Transformation of camp system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics “On the Changes to the Development Plan of 1953”

Abstract

The subject of this research is the examination of the first stage of reforms of camp economy: its transformation after adoption of the Decree “On the Changes to the Development Plan of 1953”. The goal of this work consists in determination of consequences of the large-scale reduction of the economic activity of the GULAG. The question of impact of the Decree on the Changes to the Development Plan upon economic activity of forced labor has not previously been the subject of a separate research. The author analyzes the incidence of reduction of economic activity of the GULAG, as well as generalizes the data on the activity and fate of the forced labor camps assigned to the constructions under liquidation. The conclusion is made that the changes to the development plan of 1953 became the first and crucial step in the GULAG reforms, which predetermines its final liquidation in 1960. After adoption of the decree, work was immediately halted on twenty largest construction objects of the GULAG, combined cost of which amounted to 49.2 billion rubles.