Problems of mechanization of gulag production in the European North of Russia

Low level of mechanization of the production activity significantly influenced the formation of economic indicators of GULAG subdivisions.This problem had permanent character for building and logging camps. Their provision with machines and mechanisms was low, and the most laborious works were often performed manually. Thus available machines worked inefficiently, often used not according to intended purpose.Besides, the priority of manual labour in GULAG was connected with the desire of the camp management to fulfil the planned targets on the reduction of production costs at any cost. For this purpose it was much more favorable to use live labor of prisoners, to apply cartages, than to achieve intensification of production.Seeking to raise mechanization at works connected with coal and oil production, the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued orders and instructions which level of execution was rather low.Weak mechanization of economy of the forced labor was the reflection of the general condition of the Soviet economy. Work of plants and factories in the USSR was essentially complicated by short deliveries and poor quality of components, frequent breakages of the equipment, low level of mechanization of production in general. These phenomena testify that the economy of the forced labor can be considered as an organic part of the Soviet economy as a whole.The analysis of sources allows to conclude that economy of GULAG based mainly on hard physical labour, rejected technical progress. The need in investments in the mechanization of production processes was often ignored owing to availability of cheap, disfranchised forced labor in the camps and colonies of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR.