Talk:Gulag

People could be imprisoned in a Gulag camp for crimes such as unexcused absences from work, petty theft, or anti-government jokes.

The source (a non-academic web site) seems to be inaccurate. According to the Supreme Council Decree, June 26, 1940 [1] eight hours workday and seven days week (six workdays plus one day off) had been established. The clause #5 of the decree enacted that the workers who unauthorisedly left their work place were condemned to 2-4 month in jail, and those who were absent from work without excuse to 6 month of punitive labour without imprisonment. Prisoners were sent to GULAG only if their terms were longer than 2-3 years, so the website is in contradiction with the promary source. In addition, according to Getty et al, Wheathcroft and others, those who were found guilty in small thefts served their terms not in GULAG camps but in labour colonies where condition were much milder. I conclude that "crimes such as unexcused absences from work, petty theft, " should be removed.--Paul Siebert (talk) 03:52, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

I have asked you already before. If you are going to correct the article, it is better to discuss the alteration. You refer to the law what says '2-4 months imprisonment'.Where people could be imprisoned expect of GULAG?If you know about some secret facilities about which we all are not aware you can inform about them. Petty theft.[2], did you removed the phrase 'petty theft' because in accordance with this law'The primary punishment for theft according to this law was death by shooting'? But Stalin had originally proposed that ‘as a rule’ the sentence under this decree would be the death penalty. The fact that only a tiny minority of those sentenced were shot probably resulted from a general unwillingness by judicial and security personnel to implement as originally intended what was widely seen as an impractical and barbaric decree (Khlevnyuk 1992, pp. 22 24; Solomon 1996, pp. 116 117) The conclusions: people could be sent to the concentration camps for unexcused absences from work or petty theft.Celasson (talk) 20:14, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Where people could be imprisoned expect of GULAG? The answer is in the text: in jail. Those convicted to somewhat longer terms (but shorter that 3 years) were supposed to went to labour colonies:

"The distinction between the two categories is that those of 'less social danger', i.e. with sentences less than three years in length, went into colonies rather than camps." (Glasnost' and the Gulag: New Information on Soviet Forced Labour around World War II Author(s): Edwin Bacon Source: Soviet Studies, Vol. 44, No. 6 (1992), pp. 1069-1086)

although in actuality the situation was even more complicated:

"Some 17.9 percent of the political prisoners and 41.7 percent of those convicted for the theft of public property were held in colonies, not camps, by 1951, although the overwhelming majority of them were serving terms of more than five years;"(Victims of the Soviet Penal System in the Pre-War Years: A First Approach on the Basis of Archival Evidence Author(s): J. Arch Getty, Gábor T. Rittersporn, Viktor N. Zemskov Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Oct., 1993), pp. 1017-1049).

The conditions in colonies were milder, they were situated in less remote parts of the USSR (although they were also under NKVD control), so one has to discriminate them from GULAG camps. With regard to the Law of Spikelets, you cite it incorrectly. Please, read the source again.--Paul Siebert (talk) 21:38, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

I am sorry, I definitely have no time to read manuscripts of 'fools and charlatans'. I am just asking you about secret places what you call 'milder colonies', were there any survivors or any other evidence? Any evidence of their existence? About Law of Spikelets.Do you accuse me of lying?Celasson (talk) 22:57, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

I definitely have no idea what 'fools and charlatans' are you talking about, therefore, I don't know how to comment on that. With regard to "secret places", let me remind you that there were prisons (jails), labour colonies and GULAG camps in Stalin's USSR. This fact is well known and well documented, and by no means is it secret.--Paul Siebert (talk) 02:16, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Is it correct, if you are writing about 'labour colonies' you mean Forced settlements in the Soviet Union? Just try to answer the question or just say that you don't want ansewer. I am not a some kind of interrogator.

The new Russian historians also have come to understand that a large segment of the Western academic world are fools or charlatans when it comes to the history of communism and go their own way.

Do you need further explanations about fools and charlatans? --Celasson (talk) 17:05, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Of course, yes. Per WP policy, extraordinary claims require extraordinary support. Since the sources I use meet the most strict RS criteria, the claim that they are written (and published) by fools and charlatans is extraordinary. Therefore, this claim should be extremely well sourced (e.g. by providing several quotes from the articles published by several different high-reputable scholars it top ranked journals) to be considered seriously. Since you haven't done that yet, I simply have no reason to discuss this claim further.--Paul Siebert (talk) 17:43, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Since the sources I use meet the most strict RS criteria, the claim that they are written (and published) by fools and charlatans is extraordinary. is merely your unsupported private opinion what is not of so much interest for me at the moment since I am still waiting for the answer on my question: Do you need further explanations about fools and charlatans? As said don't answer if you are not feel comfortable with it.--Celasson (talk) 20:37, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Re: "Is it correct, if you are writing about 'labour colonies' you mean Forced settlements in the Soviet Union?" No. I am talking about labour colonies, which, along with prisons and GULAG camps, were the major places of detention. --Paul Siebert (talk) 17:43, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

And you can name a 'labor colony', a location, a survivor who has been there?

There is a data base of survivors.Sakharov Center Unfortunately there no one who has been in a 'labor colony', they all who was imprisoned served in an ITL (Corrective labor camps). Maybe you will have better luck.--Celasson (talk) 20:33, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

There is no memoirs of former colonies inmates because the database contains only memoirs of GULAG camps survivors. Similarly, the absence of memoirs written by ordinary criminals does not mean that there were no ordinary criminals in the USSR.--Paul Siebert (talk) 01:46, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

I afraid if there are no evidences about any existence of 'labor colonies' all what was written about them has been written by charlatans.--Celasson (talk) 13:36, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

... the absence of memoirs written by ordinary criminals does not mean that there were no ordinary criminals in the USSR.--Paul Siebert (talk) 01:46, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

You are wrong again:YAKIMENKO Yuri Petrovich ,"In prisons and camps." 1996 M / n, 371 p.Memoirs of a former thief, recidivist, who have spent in custody a total of 18 years. Early in the war years, introduction to the robbery, three arrests in three years. The verdict in 1947 - ten years hard-labor camp, a five-year stay at the Construction Site 501, in 1952 the oil industry in Uhtizhemlage. Manners of criminals in the camp. The camp's arrest for the murder of an informer, was sentenced to 25 years hard-labor camp. Rechlag (Vorkuta), work in the mines, the strike concluded in 1953, political prisoners. Confinement in a prison in Latvia and the return to Vorkuta, translated into Ozerlag, familiarity with the first prisoners, dissidents, continued dating in Dubrovlag, the release in 1964 memoirs, many descriptions of the characteristic features of camp life, these eyes of an experienced camp inmate.

And you know what , there are lot of memories of innocent people who was sent to GULAG where they write about criminals 'blatnye' with hate and fear. But it is understandable- criminals tortured, robbed and killed people, raped women and children. But we need to remember that lot of them were former street children who lost their parents during the purges, deportations and famines. Lot of them were victims of the system.--Celasson (talk) 14:24, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

You misunderstood me again. I meant that the absence of the memoirs of those who served their terms in colonies can mean just that these memoirs were either scarce (nothing to tell), or they were not included into the data base, because this data base is devoted to camps, not to colonies.--Paul Siebert (talk) 15:34, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

I am OK with it , if you bring a scarce memory, they main thing you have an evidence and not fool people.Any of my assertions is fairly supported. Unfortunately you don't support your edition with reliable recourses. --Celasson (talk) 18:41, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Your text is : подлежат направлению в трудовые поселки (may be taken to labor settlements).Labor settlements (трудопоселение, trudoposelenie) were a method of internal exile that used settlers for obligatory labor. The main category of "labor settlers" (трудопоселенцы, trudoposelentsy) were kulaks and members of their families deported in 1930s before the Great Purge. Labor settlements were under the management of Gulag, but they must not be confused with labor camps.

'трудовые поселки'-trudoposeleniya it is the same that Specposeleniya, special settlements and the information about them you can find here:Forced settlements in the Soviet Union. Was it not your who wrote it: Re: "Is it correct, if you are writing about 'labour colonies' you mean Forced settlements in the Soviet Union?" No. I am talking about labour colonies, which, along with prisons and GULAG camps, were the major places of detention. --Paul Siebert (talk) 17:43, 9 August 2010 (UTC)? --Celasson (talk) 18:32, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Before criticising your opponent, try to understand his point. Please, read the quote in the next section.--Paul Siebert (talk) 19:11, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

I understand your point. You are convinced of the existence of some type of 'mild labor colonies'. I am not convinced and asked about an evidence. You refuse because the possibility is very high that there is no evidence because it is a myth.--Celasson (talk) 03:09, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Labour colonies (not to be confused with trudoposeleniya or specposeleniya) are certanly not a myth! There are documents about them and they are mentioned in the official statistics. They were for petty criminals with terms up to 3 years (including those sentenced for absence from work, etc.), political prisoners were not sent to them and, therefore, there is no mention of them in the databases of political prisoners. But they were a part of GULAG - i.e. GULAG as an NKVD (MVD) department was responcible for them!

Olegwiki (talk) 14:18, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Well, if it was documented where can I find the documents? The current version of the article says that there was 53 camps and 423 colonies ( all databases give us a data for about 500 camps!). The article should comply with this article [3] or it should be corrected.Celasson (talk) 03:59, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Firstly, the article you mean contains no references to reliable sources, whereas the figures from this article have been taken from the article published in the "American Historical Reviews", one of the most reputable historical journal. Secondly, it is unclear from the list you refer to if all those camps existed simultaneously. For instance, the camps that were created for construction of various dams, railroads, plants, existed for only short period, and then were renamed or disbanded. Thirdly, each of the camps mentioned in this article could physically consist of several camps, therefore, I see no serious contradiction here.--Paul Siebert (talk) 03:00, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Does somebody know what means ' devores zero attention '

If somebody understand what means 'The article devores zero attention to controversial nature of Getty's writings, so this phrase is irrelevant to the lede'.?Celasson (talk) 14:49, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Obviously, this it just a typo. I meant "The article devotes zero attention to controversial nature of Getty's writings, so this phrase is irrelevant to the lede". Whereas the lede is supposed to reflect the most imporatnt article's statements, whereas the article tells nothing about Getty's views, whereas only the figures, not conclusions of Getty, Rittersporn & Zemskov are mentioned in the article and whereas this GULAG statistics is generally accepted by scholars, (see, e.g. Robert Conquest's "We are all inclined to accept the Zemskov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added 4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labour settlements'." By no mean Conquest can be called pro-Stalinist or pro-Soviet.) the sentence about a controversial nature of Getty's writings is totally irelevant to the lede.--Paul Siebert (talk) 15:01, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

First , it is not proper English, an article can not devote. If there some scholars who accuses Getty in being KGB spy or so that means that his views so far away from 'is generally accepted by scholars' that if you don't that I would not recommend to use his data in the article at all or use but with the caution that his views are subject of dispute. I understand that you got to use to the world where people with opposite views could be imprisoned or expelled , but here is. I know that you threaten people before and why I supposed that you are paid. But what about me- your paws are too short. Stop vandalizing and you can take part in a discussion if you are able to discuss.And read WP:Etiquettebecause you are not aware about this rule Celasson (talk) 15:42, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

If we remove GRZ (although you still made nothing to demonstrate that this article is not a reliable source, whereas I provided the quote, as well as other evidences demonstrating that it is), we also have to remove all other sources that cite it, e.g. Conquest, Appelbaum and others. In any event, your last edit is completely unsupported and I revert it.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:06, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I fully realise that it will make my future work more difficult, but I want to teach you how to resolve disputes in correct way. I strongly advise you to follow a normal dispute resolution procedure. I understand that that is a long and difficult way, but it is the only solution. Please, try it, because this experience will help you in future. --Paul Siebert (talk) 16:12, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Neutral point of view (NPOV)

Period of Gulag: 1917-1960 vs 1917-1991

While the Gulag was radically reduced in size following Stalin’s death in 1953 and officially liquidated in 1960, political prisoners continued to exist in the Soviet Union right up to the Gorbachev era.

Some scholars state “Although the original GULAG institution was disbanded, the Soviet Gulag system did not end. The regime did its best to hide the Gulag name, but some of the Gulag special regime camps continued to exist into the 1960s. The incarceration of political prisoners continued unabated and the use of forced labor lasted into the 1980s”.

Many authors, mostly in the West, use gulag as denoting all the prisons and internment camps in Soviet history (1917–1991)

Neutral point of view (NPOV) is a fundamental Wikimedia principle and a cornerstone of Wikipedia. All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, proportionately, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. This is non-negotiable and expected of all articles and all editors.

So editors can not use justification that Gulag was officially disbanded in 1960 as a reason for deleting properly sourced material that has the point of view that Gulag continued until 1991. Bobanni (talk) 07:54, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

The problem is not in existence of political prisoners or in punitive forced labour, because both these phenomenae were/are quite typical for many authoritarian or totalitarian regimes. I would say even the opposite: GULAG was not a place where political prisoners were incarcerated, because overwhelming majority of GULAG inmates were either common criminal or innocent people. It was a huge amount of absolutely innocent people who were sent to GULAG for virtually nothing that made GULAG so outstanding phenomenon. After Stalin's death the practice of arrests of innocent people with their subsequent imprisonment in remote labour camps was by and large abandoned by Soviet authorities, massive rehabilitation and release of prisoners had started and the camps, which could not exist in this situation, had been dissolved. That gives us a ground to talk about de jure and de facto dissolution of the GULAG system. However, that did not mean that all political prisoners were released and that the Soviet society became free and open. Obviously, it would be incorrect to say that. However it also would be equally incorrect to say that the GULAG system continued to exist.

In any event, please, provide the quotes along with the references from reliable sources that demonstrate that GULAG continued to exist in 70s and 80s, and that that is a majority or significant minority point of view. In addition, think it would be absolutely incorrect to place a POV template into the article with the only purpose to restore the link to Stus.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:26, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

PS. The idea to create and expand the list of notable prisoners is good, and I fully support it.--Paul Siebert (talk)

PPS Please, take also into account that, the article in its present form does mention that "Other authors, mostly in the West, use gulag as denoting all the prisons and internment camps in Soviet history (1917–1991) with the plural gulags." However, it is absolutely necessary to separate two phenomena: (i) existence of prisons (or psychiatry clinics) where a limited amount of real political opponents were imprisoned, and (ii) a huge system of forced labour camps where absolutely innocent people (which were not opponents of the existing regime) and common criminals were being kept in about equal ratio. Only the later phenomenon is called GULAG by majority of scholars.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:36, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

In introduction to Gulag: A History - Anne Applebaum writes "Nevertheless, the camps did not disappear altogether. Instead, they evolved. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, a few of them were redesigned and put to use as prisons for a new generation of democratic activists, anti-Soviet nationalists–and criminals. Thanks to the Soviet dissident network and the international human rights movement, news of these post-Stalinist camps appeared regularly in the West. Gradually, they came to play a role in Cold War diplomacy. Even in the 1980s, the American President, Ronald Reagan, and his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, were still discussing the Soviet camps. Only in 1987 did – himself the grandson of Gulag prisoners–begin to dissolve the Soviet Union’s political camps altogether." There are more if you require. Bobanni (talk) 09:08, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

That is exactly what I meant: in 1960 GULAG as the huge system of camps where large amount of innocent people were kept ceased to exist, and some limited amount of penal institutions where political opponents were kept were created instead partially based on some of these camps. Are you sure we can speak about GULAG continuity in this case? To make myself clear, let me give one example. It is known that Buchenwald concentration camp was converted by Soviet authorities into the Gulag camp where (non-Jewish) prisoners, as a rule, suspected ex-Nazi were kept. Does it mean that Nazi camps continued to exist? Obviously, no.

Re history of your family. We all have relatives who perished during Stalin times. However, our goal here is to tell truth, not to inflate the figures above any reasonable limits or to extend the Gulag timeframes. BTW your "1917-1960 vs 1917-1991" starting date is incorrect. Gulag history started only in late 1920s. Before that the number of political prisoners was astonishingly small, and any punitive or forced labour was explicitly prohibited.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:17, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

PS. One way or the another, the Appelbaum's opinion has been reflected in the article (see the words I already cited; if some addition/modification of these words are needed, in your opinion, please do that).

PPS. In any event, please, point out at concrete major article omissions or errors which required to place the POV tag there. Otherwise, I'll remove the tag. --Paul Siebert (talk) 16:46, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

The following is a small sample references of GULAG post 1960.

Graham Smith in Nation-building in the post-Soviet borderlands On page 237 writes "In particular the poet Vasyl Stus, who died in the Gulag in 1985, has been turned into something of a national icon"

Robert Horvath in The legacy of Soviet dissent on page 1 writes "Some, like Anatolii Marchenko and Vasyl Stus, died in the gulag. martyrs to the cause of human rights."

Romana M. Bahry -in Echoes of glasnost in Soviet Ukraine on page 132 writes "On the periphery of that community stood the great poet Vasyl Stus who had published very little in his lifetime, was subsequently purged, and died a martyr's death in the Perm gulag in 1985."

Orest Subtelny in Ukraine: a history - on page 646 writes "Vasyl Stus (b. 1938), one of the most gifted Ukrainian poets of the 20th century, died in a Soviet gulag in 1986" 20:38, 24 August 2010 (UTC)Bobanni (talk) 20:55, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Correct. That is in full accordance with what the article presently says: "Other authors, mostly in the West, use gulag as denoting all the prisons and internment camps in Soviet history (1917–1991) with the plural gulags." Yes, the some authors do use this term to describe post-Stalin camps in the USSR (and even outside the USSR). However, that does not mean that the GULAG system really existed during these times. In any event, that is not sufficient to place the POV tag into the article. Please, provide more evidence for that.--Paul Siebert (talk) 20:46, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Dispute Not Resolved. Repeated request for more evidence inappropriate - suffiecient references provided that there is a significant POV that Gulag existed until fall of communism. Bobanni (talk) 19:52, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

The references provided by you demonstrate that the word "Gulag" was/is being used by different scholars to describe Soviet and not only Soviet camps after 1956 (see, e.g.Cabo Verde: Gulag of the South Atlantic: Racism, Fishing Prohibitions, and Famines Cabo Verde: Gulag of the South Atlantic: Racism, Fishing Prohibitions, and Famines George E. Brooks History in Africa, Vol. 33, (2006), pp. 101-135). The article in its present shape clearly tells about that, so your sources add nothing to that. However, the sources provided by you are not sufficient to state that Gulag system (a huge network of labour camps where a large number of innocent people, along with common criminals, were incarcerated) continued to exist in Khruschev and Brezhnev times. I requested an evidence, you provided nothing. Of course, some (very small) number of these place of detention continued to exist even after Stalin, however, the sources provided by you does not allow us to speak about Gulag continuity after 1956. Please, provide real evidences, not just examples of the usage of the name "gulag". I give you three days for presenting your evidences; after that I'll remove the tag. PS In addition, the GULAG's start year is not 1917, but 1929.--Paul Siebert (talk) 21:14, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

The Gulag was radically reduced in size following Stalin’s death in 1953. In 1960 the Soviet-wide MVD (oversight organization for the Gulag) was shut down in favor of individual republic MVD (Ministry of Interior). The nation-wide centralized command detention facilities (Gulag) temporarily ceased to function. Political prisoners continued to exist in the Soviet Union right up to the Gorbachev era. Bobanni (talk) 05:42, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

“Gulag, system of forced-labor prison camps in the USSR, from the Russian acronym [GULag] for the Main Directorate of Corrective Labor Camps, a department of the Soviet secret police (originally the Cheka; subsequently the GPU, OGPU, NKVD, MVD, and finally the KGB). The Gulag was first established under Vladimir Lenin during the early Bolshevik years (c.1920). The vast penal network, which ultimately included 476 camp complexes, functioned throughout Russia, many in the wastes of Siberia and the Soviet Far East. The system reached its peak after 1928 under Joseph Stalin, who used it to maintain the Soviet state by keeping its populace in a state of terror. Gulag deaths of both political prisoners and common criminals from overwork, starvation, and other forms of maltreatment are estimated to have been in the millions during Stalin's years in power. Perhaps the best known of the Gulag camp complexes was Kolyma, an area in the Far East about six times the size of France that contained more than 100 camps. About three million are thought to have died there from its establishment in 1931 to 1953, the year of Stalin's death. The Gulag scheme was adapted into the infamous concentration camp system used during World War II, especially as Nazi death factories. The Soviet system was publicized in the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, particularly in his book The Gulag Archipelago (1973, tr. 1974). Millions were released from the Gulag under Nikita Khrushchev, and the system was finally abolished by Mikhail Gorbachev.” From freedictionary Bobanni (talk) 06:09, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Hardly a proof. Wikipedia is not a source for itself. Freedictionary likely took this information from Wikipedia or its mirrors.--Paul Siebert (talk) 14:38, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Free Dictionary: " The main source of TheFreeDictionary's general English dictionary is Houghton Mifflin's premier dictionary, the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. This authoritative work is the largest of the American Heritage® dictionaries and contains over 200,000 boldface terms and more than 33,000 written examples. The Fourth Edition also incorporates more than 10,000 new words." Bobanni (talk) 04:38, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Firstly, you have to present an evidence, and only after that to do changes in the main article, not vise versa.

Secondly, the Free Dictionary statement is in agreement with the statements that are already present in the article, namely, that "Other authors, mostly in the West, use gulag as denoting all the prisons and internment camps in Soviet history (1917–1991) with the plural gulags", and "Eventually, by metonymy, the usage of "the Gulag" began generally denoting the entire penal labor system in the USSR, then any such penal system." The source provided by you does not demonstrate that Gulag, as a system of mass usage of slave labour of innocent people along with common criminal continued to exist until Gorbachev era.--Paul Siebert (talk) 04:44, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

NPOV dispute not resolved References that Gulag ended in 1960 rather weak - one dead link replaced by single reference to Russian Langauge website. There is a lot of references supplied here that many sources believe that the Gulag existed until the fall of Communism - however some editors rejected all valid explainations. Bobanni (talk) 04:43, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

The "dead link" works perfecly and sends to the site of Memorial society, which is the most reputable historical and civil rights society in former USSR. I don't think the goal of this organisation is to understate the scale of GULAG or to shrink its timeframes.

Re "many sources", they use the word "Gulag" to name a quite different thing, namely the places of detention where real criminals and real political opponents of the regime (the latters were an overwhelming minority) were incarcerated. This is in full agreement with what the article currently says: Gulag camps were dissolved, whereas labour colonies continued to exist (which is quite understandable, btw, because such a big country as the USSR needed places for detention of ordinary criminals. Just for a comparison: there are about 2,5 million prisoners in the USA currently [ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2637053120070627]).--Paul Siebert (talk) 04:49, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

From WP:NPOV dispute: "It is important to remember that the NPOV dispute tag does not mean that an article actually violates NPOV. It simply means that there is an ongoing dispute about whether the article complies with a neutral point of view or not. In any NPOV dispute, there will be some people who think the article complies with NPOV, and some people who disagree. In general, you should not remove the NPOV dispute tag merely because you personally feel the article complies with NPOV. Rather, the tag should be removed only when there is a consensus among the editors that the NPOV disputes have indeed been resolved" - Please do not remove NPOV tag again. Bobanni (talk) 05:57, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Consensus does not mean the right of veto. Please, explain why the text, which is already in the article, does not reflect what the sources provided by you say. Yes, the word "gulag/gulags" is being used to denote Soviet colonies even in Brezhnev's time. However, these "gulags" were not "a system where people worked to death", they were not a place of detention of numerous innocent people, but of real criminals, along with few political prisoners. Importantly, the sources also write about "Gulag in North Korea", "gulag in South Africa", etc., which demonstrates that the meaning of this word differs from its initial meaning, and the article does tell about that. Please, address these questions in close future. Otherwise, the tag will be removed.--Paul Siebert (talk) 14:18, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Again, I am still waiting for new arguments explaining the NPOV tag, as well as for proposals how to resolve the issue. If no concrete explanations/proposals will follow in next week, I'll remove the tag.--Paul Siebert (talk) 21:04, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Please stop removing NPOV tag. Editor Siebert seems to have a major blind spot a certain point of view and exhibiting a blanket rejection that it exists. Editor Siebert rejects all evidence with flimsy arguments (that some call "wiki-lawyer" type arguments). This is edit by exhaustion that can only lead to an edit war. There are better way to deal with content dispute. Bobanni (talk) 04:32, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Paul is right - you haven't brought any new arguments into discussion, which is rather pointless anyway, since GULAG was officially reformed and renamed by 1960s, and this article is about GULAG, not about Soviet penal labour camps or political repression in general. Also, no need going personal against Paul. GreyHood ^Talk 08:37, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Dispute Not Resolved. Repeated request for more evidence inappropriate - sufficient references provided that there is a significant POV that Gulag existed until fall of communism. Bobanni (talk) 14:39, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

The Template:POV states:

Since the discussion is dormant, anyone has a right to remove the tag. Please, do not re-introduce it without providing new evidences.--Paul Siebert (talk) 18:32, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Lede

I have removed the following fragment from the lead:

Some scholars concur with this view, whereas others argue that Gulag was neither as large nor as deadly as it is often presented, and it was not a death camp, although during some periods of its history mortality was high there.

I do not think GZR proved that Gulag was not a death camp etc. Their work revised the estimation of deaths in Gulag lower. I do not think it changed the moral implications of Solzhenitsyn's work in any significant way. The argument about the number of deaths is probably important but not enough to be in the lede Alex Bakharev (talk) 05:15, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

The statement is important enough for the lede, because it presents the modern views on GULAG (which differ from those of Solzhenitsyn). If old (Solzhenitsyn's) views are mentioned in the lede, the new views should be there too. In addition, although GRZ didn't prove GULAG was not a death camp, they proved that GULAG "was neither as large nor as deadly as it is often presented". GRZ's work is important work on GULAG, their figures are cited and used by many scholars and are mentioned in the article several times.--Paul Siebert (talk) 11:22, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

I moved the new para from the lede to the talk page to discuss the issue, and, after consensus is achieved, to move the new version of the text into the article's namespace. Below is the text proposed by Alex Bakharev:

"The term became known to general public in the West with the 1973 publication by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, of The Gulag Archipelago, which likened the scattered camps to "a chain of islands" and described the Gulag as a system where people worked to death.. Solzhenitsyn estimated the total number of people sent to Gulag as 20..30 million people most of whom perished there. When criticized for overestimation of the scale of the tragedy Solzhenitsyn answered that while Soviet authorities hid the truth he had all the rights to assume the worst case for the authorities. Very large estimation of the number of victims were made in other works of that time, Robert Conquest estimated the excess mortality among GULAG inmates to 12 millions. Works of Victor Zemskov and others based on internal Gulag documents (kept secret until perestroika time) revised the mortality among Gulag inmates sentenced for political crimes to much lower number of 1.6 million. Some researches criticized Zemskov as leading to significant underestimation of mortality in GULAG camps. According to Segey Maksudov while Gulag survivors might have difficulties estimating the statistics of the event and have natural tendency to overestimate its scale there is no doubts they correctly describe inmate treatment and characteristics of this "diabolic institution" "

In connection to that, I think we do not need to go into the details of the history of the Gulag studies in the lede. I devoted a special attention to study this issue and I can conclude (and prove my conclusion with reliable sources) that Solzhenitsyn's views are considered obsolete now. Current majority POV, which is expressed by the famous rightist and anti-Communist scholar Robert Conquest is that states:"We are all inclined to accept the Zemskov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added 4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labour settlements'. However taken, these are surely 'high' figures." (Robert Conquest in Victims of Stalinism: A Comment. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 49, No. 7 (Nov., 1997), pp. 1317-1319) The number of 14 million sent to Gulag is much smaller than Solzhenitsyn's 20-30 million (colonies could not be considered a part of GULAG sensu stricto, because the terms were short, less than 3 years, and colonies were run by local authorities, were situated in less remote areas and conditions there were milder). Mortality of Gulag prisoners was also much smaller than Solzhenitsyn claimed, and, although it was higher than GRZ estimated (according to Wheatcroft and Rosenfielde the actual number of deaths was ~20% higher because some dying prisoners were "released" to improve the camps' statistics). Conquest's "Great terror" is also obsolete, because he himself re-examined his earlier data (see the quote from Conquest; I can provide other sources upon request). It has been estimated that total excess deaths under Stalin, which include Great Purge (more than million), collectivisation and famines (more than 5 million), deportation and disease deaths, did not exceed 15 million. Gulag mortality constitute only a minor part of that figure.

In summary, I removed this para from the article and replaced it with the previous version. This is a temporary measure, because I also think the old para needs in some improvements. Let's talk about the new para here, on the talk page.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:00, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

I believe the article should have a section on the "numbers game" – something like this "Number of victims" section (although I do not know if we can call all these people "victims"). The expansion by Alex Bakharev would serve as a good basis for this section. I do not think this level of detail is needed in the lede; especially I would object to placing Solzhenitsyn's non-factual claim of 20–30 million first. With Solzhenitsyn's reputation there is a real danger that most readers will treat this as a fact and ignore the rest. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 04:05, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

P.S. – The section could be named Death toll as noted here: Talk:J. Arch Getty#Discuss Controversy Solzhenitsyn, etc. versus Getty on Vast Gulag Death Toll Differences. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 04:23, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

NPOV tag again

I am still waiting for concrete explanations of why the tag is being constantly restored. It would be also good if the person who is doing that provided concrete proposals how to fix the neutrality issue. If no concrete proposals will follow in close future I'll remove the tag.--Paul Siebert (talk) 18:24, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Since I got no answer, I remove the tag. Please, do not re-insert it without explanations.--Paul Siebert (talk) 11:21, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

I rather suspect the tag was related to the article as it stands being overly reliant on particular Russian-language sources as gospel and stating figures as facts with not much on the debate over how many went through the Gulag, in toto, not just the "official" GULAG, debate over victims, etc. I've added a section on Gulag overall population figures. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 19:57, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

I suggest you to take into account that current scholarly consensus (expressed by such an anti-Communist scholar as Robert Conquest (Robert Conquest in "Victims of Stalinism: A Comment." Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 49, No. 7 (Nov., 1997), pp. 1317-1319 states: "We are all inclined to accept the Zemskov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added 4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labour settlements'. However taken, these are surely 'high' figures.")) is that, whereas the Getty's figures do not reflect the total number of the victims of Stalinist repressions, they correctly reflect the GULAG population. All needed information is in the article and in the talk page archive. I doubt it is possible to question the publication in The American Historical Review; it is equally impossible that Conquest's may have any pro-Soviet bias. Therefore, all your additions reflect just a history of the issue, and should be treated as such. Please, bring the text you add into the accordance with what reliable sources say. Please, keep also in mind that English sources are preferable in English Wikipedia.

PS I agree that the section devoted to the history of this issue (starting from the seminal Solzhenitsyn's "Archipelago") would be a very useful and interesting addition to the article, because a reader should know haw the views of the number of GULAG population evolved with time, however, this should be the historical section, because there is no debates in recent mainstream English literature on that account currently. I'll try to collect all relevant English sources on this account. Believe, by the end of April I'll be ready with that.--Paul Siebert (talk) 20:13, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

I reuse a Russian source already in the article. Also, the odd use of numbers and other content from single Russian sources and represented as the facts of various situations is not of my editing, but does need attention as you indicate. As far as numbers go, while somewhat chronological in places, the section added is not intended as a history but as representation of a debate. I would note that debate becomes more, not less, complicated when one starts discussing mortality. Sources published over the last ten years—starting ten years after the availability, more then less, of access to Soviet archives—all reflect the full range of "historical" debate over numbers of victims and that the debate as to total population and how many died, while perhaps somewhat narrowed, is not settled. I would also suggest that unless the article is titled GULAG, see also Gulag, that we insure it addresses the wider picture. There appear to be areas of content which focus on presenting numbers which ignore the larger (and more appropriate) picture.

(ec) Where I see debate in English language sources, you see lack of same. I await your presentation of "no debate" in English language sources.PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 20:43, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Do you prefer to continue this discussion here or on your talk page (I left my last post there)?--Paul Siebert (talk) 20:47, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Re "no debates", the quote is already here. Robert Conquest, whose anti-Communist viewpoint is well known stated:

" "We are all inclined to accept the Zemskov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added 4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labour settlements'".

As I already explained on this talk page, colonies' inmates served short terms (less then 2 years), not in the remote areas, so the colonies were not GULAG camps proper. Labour settlements were closer to exile, so, the number of people passed through GULAG proper was 14 million, and Conquest expressed a common opinion that Getty's figures were correct. There is no debates between serious scholars on that account. By saying that, I do not state that there is no debates over the total number of victims, and I can briefly outline major points. However, that belongs to another talk page, and I would like to return to that later.--Paul Siebert (talk) 21:00, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

PS Btw, if some highly reputable source (and Conquest is reputable) expresses the opinion that consensus exists among scholars on some subject, it is normally sufficient to claim in the WP article that consensus exists, unless another equally reliable sources directly challenges this particular statement. I found no reliable sources that challenge this particular Conquest's statement, so we can safely speak about a scholarly consensus on that subject.--Paul Siebert (talk) 21:34, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

In fairness if one wants to challenge the neutrality of an article one must present evidence that it does not provide proper weight to various points of view. What are these viewpoints and how do they differ from the one presented in the article. The political viewpoint of writers used as sources is irrelevant, so long as they are reliable. TFD (talk) 23:04, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Where are fair data about victims of Gulag?

Where are fair data about victims of Gulag, and who here is interested in hiding the truth about Stalin? He was the cancer of socialism so even socialists shouldn't be interested in producing such articles like this one. Discovering the truth about Stalin we find out that the fall down of socialism was not caused by its manifesto , but the simple fact that people's democracy in Russia wasn't democracy and even communism - citizen's supervision was too weak if anybody considers people's or standard democracy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.36.50.84 (talk) 13:42, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

The fair (official) data are available now, and as Michael Ellman argued, they are much better that the indirect data used during the Cold War era:

"The unofficial sources can be of great value for providing a qualitative picture of what happened and for conveying the subjective impressions of those involved. However, when comparing the value of these three sources, it is important to realise that the use of the unofficial sources for generating numerical estimates suffers from a major weakness."

I agree that the section about the size of GULAG population is poorly written. Firstly, it heavily relies on Russian online resources and ignore the conclusions made by western scholars, which have been published in reputable peer-reviewed journals. Although Wikipedia allows usage of non-English sources, the English sources, especially are preferable over non-English ones, and peer-reviewed sources are preferable over non-peer-reviewed online resources. In addition, many English sources have been presented in such a way that the undue weight has been given to old and obsolete sources, whereas good contemporary sources are underrepresented. I'll rewrite the section in close future.--Paul Siebert (talk) 07:29, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

• There are no reliable data on the number of people in Gulag. Numbers given by different sources vary widely (actually, they vary 10 times for the number of prisoners). A source currently quoted in this article gives 1.6 million "casualties", but book Gulag by Applebaum gives 2.7 casualties in Gulag for the same period of time (not including executions that numbered at least 0.7 million during a few years of "Great terror"). Giving any definite numbers (especially with plots) in this article goes against NPOV. We should always give a range of numbers per sources. Yes, we should use RS, such as books by notable authors. Biophys (talk) 14:46, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
• I'd like to note that if we keep the range of numbers, it is better to make it clear that the official figures or at least the scholarly estimates are far more reliable than estimates by writers or journalists. Otherwise the latter two categories of sources should better be excluded altogether. GreyHood ^Talk

There are no "official" numbers on the subject. And even if there were any "official" numbers issued by official organizations, like US State department, KGB or whatever, we only have an obligation to follow reliable sources (and the "official" numbers are only a part of them). Also, we are not qualified to judge who was a "scholar" and who was not. It is enough to have a wikipedia article about the person and make sure the a book (a secondary RS) was independently published and qualifies as RS per policy. Biophys (talk) 15:45, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

I would stick to scholarly estimates. That said, even those tend to reflect the bias, (a) Soviets were evil, (b) Soviets weren't as bad as (a) contend, of said scholars, as there are major discrepancies in official figures, e.g., far more hours worked by labor camp inmates (productivity) than inhumanly possible (resources available). Unfortunately some scholars (and editors here) prefer the lower official counts preferring to dismiss conflicting discrepancies as Soviet-bashing Cold-War originated overstatements. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 15:38, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

If you prefer to stick to scholarly estimates, you should accept what reputable scholars say on that account. They say:

1. "We are all inclined to accept the Zemskov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added 4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labour settlements'. However taken, these are surely 'high' figures". (Conquest, EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES, Vol. 49, No. 7, 1997, 1317-1319)
2. "The unofficial sources can be of great value for providing a qualitative picture of what happened and for conveying the subjective impressions of those involved. However, when comparing the value of these three sources, it is important to realise that the use of the unofficial sources for generating numerical estimates suffers from a major weakness. It is well known that the unofficial sources are frequently very unreliable as sources of quantitative data. An example of this is Antonov-Ovseenko's underestimate of the USSR's 1937 population. Antonov-Ovseenko fell into the trap of using a (downward) approximation of the normally enumerated population as an estimate of the total population (which also included those enumerated by the NKVD and NKO and those not enumerated at all). Furthermore, the use of unofficial sources introduces an important bias into our study of Soviet repression and penal policy, in favour of politicals and against criminals. Although only a minority of the inhabitants of the Gulag were officially classified as 'counterrevolutionaries'( although, as is agreed by all the participants in this debate, the division between criminals and politicals was blurred under Soviet conditions38)t, he unofficial or literary sources mainly derive directly or indirectly from the politicals and hence give a one-sided picture."
   "The number of people in the Gulag (camps and colonies) for shorter or longer periods just in 1941-53 was about 16 million. The number in the Gulag for shorter or lesser periods in 1934-40 was about 4,250,000.75 Allowing for the 1.5 million stock of prisoners at the end of 1940, this might seem to mean that 18.75 million prisoners flowed through the Gulag in 1934-53. Actually, the situation is more complex. Since some people were sentenced more than once, this figure contains an upward bias (it actually measures sentences rather than individuals). On the other hand, as a measure of total Gulag inmates, it also contains downward biases. It takes no account of the numbers in the Gulag prior to 1934 or after 1953. It also excludes some groups classified separately from the other prisoners but who were in the Gulag (or administratively subordinate to it) at certain periods. These included for example the so-called 'special contingent', 'labour army' and 'special settlers'." (Ellman. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 7 (Nov., 2002), pp. 1151-1172).
3. "Western historians who consider that all these data were falsified 60 years ago, and then held in secret to be produced in order to disinform them, appear to be suffering from an exaggeration of their own importance. When Gulag officials were pleading for more supplies they had no incentive to underestimate the number of prisoners. When Gulag officials were planning production they needed to know the real number of prisoners. Their health departments needed to know how many were dying. When MVD leaders were briefing Stalin in their top security 'Osobye papki' reports they had good reason to avoid the charge of misleading him."(Wheatcroft. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Mar., 1999), pp. 315-345)
4. "The fact that the amount of information being released from the archives is rapidly growing increasingly facilitates comparative assessments of data from the core source group. The new numbers for the population of the Gulag camps and colonies, quoted across the various articles which have revealed this archive material, are in agreement with each other, except for a couple of cases. The first of these is the changing figure for the camp population of 1946 (Table 2) quoted by Zemskov in different articles. In the broad sweep of necessarily impersonal enumeration, the precise number of camp inmates on 1 January 1946 is not a crucial statistic, and the very fact that Zemskov himself corrected the first figure to that quoted elsewhere suggests a one-off error rather than an indication of inherent unreliability." (Bacon Soviet Studies, Vol. 44, No. 6 (1992), pp. 1069-1086)

The main thing you guys cannot understand is that there is almost no disagreement over the official figures when the scholars discuss the GULAG statistics. The debates are over interpretations of these data in a context of the total scale of the Stalinist repressions. The difference is huge.

Firstly, the number of persons sent to GULAG is smaller than the number of those passed through GULAG (18.75 million), because many persons were convicted several times (Lev Razgon is a typical example).

Secondly, the number of GULAG deaths was higher than statistics tells, because massive releases frequently were used to conceal the camps' mortality (people were released to die).

Thirdly, the number of those repressed during Stalin times was greater, because the GULAG figures do not include prisons, exiles, special settlements, etc.

Fourthly, the number of those imprisoned for political reasons (not for ordinary crimes) is hard to estimate because the border between political and non-political criminals was blurred.

However, since the article is not about the repressions in general, but about GULAG, we can safely use the results of archival studies, because they are accepted by most Western scholars. Whereas they still disagree about the scale of repressions, the controversy about the GULAG statistics seems to be resolved, and we do know truth about the total number of GULAG inmates, although the question of the total number of Stalinist victims is still not completely resolved.--Paul Siebert (talk) 16:42, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Re the single example of discrepancies in the official figures provided by Vishnevskii in the article published in some Russian language non-peer-reviewed online resource, I do not see we can give an undue weight to this single piece of evidence. The works of serious scholars, such as Zemskov, Ellman or Wheatcroft cite a huge amount of primary sources, provide careful analysis of them and check them against each other. By contrast, the Vishnevskii's article that cites about a dozen of secondary sources and does just a superficial analysis of them, is hardly convincing. Just compare these two quotes (you all can read Russian, so, I believe non-translated quotes will be ok):

Vishnevskii:

"В. Земсков, возражая Максудову, клеймит «грандиозный миф о якобы колоссальных потерях депортированных во время транспортировки». «Г-н Максудов должен усвоить как аксиому, что если было выселено 194,1 тыс. крымских татар, то в места высылки поступило из них не менее 193,8 тыс. Смертность при транспортировке составляла, как правило, от 0,1 до 0,2%»85. В. Земсков верит в известные ему документы, но документ – это не обязательно – справка, составленная чиновником из «органов». Вот одно из свидетельств людей, переживших депортацию крымских татар. «В накрепко закрытых вагонах люди умирали, как мухи, от голода и недостатка воздуха: нам не давали ни пить, ни есть… Когда, наконец, открыли двери посреди казахстанской степи, то дали военный паек, не давая пить, приказали выбросить трупы прямо возле железнодорожного пути и не дали их закопать, после чего мы снова отравились в путь»"

Zemskov:

"В письме г-на Максудова встречаются парадоксальные выводы и аргументы, заключающиеся в приведении давно известных на Западе правильных цифр в сочетании с неточной формулировкой, из-за чего эти цифры превращаются в неправильные. Например, говоря о численности поступивших в места высылки крымских татар, он констатирует, что прибыло к 1 июля 1944 г. 151424 человека. Эта цифра правильная при условии, если употребить формулировку «прибыло в Узбекскую ССР к 1 июля 1944 г.». а при формулировке «прибыло в Узбекскую ССР и другие регионы СССР», что, очевидно, и имел ввиду г-н Максудов. не сделав оговорок относительно географии высылки, к указанному количеству (151424) надо прибавить еще более 42 тыс. человек. Эти неточности в формулировках способствовали рождению на Западе грандиозного мифа о якобы колоссальных потерях депортированных во время транспортировки. Грубо искаженные представления о масштабах этих потерь так прочно вошли в сознание, что приведение подлинной информации производит на многих западных исследователей эффект шокотерапии. Г-н Максудов не нашел ничего лучшего, как окрестить подлинную информацию «очередной туфтой». Вынужден разочаровать г-на Максудова, так как использованные мною документы по степени достоверности аналогичны докладной записке Кобулова и Серова от 19 мая 1944 г., которую он цитирует. Г-н Максудов должен усвоить как аксиому, что если было выселено 194,1 тыс. крымских татар, то в места высылки поступило из них не менее 193,8 тыс. Смертность при транспортировке составляла, как правило, от 0,1 до 0,2% (массовая же смертность началась после транспортировки)."

(It is important to note that the last sentence, carefully omitted by Vishnevskii, demonstrates that Zemskov does not deny the fact of mass mortality, as Vishnevskii' cherry picking implies).

One more point. As we can see, Vishnevskii is doing exactly what Ellman calls "attention to extreme cases", which "may distort understanding". In connection to that, Vishnevskii's writings deserve not more than a brief mention, and they cannot refute any conclusion made by serious scholars .

And one additional point. Ellman writes clearly that "ubyl'" is not equal to mortality, because it included releases, transfer from camp to camp, from category to category, etc. However, Vishnevskii does exactly what Ellman demonstrated to be wrong. That adds no credibility to the Vishnevskii's writings. I do not support the idea to rely on this source.--Paul Siebert (talk) 17:01, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Figures from the article ru:ГУЛаг in the Russian Wikipedia

Original text: “За 1920—1953 годы через систему ИТЛ прошло около 10 млн человек, в том числе по статье контрреволюционные преступления — 3,4—3,7 млн человек.”

Translation: “From 1920 to 1953, about 10 million people, including 3.4—3.7 million people convicted under article of counter-revolutionary crimes, went through the system of the forced labor camps.”

Source: Игорь Пыхалов. Каковы масштабы «сталинских репрессий»? Psychiatrick (talk) 16:52, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

This source seems hardly reliable. We have good quality English sources that tell about 14 million passed through the camps, and 4-5 through the colonies.--Paul Siebert (talk) 17:03, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

I don’t ask you to use this source that is hardly reliable in my opinion, but I tell you that the Russian Wikipedia uses this source as a main one and relies on it. From the article about Игорь Пыхалов I have got to know that he is not a historian. His article Каковы масштабы «сталинских репрессий»? is located on the website praising Stalin and is not published in any academic journal. Psychiatrick (talk) 19:29, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

The numbers by Zemskov and Pykhalov are not very different because they are both based on "data" provided by the KGB/NKVD about their own repressions. This is an organization notorious for producing disinformation. In fact, a lot of their archives have been destroyed and never opened to researchers. It does not mean that KGB data can not be quoted here. Of course they can, but not as "the truth".Biophys (talk) 20:11, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

NKVD data was intended for internal usage, and therefore they tried to make it as precise as possible. It is naive to think that they bothered about the effect those statistics would have in a distant future. Also, there were millions and millions of documents, it is impossible to forge so much or to forge parts of them without huge inconsistencies. As Paul Siebert said, the original data is quite uncontroversial, but the controversy arises when one tries to interpret it - too many different organisations, different categories of prisoners and different types of repressions, difference between sentenced/executed or sent/passed etc. GreyHood ^Talk 20:33, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

@Biophys. Pykhalov relies mostly on Dugin's and Zemskov's data, the same data used by Western scholars. Therefore, since we have much better sources, we have no need in this Russian web source.

@Greyhood. You are not completely correct. I didn't say that the data are not controversial, my point was that the archival work with the documents from GARF (which were moved there from TsGAOR, where the ariginal NKVD documents were sent in Khruschev's time) produced the results that are seen as uncontroversial by leading Western scholars, and that are confirmed by the data from local archives and by the demographic data. However, whereas Zemskov's results are believed to be valid, some of his conclusions are not. However, since the section we discuss deals with GULAG population statistics (the data presented in his tables), we can use these data quite safely, with several reservations, made by Conquest, Ellman and Wheatcroft (see the previous section).--Paul Siebert (talk) 02:03, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

@Greyhood. I am not sure what millions of documents you are talking about. A lot of official Soviet statistical data are known to be completely fabricated (including those for internal usage, such as secret reports by Soviet scientific institutions). The only why to establish the picture would be opening the archives. But they did not open their archives not only to public and researchers, but even to government-appointed commissions. The materials of Shvernik Commission have been destroyed (the commission found the number of Gulag prisoners during the war was closer to 15 million than to 2 million, according to Olga Shatunovskaya, if I remember correctly), and Lev Ponomaryov committee was disbanded after first reports about their findings by Gleb Yakunin. Western researchers, like Applebaum, do not rely on NKVD data; they simply quote these data as something that has been published, but not necessarily "the truth". Biophys (talk) 02:11, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Biophys, please, educate yourself. The sources provided by me are the top quality mainstream western secondary sources, and they tell that the data are trustworthy. The same sources tell that these data deserve more credibility than literary sources. In addition, the same sources directly warn against paying too much attention to extreme cases, and to the testimonies of political prisoners, because that may give a distorted picture. The authors I am talking about are quite familiar with the Memorial data, they discuss the Shvernik's report, and all memoirs and witness testimonies you mention. In that situation, your reasoning can hardly have any weight.

In addition, let me remind you that the ability to extract correct conclusion based on unreliable, or even biased data is one of professional skills of any good historian, similar to the physicist's ability to work with noisy data, or computational biologist's ability to build a mathematical model of some biomolecule without knowing exact values of some force field constants. --Paul Siebert (talk) 02:27, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Biophys mentions specific instances. You (Paul) remind us of the excellent work you do and tell Biophys he is lacking in education. If you are going to respond to editors, please respond to their specific post, not with generalities, by insulting the educational level of editors who don't agree with you, or self-congratulations on your superior use of sources. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 03:28, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Since you joined the discussion, which lasts, with some interruptions (due to the sad accident both you and I are aware of) for more than three years, only recently, you probably do not know that Biophys seems to repeat his old arguments that I already addressed. Repeating old arguments and ignoring my points (supported by reliable sources, btw), is even a greater insult, because the work I am doing (a search and the analysis of the sources) does deserve some minimal respect (which should manifest itself in providing some counter-arguments of the same weight; unsupported claims made by some witnesses are not good counter-arguments). In connection to that, my suggestion to Biophys to educate himself is not an insult, but a request to familiarise himself with the subject, because I simply unable to tell on the talk page everything I have read. I always provide needed refs, and Biophys is perfectly able to read all articles I am citing. His refusal to do so suggests that he does not approach the discussion seriously, which is also an insult for me.--Paul Siebert (talk) 03:42, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Re Shvernik report, this quote may be useful:

"Instead of the Zemskov data giving a gross inflow into the camps of 9.8 million, they give a net inflow of 5.4 million. The Shverik report would indeed only allow one million 'politicals' to enter the camps, but the data on criminal sentences allow 7.6 million other prisoners to be sentenced to loss of freedom, and of these roughly 5.8 million were sentenced to more than two years. This will easily cover the net inflow of 5.4 million."(Wheatcroft. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Mar., 1999), pp. 315-345)

Please, keep also in mind that our non-free content policy applies rather strict limitations on quoting of the copyrighted materials, therefore I am not sure if I can provide extended quotes, especially on the talk pages.--Paul Siebert (talk) 03:50, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps you might indulge other editors who might be interested in the topic instead of making out your insult of others to be an insult of yourself, no? If your response to Biophys in the past was in similar tone and content, then we can hardly characterize any points as actually having been discussed in detail. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 03:47, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

You can find my responce to Biophys in the past in the talk page archives. This discussion took place before the you-know-what-concrete-incident-I-mean, and it was long enough to be found easily. Try to read it and make the conclusion by yourself.--Paul Siebert (talk) 03:57, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

(ec) FYI, I've been watching the article since the beginning of 2006 and I believe it was back in 2008 that I disputed your POV attempts to eliminate any mention of Applebaum's work from the article. How quickly we forget (my joining the discussion only "recently"). PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 04:01, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

P.S. Dismissive and unhelpful. Pretend there are other editors here who might wish a fresh discussion. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 04:06, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Well, if you are familiar with my old arguments, why haven't you addressed them yet? You took from the articles available for you everything that supports your idea that the archival data are not reliable, and reject everything that contradicts to that. You downplay the importance of best quality scholarly sources and put undue emphasis on obsolete (Solzhenitsyn), questionable (Vishnevsky, Antonov-Ovseenko), or biased sources. BTW, your interpretation of good quality secondary sources is incorrect, because although these sources (e.g. Ellman) state that the number of the victims of Stalinism (especially of concealed camps mortality and secret police killings) cannot be automatically derived form these data, they do not question the validity of the GULAG population data. Since it is the latter what we discuss, this criticism is totally irrelevant.

Re your "Dismissive and unhelpful." What do you mean?

Re "Pretend there are other editors here who might wish a fresh discussion." I cannot educate every newcomer. Any fresh discussion is possible if people come out with some new arguments in addition to, but not instead of those that have been already put forward, which implies that new editors familiarized themselves with the previous discussion.--Paul Siebert (talk) 04:16, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

There might be some sense in creating an article like Historiography of Gulag or Historiography of Stalinism where you can describe various available sources and then easily provide a link to that article to newcomers. GreyHood ^Talk 09:40, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, the idea is good, however, that does not resolve the issue we discuss. I plan to propose a new version of the section devoted to the GULAG population size which, in my opinion, more adequately reflects what contemporary mainstream reliable sources say.--Paul Siebert (talk) 14:58, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

@Paul: I propose not, as "new version" is, IMHO, a euphemism for censoring the article to contain only numbers you approve of. As a microcosm of the archival numbers dilemma, consider the inmate population figures reported by the Office of Railway Construction for 1939: 94,773 prisoners at the beginning of the year, 69,569 at year-end. However, prisoners were reported as having worked an impossible 135,148,918 man-days—consistent with an average prisoner population four-and-a-half times larger working every day of the year. Given the precise accounting of population, we would presume an error in reporting productivity. However, given man-days were the “engine” that drove productivity—that is, directly correlated to that which cannot be falsified, such as kilometers of track laid, that rather points to man-days being the more reliable, the population figures much less so. Therefore the population figures cannot be reliable in this instance.

   I also think "Historiography of..." would wind up making this article essentially a POV-fork as historiography would be a full account while this article would be an attempt to create a POV subset which will wind up being endlessly argued over as the current article has been certainly since I first looked at it. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 17:04, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

P.S. Rather than arguing over what to exclude I suggest working on what an inclusive version of this article would look like, covering both estimates and related challenges as in my example above, where the population and productivity numbers are so far apart that only one can be correct—the "most likely" answer is not a machination of calculations that produces something that is neither one nor the other. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 17:24, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

We have (i) early estimates, some of them (Jasny's or Timasheff's) are low, others (Solzhenitsyn's or Conquest's) are high; (ii) results of the archival research that produce exact figures for the GULAG population and GULAG deaths; (iii) later works, some of which question validity of these studies based on literary sources or extreme examples, whereas others disagree with such an approach and confirm the validity of these figures, with some reservations (namely, that some categories in these data may include concealed deaths, and that, whereas this statistics correctly reflects the amount of GULAG population, the total amount of the victim of Stalinism was different). I almost finished the draft of the section written based on this scheme, and I plan to add it to the article in close future.--Paul Siebert (talk) 18:54, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

• Once again, there are no exact numbers. That's the point. For example, a source currently quoted in this article gives 1.6 million "casualties", but the book "Gulag" by Anne Applebaum (and it is obviously very recent) gives 2.7 million casualties in Gulag for the same period of time (not including executions that numbered at least 0.7 million during a few years of "Great terror"). She gives 2.7 million as a lower and an uncertain estimate. This is very easy to source. Biophys (talk) 19:34, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I agree that some sources question reliability of the archival data. However, the reference to Applebaum is hardly relevant, because it is more tertiary rather than a secondary source (a book written by a journalist based on the archival studies made by others). More relevant are the references to Vishnevskii or Rosenfielde, who point at local inconsistencies in the GULAG statistics data. However, other sources, do agree that the archival data are reliable and, importantly, self-consistent (Bacon, Wheatcroft), and they do accept their results (Ellamn, Conquest).

Regarding the 1.6 vs 2.7 million, please, read the discussion carefully. That is exactly what I meant when I wrote about different interpretations of the same data. We have at least three interpretations:

1. GRZ: the number of deaths caused by GULAG is equal to the number of those who were officially listed as dead in the GULAG archives;
2. Conquest, Vishnevskii, et al: the number of deaths was equivalent to the camps' "ubyl'" (another category of the official statistics);
3. Ellman: the official figures of the camps' "ubyl'" include deaths, however, the number of actual deaths was smaller than the camps' "ubyl'", although higher than the official number of camps' deaths.

You probably noticed that all these authors deal with the official data, so the dispute is over the interpretations of these data, not over the data themselves, so we do have reliable figures.

If you want to discuss Applebaum again, please, provide concrete quote to discuss it. I have no desire to do your job for you.--Paul Siebert (talk) 20:03, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you talking about that Wheatcroft, that Vishnevskii and that Rosenfielde? No one knows about them. Even their inclusion in wikipedia is questionable. Let's use books by Nobel Prize winners and other notable authors, like Robert Conquest and Applebaum. Once again, even governmental committees were not allowed to work with KGB/NKVD archives.Biophys (talk) 22:09, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I am talking about the sources that meet all reliable sources criteria defined by our policy. Go to the WP:RSN and ask. The answer will be that the articles in peer-reviewed western journals specialised on this subject are mainstream reliable sources, and the obsolete book of the Nobel prize winner in literature is not.

To demonstrate how amateurish this your post is, let me ask a (rhetoric) question:

"Which source is more reliable for history of the Latin American revolutions: a Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, or the article of almost unknown Frederic F. Clairmont (What Next for the 'Bolivarian Revolution'? Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 42 (Oct. 16-22, 2004), pp. 4623-4627)?"

--Paul Siebert (talk) 22:46, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

PS Let me also point out that contemporary western scholars never discuss Solzhenitsyn's figures seriously. They give a credit to this author for drawing the public attention to the issue, however, they do not consider Archipelago as a serious study. Moreover, according to Ellman, even such a reputable scholar as Conquest is not an expert in demography or penology, and the value of his works is consists in drawing "qualitative picture of enormous horrors to the general public", which he does admirably well. However, his qualitative conclusions are far less trustworthy. Regarding Applebaum, she is a journalist, and it is quite natural to expect that her book, which war written for general public, is more popular than the works of the scholars she used for her works.

And one more point. Our policy provides a very clear description of what the reliable sources are, and it is not in my habit to use sources that do not meet these criteria. If you doubt in any sources I use, please, go to WP:RSN, and, unless the verdict there will be that the source is unreliable, I'll disregard all your claims about unreliability of fringeness of the sources I use as unsubstantiated. --Paul Siebert (talk) 23:06, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Paul Siebert said: “The answer will be that the articles in peer-reviewed western journals specialised on this subject are mainstream reliable sources, and the obsolete book of the Nobel prize winner in literature is not.” The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is not an obsolete book. On 26 October 2010, the Channel One (Russia) announced that schoolchildren would study The Gulag Archipelago («школьники будут изучать “Архипелаг ГУЛАГ”». Source: [4]) It means that schoolchildren will study this book in every Russian school and will believe in numbers of the Gulag detainees presented by Solzhenitsyn in his book. In addition, his book contains many more concrete facts than any other books on this subject. Psychiatrick (talk) 00:11, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Schoolchildren in Russia study various books during their literature lessons, for instance, the books of Chekhov, Pushkin, Gogol and other world classics. That does not mean that all what they write is factually correct. With regard to the history lessons, I will oppose to any attempt to bring Wikipedia (both English and Russian) into accordance with Russian school program.

Regarding the facts, the difference between the books written by a writer and a professional historian is not in the number of facts they present, but in the way they are being interpreted. As I already demonstrated above, some concrete facts give totally distorted picture.--Paul Siebert (talk) 00:20, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

@Paul: And "exact" figures ("(ii) results of the archival research that produce exact figures for the GULAG population and GULAG deaths") are personal interpretations of the individual researcher at best given demonstrated wild incompatibilities in data which should be congruent. As for "I will oppose to any attempt to bring Wikipedia (both English and Russian) into accordance with Russian school program", am I correct to anticipate that you will now defend both EN and RU WP against teachings that the Soviet Union liberated, not (re-)conquered and subjugated, the Baltics (occupied for half a century) and Eastern Europe (de facto occupied for half a century)? I look forward to your vigorous defense of WP against Russian history lessons. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 00:37, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

P.S. It's a welcome breath of fresh air that The Gulag Archipelago is off the Russian nee Soviet black-list. Perhaps there is hope for Russia's future after all. Perhaps Putin is starting to think about his legacy. Not very flattering at the moment. PЄTЄRS J V ►TALK 00:42, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Every mainstream reliable secondary source is a personal interpretation of some primary sources made by established authors. I repeat what I said to Biophys: if you have any doubt in teh sources I use, go to WP:RSN. In future, I will ignore the arguments of this kind from you, if they will not be supported by independent users on that noticeboard. Regarding " wild incompatibilities in data", we have the sources that state that the data are self-consistent in general, and the sources that point at some local incompatibilities (and draw global conclusions from that). You persistently ignore the former and overemphasize the latter, which goes against a common sense and our policy. Re Russian school program, it is a terrible mess of chauvinism (which you in Baltic call nationalism), Stalinism and anti-Communism. I have always been an opponent of what it says and how it has been built. Re your lovely Baltic issue, you already know my opinion on that: I equally oppose to the weird views of the nationalists from both sides.

re Solzhenitsyn, if I were you, I would oppose to any attempt to introduce him in Russian schools, because the effect will be the opposite to what you expect. Frankly speaking, I myself have no opinion on that subject, because all depends on the context Solzhenitsyn will be studied in. It may have a beneficial, totally negative, or no effect. If it will be presented as a historical study, the effect will be more negative: the facts are so unbelievable and ridiculous that that may create a block in the mind of young children, and they will simply ignore and disregard any information of that kind in future. If it will be studied during the literature lessons, the effect may be positive, provided, but only provided that the program will be balanced. In any event, that has no relation to the issue we discuss.--Paul Siebert (talk) 01:24, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Re: Solzhenitsyn - if I remember right, The Gulag Archipelago is to be studied in Russian schools in short and revised version, with many mistakes and controversial points removed. This is one more reason not to include Solzhenitsyn's work as a source at all or to include it with serious reservations only. There should be a difference between literary works and serious historiography. Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace is also good for literature lessons, but not for history ones. GreyHood ^Talk 10:46, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Correct. Whereas WP uses historians, such as Chandler or Reihn in the Battle of Borodino article, it discusses Tolstoy only in the "Legacy" section, together with the Lermontov's poem.

And, since we already have a clear and unequivocal statement of the established scholar about the danger of literary sources in this particular case (see above), and no reliable sources that state the opposite (namely, that the literary sources are preferable for drawing the qualitative picture), we mush stop put original research, and to follow what the reliable sources say. --Paul Siebert (talk) 14:36, 11 August 2011 (UTC)