit ion30_{, part icipat ion in t he Int ernat ional prison congresses and}

disseminat ion of t heoret ical knowledge about prisons (t hat would, event ually, facilit at e

t he professionalizat ion of t he prison wardens). This innovat ive, and

approach is st ressed in major GTU publicat ions31_{. By incorporat ing}

int ernat ional research in (t iurmovedenie), exploring t he st at e of t he local

24_{ADAM S.}_{Op. Cit}_{., p. 40- 41.}

25_{KRAINSKII, Dmit rii.}_{M at erialy k issledovaniiu ist orii russkikh t iurem v sviazi s ist oriei uchrezhdeniia} Obschest va popechit elnogo o t iurmakh. Chernigov, 1912, p. 85- 86.

26_{ADAM S.}_{Op. Cit}_{., p. 45.}

27_{KRASOVSKY, M .}_{O zaniat ii arest ant ov rabot ami v russkikh t iurmakh}_{. Tiuremnii vest nik, 1897, no. 11, p.}

514.

28

Tiuremnii vest nik, 1914, no.2, p. 300.

29_{These were published in t he annual report s of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion (}

Ot chet y Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia).

30_{This happened t hrough t he implement at ion of t he circulars of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion, lat er}

published in a t wo- volume collect ion: Sbornik t sirkuliarov po Glavnomu t iuremnomu upravleniiu v 1879-1910. Saint - Pet ersburg: Glavnoe t iuremnoe upravlenie, 1911.

31_{This is most salient in t he report of t he first t en years of t he} _{act ivit y:}

Obzor desiat ilet nei deiiat elnost i Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia, 1879- 1889. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1889, but it is also visible

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prisons, and quant ifying the mat erial aspect s of imprisonment , t he officials of t he GTU

sought t o creat e new, experience- based knowledge of t he imperial prisons. The

aspirat ions t o improve t he st at e of prisons t hrough bet t er knowing t he prison condit ion

in pract ice somet imes t ranslat ed int o t he measures t hat were palliat ive rat her t han

t ransformat ive. For example, one of t he major issues for t he GTU in t he early 1880s

was t he organizat ion of t he manufact uring of t he prison uniforms. Precise pat t erns

were sent out t o t he prison officials, and every imaginable aspect of t hese uniforms

was described in lengt hy inst ruct ions. In ot her words, t he GTU officials were somet imes

concent rat ing on t he issues t hat could be t ackled t hrough measurement s and

prescript ion.

The GTU officials faced t he challenge of creat ing a modern prison which would

at t he same t ime fit accordingly in t he Russian cont ext . According t o t hem, t his

cont ext was chiefly defined by t he lack of financial support of prisons and t he absence

of t he coherent legislat ion and t he cent ral administ rat ive body, and right from 1879

t hese officials embarked on a journey t o t ackle t hese issues. Employees t he M ain Prison

Administ rat ion rarely hesit at ed t o underline in t heir report s t hat most of t he problems

of Russian prisons were engendered by a consist ent lack of funds. Before 1879, t he

local governors were supposed t o manage t he prisons and t o solicit financial help from

t he M inist ry of Finance; bet ween 1875 and 1879, t hey received on average just half of

t he sum t hey asked for for t he prison maint enance. In 1879 t he lack of money was

part icularly salient : t he est imat e of t he expenses was 737 000 roubles, while only t he

amount of 177 505 roubles was allocat ed32_.

However, financial deficit const it ut ed just a fract ion of t he obst acles t hat

t hwart ed t he advance of t he reform. The t ruly defining feat ures of t he Russian cont ext

of t hat t ime seem t o have been far beyond t he range of act ion of t he GTU: t he

exist ence of t he syst em of exile and, and on t he bigger scale, t he pract ices of

governance t hat made it possible; t he exist ence of t he t wo separat ed of

punishment for t he nobilit y and everyone else and, more broadly, t he profound social

inequalit y bet ween t he elit e and t he rest of t he populat ion; t he logist ical dif ficult ies of

t he organizat ion of prisons, namely t he lack of t he well- t rained officials.

32

Obzor desiat ilet nei deiiat elnost i Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia, 1879- 1889. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1889,

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III. Prof ile of an Of f icial: M ikhail Galkin- Vraskoi

The reform of 1879, as I already ment ioned, opt ed for a new organizat ion of

prison management rat her t han an immediat e t ransformat ion of prison condit ion. This

was why t he reform t ook shape over t he course of several decades, and t his shape was

largely defined by t he execut ives of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion, and most not ably

M ikhail Galkin- Vraskoi (1832- 1916), who became it s first , and longest - serving,

direct or. This part explores t he connect ions bet w een t he shape of t he prison reform

and t he administ rat ive pract ices of t he lat e Imperial period. Administ rat ive career of

M ikhail Galkin- Vraskoi allows t o t race t he emergence of some of t he new pract ices of

prison management .

The knowledge- based approach t o prison governance was crucial for t he

t ransformat ion of t he penal syst em in t he last decades of t he ninet eent h cent ury. It

allowed t o reinforce cont rol over t he prisoners, and event ually t o improve t heir

condit ion. This desire t o solve government al problems wit h t he help of t he new,

science- based principles germinat ed wit hin a limit ed group of

administ rat ors and was proper t o ot her official out side of t he GTU as well. Such

approach, combined wit h independent sense of ident it y and 33_,

charact erized such Imperial administ rat ive inst it ut ions as t he Financial M inist ry34_and

t he M ain administ rat ion of land management and agricult ure35_{. Alfred Rieber}

suggest ed t hat t hese Imperial officials reached an unprecedent ed degree of cohesion in

t heir act ions: here is t he same sense of moral ident it y as expert s, t he same

dedicat ion t o int roducing science or special knowledge int o life, t he same corporat e

pride in achievement and mast ery of 36_.

It is not possible t o est imat e t o which degree t his knowledge- based approach

t o t he prison management was implement ed in t he prisons t hroughout t he Empire; t he

t radit ional penal concept ions and pract ices st ill lingered powerfully, and aft er t he

revolut ion of 1905 t he desire of cent ral aut horit ies t o inst rument alise penal syst em as

33_{HOLQUIST, Pet er. In Accord wit h St at e Int erest s and t he} _{Wishes: The Technocrat ic Ideology of}

Imperial Reset t lement Administ rat ion. Slavic Review, 69, no. 1. spring 2010, p. 152.

34_{RIEBER, Alfred. Bureaucrat ic Polit ics in Imperial Russia.}_{Social Science Hist ory}_{, 2, no. 4, p. 399- 413,}

Summer 1978.

35_{HOLQUIST, op.cit .} 36_{RIEBER, Alfred.}

Pat ronage and Prof essionalism: The Wit t e Syst em. In: ANANICH, B. V. Problemy vsemirnoi ist orii: Sbornik st at ei v chest Aleksandra Aleksandrovicha Fursenko. Saint - Pet ersburg, 2000, p.

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a t ool against polit ical dissent prevailed over administ rat ive considerat ions.

Nevert heless, over t he course of t hree decades t he knowledge- based approach t o

prisons has profoundly t ransformed t he pract ices of incarcerat ion in t he Russian

Empire.

Cert ain managerial and concept ual innovat ions t hat were lat er incorporat ed in

t he prison reform can be t raced back t o t he precise moment s of experiment at ion. One

of t he officials whose act ivit y has been marked by such experiment at ion was M ikhail

Galkin- Vraskoi. Galkin- Vraskoi did not at t ract as much at t ent ion as ot her prominent

officials of t he Lat e Imperial polit ics37_{, but his polit ical t raject ory shows t hat he was}

firmly embedded wit hin t he polit ical elit e and was able t o build a career t hat spanned

over several decades and apexed in obt aining a seat in t he St at e Council in 1896.

M oreover, his judgment was pivot al for t he prison reform: having become t he first

head of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion in 1879, he remained in t his posit ion for

sevent een format ive years. Pet er Kropot kin, one of t he most at t ent ive observers of

Russian prison sit uat ion, not ed in 1890 t hat has been cent ralized in M

(sic) own 38_.

Galkin- Vraskoi was a t ypical represent at ive of t he lat e Imperial government al

elit e in t wo import ant ways: first , he belonged t o nobilit y, and second, his t raject ory

demonst rat es t he at t empt s t o develop t he rat ional bureaucrat ic governance. In t he last

decades of t he ninet eent h cent ury t he core group of Imperial government most ly

consist ed of career civil servant s: few key figures in government were milit ary or

naval officers, or even indeed professors and 39_{. M ikhail}

Galkin-career as a civil servant st art ed in t he diplomat ic service, and he spent several years in

Cent ral Asia. During t his work, he also collect ed et hnographic informat ion about t he

Turkmen people, and published an art icle about t hem upon ret urn t o M oscow40_{. As a}

member of t he Russian Geographic Societ y, he part icipat ed in t he product ion of

imperial knowledge about t he borderlands; during his t wo- year- long st ay in West ern

37_{To t he dat e, t he only monograph on t he life of Galkin- Vraskoi and his role as t he head of t he GTU w as}

published by a Russian hist orian S. Zubov in 2007: ZUBOV, Serguei. M .N. Galkin- Vraskoi nachalnik Glavnogo Tiuremnogo upravleniia Rossiiskoi Imperii (1879- 1896 gg.). Sarat ov, 2007.

38_{KROPOTKIN, Pet er. Russian Prisons in an Official Report ,}

The Times, 1890, June 6.

39_{LIEVEN, Dominic.}

Russia s Rulers Under t he Old Regime. New Haven and London: Yale Universit y Press, 1990, p. 121.

40_{GALKIN, M ikhail.}

Et nograf icheskie mat erialy po Srednei Azii i Orenburgskomu kraiu. Saint - Pet ersburg,

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Europe, he demonst rat ed a similarly invest igat ive approach of informat ion collect ion

and syst emat izat ion t owards a new subject : t he prisons. Upon ret urn t o Russia, he

published t he first Russian- language research on t he cont emporaneous West ern

European prisons, describing t he condit ion of prisons in Swit zerland, Belgium, and

France41_{. He visit ed, among ot hers, t he famous M et t ray penal colony. His int erest in}

prisons did not remain purely t heoret ical: upon ret urn from Europe in 1864,

Galkin-Vraskoi st art ed t o part icipat e in t he act ivit y of t he POoT in Saint - Pet ersburg already in

1865. By t he end of 1867, he became t he warden of t he experiment al Saint - Pet ersburg

prison. This experiment al prison had a t win inst it ut ion in M oscow, t he correct ive

workhouse headed by count Sollogub, who several years aft er t hat would chair t he

commission for t he preparat ion of t he prison reform. The Saint - Pet ersburg prison was

organized exclusively for t he prisoners serving t he t erms of up t o one year42_{. This prison}

served as a laborat ory of t he penological innovat ion: it was t he first inst it ut ion in t he

Russian Empire where night - t ime separat ion and remunerat ed labour for common

prisoners (out side of t he workhouses) were int roduced. Indeed, already in 1868

Galkin-Vraskoi out lined what seems t o have remained t he mission of t he GTU in t he next

decades: leaving t he prisons ret urned t o t he societ y eit her being complet ely

sick and t herefore incapable of performing any labour, or having become even more

corrupt and criminal t han t hey were before t heir incarcerat ion: prison became for t hem

eit her a physical infect ion [zaraza] or an ult imat e school of crime of all 43. This quot e marks t he t wo main challenges t hat t he officials of t he GTU sought t o t ackle: on

t he one hand, t hey faced a pressing need t o improve t he physical condit ion of t he

prisoners, and on t he ot her, prevent t he recidivism by t he prisoners.

The Saint - Pet ersburg prison was lauded by t he higher officials and generally

considered a successful experiment of implement at ion of obligat ory labour in prisons44_.

However, it st art ed t o decay as soon as Galkin- Vraskoi left it : aft er six mont hs of

service as a prison warden, he was appoint ed t he governor of Est land and spent almost

t wo years t here. However, t he verit able long- running experiment at ion st art ed when he

became t he governor of Sarat ov region 1870. There he not only experiment ed wit h t he

M at erialy k izucheniiu t iuremnogo voprosa. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1868.

Ibidem, p. 167.

Ibidem, p. 7- 8.

44_{ZUBOV, Serguei.}

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prison condit ions, but also raised money for t he organizat ion of an

-correct ive (uchebno- ispravit elnii dom), which was opened in 187345. It was a penal colony for t he juvenile offenders, and it s shape was cert ainly inspired by t he

M et t ray colony. In Sarat ov, however, bot h boys and girls were det ained; t hey were t o

perform not only t he agricult ural, but also art isanal work. The t ype of labour t hey had

t o perform was gender- specific: t he boys were t o be t aught t he t rades of shoemaking,

carpent ry or locksmit hing, and t he girls were t o st udy knit t ing, sewing and performing

household chores. This colony was not t he first one in Empire, but for Galkin- Vraskoi it

was t he first immediat e opport unit y t o supervise over an ext ended period of t ime t he

disciplining effect s of labour over t he inmat es. The same disciplining measures would

be used for t he adult det ainees: under Galkin- governance, t he Sarat ov prison

became t he second place in t he Russian Empire where prisoners would receive payment

for t he labour t hey performed, t he first one being t he Saint - Pet ersburg experiment al

prison he headed in 1867- 68.

Indeed, t he remunerat ion of convict labour marks t he rupt ure wit h t he ot her

t ype of forced convict labour, t he kat orga. It reflect s t he ideal of rehabilit at ion of convict s t hrough labour and t he compelling ideal of t he indust rial wage labour:

performing labour and receiving remunerat ion for it , according t o t he GTU officials, not

only disciplined t he prisoners wit hin t he prison walls, but also facilit at ed an easier

re-int egrat ion re-int o societ y aft er t he release.

Galkin- Vraskoi, however, was not concent rat ed uniquely on t he implement at ion

of obligat ory reformat ory labour for t he prisoners serving short er t erms. Perhaps t he

most well- known penal project t hat he promot ed during his t erm as t he head of t he

M ain Prison Administ rat ion was t he est ablishment of penal colony on Sakhalin.

Sakhalin, t he east ernmost island of t he Russian Empire, became a penal colony in

1869. This hard labour colony - kat orga - exist ed unt il t he 1905 Russo- Japanese war, when t he convict s were evacuat ed and dist ribut ed in various locat ions in Siberia.

Wit hout seeking t o reform t he kat orga as penal inst it ut ion in general, officials founded t he Sakhalin colony bot h as a place of punishment and as an inst rument of

colonizat ion by t he means of populat ing it wit h t he convict s serving long t erms and

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sent enced t o life- long exile46_{. The overlap of t hese t wo goals produced a peculiar}

kat orga sit e: penal colonies on Sakhalin it self were t o be more t han simply places of labor, but were designed t o funct ion as reformat ories, exert ing social cont rol over

convict s and molding t hem int o law- abiding 47_{. However, in cont rast wit h t he}

project of reformat ory labour of prisoners serving short er t erms, penal colonizat ion of

Sakhalin proved t o be a failure48_{, largely due t o t he fact t hat it was conceived as an}

agricult ural colony, while t he yield of t he agricult ural works was doomed t o be

ext remely meager due t o climat ic condit ions. Even t he GTU admit t ed in it s 1899 report

t hat climat e cannot be considered fully suit able for farming and favorable

for development and prosperit y of an agricult ural 49_{. However, even in 1894,}

one of t he last years of his service as t he head of t he GTU, Galkin- Vraskoi was st ill

posit ive about t his experiment . He t raveled t o Sakhalin and inspect ed t he colony, but

few at t empt s t o look beyond what he was 50_{and in his report he st at ed}

t hat t he colony needed some minor adjust ment s and furt her funding51_{; indeed, he}

remained support ive of this project even as t he successive head of t he GTU st art ed t o

harshly crit icize t he colony52_.

This brief out line of t he t raject ory of t he most prominent Imperial prison

execut ive allows me t o make t wo crucial observat ions concerning t he development of

t he prison administ rat ion in t he last decades of t he ninet eent h cent ury.

First , Galkin- t raject ory demonst rat es nascent professionalizat ion of

t he prison administ rat ion: cont inuous field research on various penal inst it ut ions

t oget her wit h t he hands- on experiment al approach t o management would bot h

46_{Polnoe sobranie zakonov rossiiskoi imperii}_{, series II, vol. 44 (1869), no. 46984, p. 330 333.}

47_{CORRADO, Sharyl M .}_The _{of t he} _{: Sakhalin Island in t he Russian Imperial Imaginat ion,}

1849- 1906. PhD. dissert at ion, Universit y of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 2010, p.9.

48_{M ost well- known cont emporary crit ic of penal colony on Sakhalin w as, of course, Ant on Chekhov:}

CHEKHOV, Ant on. Sakhalin Island. London: Oneworld Classics, 2007 (First published in Russian in 1895),

but in t he end of t he ninet eent h cent ury several report s w ere published crit icising Sakhalin, including one by jurist Dmit rii Dril: DRIL, Dmit rii. Ssylka vo Frant sii i v Rossii: iz lichnykh nabliudenii vo vremia poezdki v Novuiu Kaledoniiu, na o. Sakhalin, v Priamurskii krai i Sibir. Saint - Pet ersburg: L. F. Panet ella, 1899. One of Galkin- successors on t he post of t he head of t he GTU, Alexandr Salomon, w as equally crit ical of t his experiment : SALOM ON, Alexandr Pet rovich. O. Sakhalin (Iz ot chet a byvshego nachal nika glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia A.P. Salomona). Tiuremnyi vest nik, 1901, №1, p. 20- 53.

49

Ot chet po Glavnomu t iuremnomu upravleniiu za 1899 god. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1901, p. 105.

50_{CORRADO, Sharyl.}

Op. Cit., p. 117.

51_{GALKIN- VRASKOI, M ikhail.}

Ost rov Sakhalin. Neobkhodimye i zhelat elnye meropriiat iia. Zapiska byvshego nachalnika Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia Deist vit elnogo t ainogo sovet nika Galkina-Vraskogo po obozreniiu ost rova Sakhalina v 1894 godu. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1899.

52_{SALOM ON, Alexandr Pet rovich.}

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become t he bedrock of t he act ivit y. In his research on t he members of t he St at e

Council Dominic Lieven53_{underscored t he import ance of educat ion and hands- on}

experience of management for t he high- ranking Imperial officials. M oreover, in an

explorat ion of t he ensemble of t he general- governors in t he last years of Russian

Empire, Richard G. Robbins observed t hat t here exist ed signs point t o growing

skill and a real, albeit limit ed, professionalizat ion 54 _{. The degree of t his}

professionalizat ion and t he overall proficiency of t he lat e Imperial bureaucrat s,

however, are st ill t o be explored on a bigger scale, as collect ive biographies of t he high

officials st ill provide insight s t hat concern only a very rest rict ive group of officials. It

seems t hat t he observat ions of Lieven and Robbins complement rat her t han cont radict

t he earlier suggest ion of M arc Raeff about Russia s of a homogeneous, effect ive,

and powerful 55_.

Second, t he st ory of organizat ion of t he penal colony on t he island of Sakhalin exposes

t he inherent problems of cent ralizat ion and concent rat ion of power t ypical for t he

imperial bureaucracy: namely, t he problems of informat ion circulat ion, and t he fact

t hat all possibilit ies t o check Galkin- power were reserved t o the

higher-ranking officials.

IV. The New Concept ions of Convict Labour

Unt il t he last decades of t he ninet eent h cent ury t he labour of convict s was

conceived first and foremost as punishment , t herefore implying hard physical labour as

it s primary form. The penal regime t hat was shaped by t his idea was t he kat orga:

originat ing as a way t o use t he convict labour for t he st at e shipbuilding sit es in t he

early eight eent h cent ury56_{, it has developed over several decades t o become t he}

harshest punishment for t he common criminals in t he Russian Empire. Prior t o 1845

t he kat orzhnye were branded, t hat is, physically st igmat ized for life, but even aft er t he abolit ion of branding kat orga would leave irreversible t races on t he bodies and mind of

53_{LIEVEN, Dominic.}

Russia s Rulers Under t he Old Regime. New Haven and London: Yale Universit y Press, 1990.

54_{ROBBINS, Richard G., Jr.}

The Tsar Viceroys. It haca and London: Cornell Universit y Press, 1987, p.

240-241.

55_{RAEFF, M arc.}

The Russian Aut ocracy and It s Of f icials. In: M CLEAN, Hugh et al. (org.). Russian Thought and Polit ics. Cambridge: Harvard Universit y Press, 1957, p.78.

56_{M ARGOLIS, Aleksandr.}

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t he convict s, leaving t hem exhaust ed and broken57_{. The idea of} _{kat orga}_implied

ext remely hard physical labour, frequent ly under dangerous condit ions (such as work in

t he lead or silver mines), wit hout any remunerat ion, combined wit h being locked in

shackles. The work of convict s as it was conceived by t he GTU, however, had a

complet ely different idea of punishment in it s foundat ion and ent ailed a very different

set of pract ices. The process of knowledge product ion about t his new t ype of labour is

t he focus of t his part .

The shift of t he modalit ies of convict labour in the Russian Empire occurred

during t he last t hird of t he ninet eent h cent ury. Over t his t ime, and up unt il t he end of

t he empire, t he obligat ory prison labour t hat debut ed in t he

experiment al prisons in t he capit als st art ed t o acquire growing significance in t he

regions as well. This labour was int ended t o become an int egral part of imprisonment ,

and, unlike t he primarily punit ive kat orga labour, it was concept ualized as a science-

and pract ice- based way of reforming t he convicts which at t he same t ime would

enable deriving derive profit from t heir work58_{. The M ain Prison Administ rat ion}

cont inuously advanced t his t ype of labour, and it is necessary t o look at it in det ail not

only because of it s cont emporary import ance, but also because some of it s element s

bear resemblance wit h cert ain pract ices of forced labour in t he Soviet labour camps.

This resemblance is most visible on t he organizat ional level: int roduct ion of

remunerat ion (however meager), t he daily norms of work t o fulfill (in t he form of uroki)

and t he preoccupat ion wit h product ion were all first int roduced during t his t ime.

Unarguably, t hese pract ices were cont inuously t ransformed, and t ook a much more

violent t wist during t he Soviet t imes, but it is nevert heless crucial for a hist orical st udy

t o acknowledge t heir origin and account for t heir gradual const it ut ion. M oreover, very

much like t he Soviet officials several decades lat er, t he GTU officials of t he t urn of t he

cent ury would also make a st rong connect ion bet ween t he universal (convict ) labour

and t he benefit of t he societ y at large: a correct ly organized societ y not a single

57_{BADCOCK, Sarah. From villains t o vict ims: experiencing illness in Siberian exile.}_{Europe- Asia St udies}_{, n.}

65 (9), p. 1716- 1736, 2013.

58_{GARF (St at e Archive of t he Russian Federat ion, M oscow), f.122 op. 7 d. 215 l.77 (1886) and t he}

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healt hy and able- bodied member should count on t he privilege of being exonerat ed

from t he labour t hat is obligat ory for 59_.

The obligat ory convict labour could t ake various forms, and none of t hem ever

became fully dominant t hroughout t he whole Empire; in t he beginning, t he ext ramural

works were favored, as t hey were supposed t o be beneficial for t he convict s healt h60_.

However, t his t ype of work required ext ra guards and oft en facilit at ed t he escapes.

Some of t he first act ions of t he GTU sought t o fight t he escapes by increasing t he

number of guards and improving t heir working condit ions61_.

An at t ent ive reading of t he most import ant law concerning t he int roduct ion of

obligat ory convict labour suggest s some inherent problems of t he modus

operandi. It clarifies, on t he one hand, t he pace and t he shape of t he uneasy

int roduct ion of obligat ory labour, and, on t he ot her, t he ideas behind t his

t ype of labour. Leaving aside various consequences of t his legal act ,

here I st udy it t erms of t he forms t hrough which [it s] aut horit y was 62_.

In order t o t race t hese forms, I have already looked at some of t he agent s of change,

and now I bring int o t he pict ure some of legal document s t hey produced.

The legal act t hat int roduced obligat ory labour for all convict s in t he Russian

Empire was t he law 6 January 188663_{. This law st at ed t hree chief principles of t he}

prison labour: 1) it s compulsory charact er for most cat egories of prisoners (except for

t hose inmat es who were under arrest and t hose who were await ing t he t rial); 2)

remunerat ion of t he convict s for t heir work; 3) responsibilit y of t he prison wardens for

t he implement at ion of t his law. This last point , t he delegat ion of responsibilit y for it s

implement at ion proved t o cont ribut e t o t he fragment ed advance of t he reform. The

first paragraph of t he law of st at es t hat t he organizat ion of t he convict labour

becomes a part of t he responsibilit ies of t he local prison keepers: in t he case of prisons

supervised by t he POoT, Popechit elnoe Obshchest vo o Tiurmakh, t he local commit t ees of t his societ y were responsible for t he organizat ion of convict labour; in ot her cases,

t he prison wardens were t o organize t he work. However, t he failure t o comply wit h t his

59_{LUCHINSKII, Nikolai.}_{Arest ant skie rabot y vo Frant sii i v Rossii}_._{Tiuremnii vest nik}_{, 1906,}№_{1, p. 40.} 60_ZUBOV.

Op. Cit ., p. 27. 61

Obzor desiat ilet nei deiiat elnost i Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia, 1879- 1889. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1889,

p.68- 100.

62_{DAS, Veena. Subalt ern as Perspect ive.}

Subalt ern St udies, vol VI, 1989, p. 317.

63

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new legislat ion did not ent ail any legal or administ rat ive consequences. This law,

marked by t he t ypical met iculousness of t he jurist s, enumerat es all t he cat egories of

convict s t hat were liable t o obligat ory labour and gives a det ailed account of t he

working t imes, civil and religious holidays. However, t he precise guidelines for t he

organizat ion of t he convict labour were absent . Only t wo paragraphs out of t went y five

at t empt t o propose a framework for t he organizat ion of convict labour. Paragraph

number t en st at es: fort hcoming definit ion of t ypes of work t hat t he convict s can

perform eit her following the order of t he prison wardens or according t o t heir own will

is going t o be conduct ed by t he M ain Prison Preceding t his, paragraph

number nine announces t hat t his work can be performed bot h wit hin and wit hout t he

prison walls.

Unsurprisingly, t his law required ext ensive explanat ions and precisions. Over

t he following years, t he circulars of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion sought t o ext end

and refine t he guidelines for t he organizat ion of convict labour. Not only t he legal act s,

but also t he lat er publicat ions in t he t he official magazine of t he GTU concerning t he

forced labour cont inuously affirmed t hat it s organizat ion had t o be init iat ed by t he

prison bosses (nachalniki t iurem) and t he local general- governors. At t he same t ime,

ot her publicat ions, namely, t he circulars, t est imony t hat at least in t he beginning t he

idea of t he obligat ory labour of t he prisoners was int erpret ed and implement ed by t he

local wardens not quit e as t he cent ral officials expect ed. One of t his document s, an

official circular of t he GTU dat ing back t o M arch 1888, st at es: GTU alw ays implied

t hat t he most preferable t ype of prison work should be t he work wit hin t he prison

facilit ies, in t he cells or in t he workshops, as t he only ones fully conforming t o t he

not ion of deprivat ion of libert y, and always recommended t o direct t he convict s

t owards t he ext ramural work only because of t he count rywide (povsemest noe)

overpopulat ion of prisons, t he lack of workshop facilit ies and as a means of prevent ing

t he absolut e idleness of t he 64_.

This int roduct ion of obligat ory labour was t o be realized locally, wit hout much

logist ical assist ance from t he cent ral administ rat ion. M ost of t he document s t he GTU

produced concerning t his mat t er were of prescript ive charact er and were addressed t o

t he local prison wardens: in ot her words, inst ead of t raining or organizing t he prison

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personnel, t he officials of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion concent rat ed primarily on

disseminat ion of t he t heoret ical knowledge about t he newly concept ualized obligat ory

prison labour, generally by t he means of circulars and publicat ions in t he professional

journal, Prison (Tiuremnii vest nik). M ore t han a decade aft er t he

int roduct ion of t he obligat ory convict labour t here was st ill no cent ral depart ment t hat

would direct it s implement at ion, and, as suggest ed by one of t he aut hors of Prison

t his t hwart ed t he process65_{. The experiment al prisons described earlier were}

t he showcase examples of t he benefit s of t he obligat ory labour, but t he reproduct ion

of t his experience in ot her prisons has proved t o be slow and limit ed. Describing t he

period bet ween t he creat ion of GTU and t he int roduct ion of obligat ory labour for all

convict s (1879- 1886), t he minist er of Int erior D. Tolst oy not iced: t hose cases where

t he aspirat ions of t he cent ral administ rat ion met wit h t he desire of t he local agent s

(deiiat el), t he affair of organizat ion of t he convict labour at t ained not iceable 66_.

Ost ensibly, in ot her cases t he organizat ion of convict labour could be quasi

non-exist ent .

Publicat ions t hat have appeared over t he last t hird of t he ninet eent h cent ury in

t he official journal of t he M ain Prison Administ rat ion help t o t race t he nuances of t he

new concept ions of forced labour. These publicat ions t ypically combine overviews of

t he sit uat ion around forced labour in Russia, appeals t o t he West ern European

experience, and some proposit ions for t he improvement of t he sit uat ion in prisons.

These voices included prison wardens67_{, professors of law}68_{, t he GTU officials, and}

ot hers69_.

Unlike t he final legal document s, t hese art icles help t o unravel t he dynamic and

creat ive process of t rial and error t hat defined t he st yle of Russian prison

administ rat ion of last decades of exist ence of t he Empire. Taken all t oget her, t hey also

show t hat t he Imperial penal syst em has been cont inuously charact erized by

fragment at ion, unspoken rules, and t he decisions t hat were guided by t he polit ical

65_{KRASOVSKY, M . O zaniat ii arest ant ov rabot ami v russkikh t iurmakh.}

Tiuremnii vest nik, 1897, №11, p. 521.

66_{GARF f.122 op. 7 d. 215 l.77.} 67_{VIKHAREV. Arest anst kie rabot y.}

Tiuremnii vest nik, 1895, №8, p. 430- 432.

68_{GOGEL, Serguei. Arest anst kii t rud.}_{Tiuremnii vest nik}_{, 1913,}№_{2, p. 297- 333.}

69_{For example, publicist A.P. Aksakov: AKSAKOV, Aleksandr. Trud kak orudie nravst vennogo}

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rat her t han purely legal considerat ions. These t ext s address similar issues: what are t he

benefit s of t he convict labour? What role does it have t o play in t he organizat ion of

prisons and what funct ions should it have? How should t he prison labour be organized?

What t ypes of work should t he convict s perform? These quest ions are relat ed t o t he

specificit y of t he reform: a considerable part of t he penological innovat ion at t hat t ime

was relat ed t o t he prison buildings and defined t he shape of t he cells and t he

workshops.

These reflexions were embedded wit hin t he dominant discourse on crime and

punishment , wit h moralit y of criminals sit uat ed in t he cent er of t hese discussions.

Concent rat ion on moralit y was oft en occluding t he inherent problems of

mid-ninet eent h cent ury incarcerat ion and exile: overpopulat ion and t he inevit able and

pot ent ially dangerous close cont act of prisoners, t he necessit y for t he families t o

follow t he exiles and t he kat orzhnye t o Siberia, t he general absence of sources of income for eit her prisoners or t heir families. These art icles also illust rat e t he at t empt s

t o synt hesize a viable penal syst em t hat would incorporat e bot h t he forms of

punishment borrowed from t he West ern European cont ext s and t he exist ing Imperial

pract ices. In 1906 one of t he officials of t he GTU colorfully alluded t o t his conflict in

t he following way: realit y, t hese t wo current s (t hat we are going t o call

and as t hey collide, produce not hing but a whirlpool where dies all t he

good will and any good init iat ive (pochin 70_{. Abby M . Schrader not ed t he same t ension}

bet ween t he t radit ionally Russian penal pract ices and t he West ern European legal

norms already for a much earlier period, namely t he 1850s. She st at es:

Russian officials ost ensibly only t ook int o account Russian precedent s and Russia s

organic hist orical development when compiling penal legislat ion, t he process by which

t hey developed t his not ion of physical difference shows t hat t hey incorporat ed

West ern European laws when deciding whose bodies t o spare 71_.

Judging from t he publicat ions in Prison t he at t empt s t o rely on

t he init iat ive and knowledge of t he local officials delivered very limit ed result s. We see

many more general and t heoret ical discussions of t he prison labour t han report s from

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t he local prisons. The warden of a local prison in the region of Smolensk, P. Vikharev72_,

published in 1895 a short art icle on t he labour of prisoners. Adhering t o t he general

view wit hin t he GTU, he suggest ed t hat t he convict s should not be t aken t o work

out side t he prisons, as it reduces t he punit ive effect s of incarcerat ion73_{. The only t ype}

of t he work out side t he prison t hat Vikharev favored was t he agricult ural labour. He

was one of t he rare writ ers who have direct ly connect ed t he prison labour wit h t he

t ype of work t hat was the most common in t he Empire. He also suggest ed t hat t his

would be consequent ly beneficial for t he prisoners, as most of t hem were coming from

peasant ry and would find t his t ype of work bot h familiar and inherent ly useful. Guided

by his experience of managing a prison in a relat ively densely populat ed region, he was

put t ing forward t he idea of let t ing t he peasant s hire t he convict s during t he summer

season, when, according t o him, t he work of t he free wage workers was unaffordable

for most of t he peasant s74_.

Vikharev also addressed t he issue of t he int ramural work, and he was very

precise about t he t ype of work t hat should be favored: it was t he basket weaving and

making of t he bast shoes, and all t ypes of work wit h t he bast fiber in general, as t his

t ype of labour required quit e primit ive skills, and yet produced widely needed and

easily market able goods.

Int roduct ion of t he obligat ory prison labour for short er- t erm75_{convict s went in}

parallel wit h t he forced labour for t he prisoners wit h longer t erms. This ot her t ype of

t he forced labour, t he kat orga, was not abandoned by t he administ rat ors eit her, but it

was developing very different ly. The main experiment wit h kat orga was t he inst allat ion of a kat orga sit e on Sakhalin island. It was an import ant imperial project t hat had

lingering negat ive effect s bot h on kat orga as a t ype of punishment and t he development of t he region.

72_{VIKHAREV. Arest anst kie rabot y.}

Tiuremnii vest nik, 1895, №8, p. 430- 432. The prison t hat Vikharev was administ rat ing w as an uyezd prison, t hat is, it belonged in a t own of several t housand inhabit ant s. The

uyezd was a secondary- level administ rat ive subdivision in Imperial Russia. Generally, t he short - t erm det ainees were incarcerat ed in such smaller regional prisons.

73_{Ibidem, p. 431.} 74_{Ibidem, p. 432.}

75_{According t o t he 1890 prison regulat ions (}

Ust av o soderzhaschikhsia pod st razhei), people could be

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For most of t he ninet eent h cent ury, forced labour of convict s in Russia was not

regulat ed in a st raight forward way: t he law (Ust av o soderzhaschikhsia pod st razhei)

was full of lacunae concerning labour of prisoners76_{, and t hat creat ed a cont radict ory}

landscape of t he penal labour t hroughout t he Russian Empire. Tradit ionally, t he chief

cat egory of convict s forced t o works were t hose sent enced t o kat orga, but t he inmat es of t he workhouses, for example, also had t o work and would even receive payment for

t heir labour. Prison inmat es, on t he ot her hand, could make t he decision about work in

prisons t hemselves and were not remunerat ed. Prior t o 1886, st art ing from t he 1860s,

t wo different processes were at play in t he unequal development of t he convict labour.

On t he one hand, some workshops wit hin prisons were organized in t he regions wit h

t he higher densit y of populat ion. Ost ensibly, t he development of t he smaller workshops

was connect ed wit h t he overall indust rial development of t he surrounding region: it

was t he init iat ive of t he prison keepers t o organize t hem, which t hey would do only if

t here exist ed an opport unit y for t hem t o derive profit from convict work. This was t he

case, for inst ance, of t he experiment al prisons in Saint - Pet ersburg, M oscow and

Sarat ov t hat I already ment ioned before. This part icular form of labour would lat er be

promot ed by t he GTU t o become t he most import ant one, yet t he organizat ion of t hese

workshops was heavily embedded in t he local cont ext s: it required well- prepared

officials and inst ruct ors and t he market s for t he it ems produced by t he convict

labourers. While reflect ing on t he 1860s as t he period of t he crisis of the Imperial

penal syst em, t he GTU officials present ed t he convict labour at t hat t ime as an

ult imat ely fragile ent erprise: in some regions, like t he more densely populat ed West ern

borderlands of t he Empire, t he workshops in prisons exist ed in t he first half of t he

ninet eent h cent ury, but in t he 1860s, confront ed wit h t he prison overpopulat ion, t he

local prison keepers t ransformed t hem int o cells77_.

On t he ot her hand, t he f orced labour has also been developing in t he East ern

Siberia, most not ably at t he kat orga sit es in Transbaikalia t hat were t ypically silver

mines belonging t o t he Emperor (t he most well- known of t hem is Nerchinsk). This t ype

of organizat ion of t he convict labour was guided by t he profit of t he Emperor, rat her

76_{KRASOVSKY, M . O zaniat ii arest ant ov rabot ami v russkikh t iurmakh.}_{Tiuremnii vest nik}_{, 1897,}№_{11, p.}

514.

77_{Obzor desiat ilet nei deiiat elnost i Glavnogo t iuremnogo upravleniia, 1879- 1889. Saint - Pet ersburg,}

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t han t he local prison officials, and implied concent rat ion of labour force. It was applied

in t he regions where labour short age exist ed and t he st at e desperat ely needed

workforce for ext ract ion of resources. Such a way of exploit at ion of convict labour

required a higher amount of guards but less sophist icat ed managing skills, and

generally implied much harder work t han t hat in t he workshops. Such work in mining

was t he main t ype of kat orga labour before t he inst allat ion of t he kat orga facilit ies on t he Sakhalin island in 1869 (where agricult ural and road const ruct ion work were

favoured), and cont inued t o exist in Siberia.

These are t he t wo cont radict ory t rends reflect ing different ideological

underpinnings of t he prison labour. Theoret ically, modernizat ion of t he prison syst em

as it was conceived by the GTU did not leave much space for t he big, kat orga- st yle facilit ies like mines: bot h it s officials and t he expert s not affiliat ed wit h t he GTU have

been consist ent ly put t ing forward t he idea of prison workshops t hat would be small,

decent ralized, and well- inscribed in local condit ions. In pract ice, however, even t hough

t he organizat ion of kat orga labour was in ut t er decay since t he beginning of 1860s78, kat orga was st ill widely used as punishment and coexist ed wit h t he new t ypes of punishment up unt il t he revolut ion of 1917.

The legislat ion in t he domain of kat orga seems t o have been lagging behind t he pract ice. For example, t he dist inct ion bet ween fort resses (krepost i), plant s (zavody) and

mines (rudniki) as t radit ional sit es for kat orga originat ed in t he eight eent h cent ury; t hese sit es were graded according t o t he hardship of punishment , plant s being t he sit es

of t he 79_{punishment , and t he mines t hat of t he harshest . M ost of t hese}

t radit ional sit es t hat host ed t he kat orzhnye have already been abandoned by t he end of 1860s, but t his dist inct ion exist ed in t he legislat ion unt il 188580_{, despit e t he fact}

t hat t he first at t empt s t o change it dat ed back t o 186881_._{Kat orga}_{proved t o be a}

part icularly st icky penal pract ice: it survived wit hout any consist ent reform unt il t he

end of t he empire. Despit e t he significant change of t he condit ion of t he common

78_{M AKSIM OV, Serguei.}

Sibir i kat orga. Saint - Pet ersburg, 1900.

79_{Not ions of} _and _{punishment in t he case of}

kat orga do not reflect any clear- cut different iat ion. In pract ice, observers (most not ably, M aksimov) have not iced t hat some t ypes of t he plant s proved t o be deadly for t he inmat es.