The second question concerned how many political prisoners there were, and how many common criminals. This question includes those imprisoned in labour camps, gulag colonies and the prisons (though it should be remembered that in the labour colonies there was, in the majority of cases, only partial loss of liberty). The Table below shows the data which appeared in the American Historical Review, data which encompass a period of 20 years beginning in 1934, when the penal system was unified under a central administration, until 1953, the year Stalin died.
Costodial population January 1st |
Gulag Working Camps | Counter-revolutionary | Counterrev. % | Died | Died % | Freed | Escaped |
| 1934 | 510,307 | 135,190 | 26.5 | 26,295 | 5.2 | 147,272 | 83,490 |
| 1935 | 725,438 | 118,256 | 16.3 | 28,328 | 3.9 | 211,035 | 67,493 |
| 1936 | 839,406 | 105,849 | 12.6 | 20,595 | 2.5 | 369,544 | 58,313 |
| 1937 | 820,881 | 104,826 | 12.8 | 25,376 | 3.1 | 364,437 | 58,264 |
| 1938 | 996,367 | 185,324 | 18.6 | 90,546 | 9.1 | 279,966 | 32,033 |
| 1939 | 1,317,195 | 454,432 | 34.5 | 50,502 | 3.8 | 223,622 | 12,333 |
| 1940 | 1,344,408 | 444,999 | 33.1 | 46,665 | 3.5 | 316,825 | 11,813 |
| 1941 | 1,500,524 | 420,293 | 28.7 | 100,997 | 6.7 | 624,276 | 10,592 |
| 1942 | 1,415,596 | 407,988 | 29.6 | 248,877 | 18 | 509,538 | 11,822 |
| 1943 | 983,974 | 345,397 | 35.6 | 166,967 | 17.0 | 336,135 | 6,242 |
| 1944 | 663,594 | 268,861 | 40.7 | 60,948 | 9.2 | 152,113 | 3,586 |
| 1945 | 715,506 | 283,351 | 41.2 | 43,848 | 6.1 | 336,750 | 2,196 |
| 1946 | 600,897 | 333,833 | 59.2 | 18,154 | 3.0 | 115,700 | 2,642 |
| 1947 | 808,839 | 427,653 | 54.3 | 35,668 | 4.4 | 194,886 | 3,779 |
| 1948 | 1,108,057 | 416,156 | 38.0 | 27,605 | 2.5 | 261,148 | 4,261 |
| 1949 | 1,216,361 | 420,696 | 34.9 | 15,739 | 1.3 | 178,449 | 2,583 |
| 1950 | 1,416,300 | 578,912 | 22.7 | 14,703 | 1.0 | 216,210 | 2,577 |
| 1951 | 1,533,767 | 475,976 | 31.0 | 15,587 | 1.0 | 254,269 | 2,318 |
| 1952 | 1,711,202 | 480,766 | 28.1 | 10,604 | 0.6 | 329,446 | 1,253 |
| 1953 | 1,727,970 | 465,256 | 26.9 | 5,825 | 0.3 | 937,352 | 785 |
| Custodial population January 1st | Gulag Labor Colonies | Prisons | Total |
1934 |
none | none | 510,307 |
| 1935 | 240,259 | none | 965,697 |
| 1936 | 457,088 | none | 1,296,494 |
| 1937 | 375,488 | none | 1,196,369 |
| 1938 | 885,203 | none | 1,881,570 |
| 1939 | 355,243 | 350,538 | 2,022,976 |
| 1940 | 315,584 | 190,266 | 1,850,258 |
| 1941 | 429,205 | 487,739 | 2,417,468 |
| 1942 | 360,447 | 277,992 | 2,054,035 |
| 1943 | 500,208 | 235,313 | 1,719,495 |
| 1944 | 516,225 | 155,213 | 1,335,032 |
| 1945 | 745,171 | 279,969 | 1,740,646 |
| 1946 | 956,224 | 261,500 | 1,818,621 |
| 1947 | 912,794 | 306,163 | 2,027,796 |
| 1948 | 1,091,478 | 275,850 | 2,475,385 |
| 1949 | 1,140,324 | none | 2,356,685 |
| 1950 | 1,145,051 | none | 2,561,351 |
| 1951 | 994,379 | none | 2,528,146 |
| 1952 | 793,312 | none | 2,504,514 |
| 1953 | 740,554 | none | 2,468,524 |
From the above Table, there are a series of conclusions which need to be drawn. To start with we can compare its data to those given by Robert Conquest. The latter claims that in 1939 there were 9 million political prisoners in the labour camps and that 3 million others had died in the period 1937-1939. Let the reader not forget that Conquest is here talking only about political prisoners! Apart from these, says Conquest, there were also common criminals who, according to him, were much greater in number than the political prisoners! In 1950 there were, according to Conquest, 12 million political prisoners! Armed with the true facts, we can readily see what a fraudster Conquest really is. Not one of his figures corresponds even remotely to the truth. In 1939 there was a total in all the camps, colonies and prisons of close to 2 million prisoners. Of these 454,000 had committed political crimes, not 9 million as Conquest asserts. Those who died in labour camps between 1937 and 1939 numbered about 160,000, not 3 million as Conquest asserts. In 1950 there were 578,000 political prisoners in labour camps, not 12 million. Let the reader not forget that Robert Conquest to this day remains one of the major sources for right-wing propaganda against communism. Among right-wing pseudo-intellectuals, Robert Conquest is a godlike figure. As for the figures cited by Alexander Solzhenitsyn – 60 million alleged to have died in labour camps – there is no need for comment. The absurdity of such an allegation is manifest. Only a sick mind could promote such delusions.
Let us now leave these fraudsters in order that we may ourselves concretely analyse the statistics relating to the gulag. The first question to be asked is what view we should take about the sheer quantity of people caught up in the penal system? What is the meaning of the figure of 2.5 million? Every person that is put in prison is living proof that society was still insufficiently developed to give every citizen everything he needed for a full life. From this point of view, the 2.5 million do represent a criticism of the society.