Understanding the History of Soviet Criminal Justice: The Contribution of Archives and Other Sources

Abstract

On the basis of the author's research (and to a lesser extent that of other scholars), this paper argues that for constructing the history of Soviet criminal justice archives served mainly as a supplement to rather than substitute for printed sources and oral history. Archives were more important for the postwar decade, 1946–55, when the quality of printed sources reached a low point. Overall, archival sources provided special insights into decision‐making in criminal policy and the role of Stalin; statistics on the work of the justice agencies (including campaigns and the implementation of new laws); secret laws and decrees; and documents on the management of the penal system. Major findings to which archival sources contributed include the difficulties implementing extreme measures initiated by Stalin (extensions of the law and severe punishments) because of resistance of officials to them; the abandonment in the mid‐1930s of the practice of running legal institutions with uneducated trustees in favor of trained legal officials making careers and the way their work came to be evaluated; the extent of dysfunctions in the administration of justice before Stalin's death; and the seriousness of attempts at reform in the first years of Khrushchev's rule.