Invalids

This chapter presents the ways in which the Gulag administration dealt with its “inferior workforce.” Severely ill and disabled prisoners were considered as physically inferior (fizicheski nepolnotsennye), the defective labor force (nepolnotsennye rabsily), and the not-work-capable elements (netrudosposobnye elementy). They were unable to do the camp's basic work, which involved heavy physical labor in such sectors as construction, mining, and forestry. The so-called inferior workforce included both prisoners classified as invalids and those assigned to light labor. This segment of the Gulag labor force represented an enormous population of prisoners, and it grew significantly over the Stalin years. Given that a significant portion of the prison labor force was severely ill and disabled, the Gulag leadership sought ways to manage, conceal, and discard this enormous emaciated population.