Criminal Subculture in the Gulag: Prisoner Society in the Stalinist Labour Camps (Library of Modern Russia)

Despite growing academic interest in the Gulag, our knowledge of the camps as a lived experience remains relatively incomplete. Criminal Subculture in the Gulag , in its sophisticated analysis of crime, punishment and everyday life in Soviet labour camps, rectifies this. From Gulag journals and song collections to tattoo drawings and dictionaries of slang, Mark Vincent draws on often-overlooked archival material from the Moscow Criminological Bureau to reconstruct a fuller picture of Gulag daily life and society. In thematic chapters, Vincent maps the Gulag 'penal arc' of prisoners across initiation tests, means of communication, the importance of card playing, punishment rituals and the notorious 1948-52 cyka ('bitches') internal prison war between military veterans and vory-v-zakone . Most importantly, this timely examination of crime and punishment in modern Russia also highlights the lines of continuity between the Gulag systems, late Imperial Katorga, and today's Russian mafia. As such, this impressively interdisciplinary volume is important reading for all scholars of 20th-century Russia as well as those interested in international criminality and penology. Despite continued interest in the Gulag, academic scholarship has failed to move beyond the strict divide between 'criminal' and 'political' prisoners. This is largely due to the lack of memoirs from outside the intelligentsia and misconceptions perpetuated in mainstream culture, which has led to a disproportionate focus on vory-v-zakone ('thieves-in law') - who in 1950 made up less than 10% of the Gulag's 'criminals'. Mark Vincent draws on neglected materials - including song collections, Gulag newspapers and journals, tattoo drawings and dictionaries of slang, alongside reports from the state-funded Moscow Criminological Bureau - and uses a variety of disciplinary methodologies to reconstruct a fuller picture of Gulag daily life and society. Vincent maps the Gulag thematically, re-constructing the 'penal arc' through transportation, arrival and initiation, visual and verbal means of communication, the importance of card playing in structuring hierarchies, punishment rituals and the notorious 1948-52 cyka voina ('bitches' war'), a period of internal prisoner conflict in the aftermath of the Great Patriotic War. Especially important are the lines of continuity that Vincent draws between the Gulag system and both late Imperial katorga and aspects of today's Russian mafia. This impressively inter-disciplinary volume is important reading for all students and scholars of twentieth century Russia, as well as those interested in international criminality and penology Half-Title Page Series Title Page Dedication Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgements A note on translation and transliteration Introduction: The world of the 49ers 1 Criminal subculture before the Gulag 2 Etap: The shaping of prisoner relations 3 Hierarchies: Arrival, socialisation and the prisoner code 4 Communication: Tattoos and slang 5 Gambling: Card playing and the structuring of prisoner society 6 Punishment and conflict: Urka courts and the ‘bitches’ war’ Epilogue: Cult of the urka Glossary of commonly used terms Notes Bibliography Index Copyright