In the monastery itself, the "K.R.'s" and criminals live in the cells and churches of the Kremlin which have escaped destruction, the "politicals and party men" in the hermits' caves which are scattered all over the island — three, six or eight miles from the Kremlin. On Popoff Island the prisoners are housed in hutments erected by the British — the "K.R.'s" and shpana together, the "politicals and party men" separately.

The supreme head of the administration of the Northern Camps for Special Purposes is a Moscow Tchekist, a member of the Vtsik, named Gleb Boky. (One of the Solovetsky steamers, by the way, has been re-named Gleb Boky in his honour.) He is a tall, thin man, apparently well educated. His bearing is generally gloomy, his eyes piercing; he always wears military uniform. He is the typical rigid Communist of superior education, with an element of cruelty in his disposition. He lives in Moscow, where he has some other employment in the Gpu, and only comes to the Solovky now and then.

His deputy, who lives permanently in the Kremlin of the monastery, is the real head of the Slon in practice; the fate of the prisoners in the Solovky is completely in his hands. His name is Nogteff. He is also a member of the Vtsik, and was formerly a sailor in the cruiser Aurora. He is semi-educated, drunken, and rather deaf, with a conspicuously cruel physiognomy. He is universally known in the camps by the nickname palatch (executioner). When he goes round the hutments and caves of the "political and party" prisoners, they shout in his face "Go away, executioner!" (I will explain later how it is that they are able to do this with impunity.)

Nogteff's right-hand man and deputy is an Estonian Communist named Eichmans. He suffers from "paradomania." Of smart military bearing himself, he demands the same of prisoners in a state of permanent starvation. They are compelled to salute him. Immediately on his arrival in the Solovky he began to teach the prisoners, with blows when required, how to reply to his "good morning" in a brisk, military tone, at the same time coming to attention.

When I arrived in the Solovky, and until March, 1924, the commandant of the "Kemperraspredpunkt"[[14]] was one Gladkoff, a Tchekist, born at Kaluga, in Central Russia, and formerly a workman. He was notable for his open peculation of Government money and his astounding patronage of the shpana. Almost illiterate, coarse, addicted to cards and drink, he was really in no way different from these common criminals. It was thus on what might be termed ideological grounds that Gladkoff established and strengthened the dictatorship of the shpana over the "K.R.'s" and politicals, and all the violence we endured at their hands.

[13] Severnye Lageri Osobennavo Naznatchenia (Northern Camps for Special Purposes). Slon means "elephant" in Russian; the double entendre cannot, of course, be reproduced in English.

[14] This appalling portmanteau word, a fine flower of Soviet officia phraseology, signifies Kemsky peresylotchno-raspredelnitelnyi punkt (Kem distributing centre for prisoners passing through). These long-winded official designations, of no interest to the general reader, are given here for the benefit of students of Soviet Russian affairs.

CHAPTER III
A GALLERY OF TCHEKISTS

Convicted Tchekists as Prison Staff — The "Public Prosecutor" — A Foreign Visitor's Fate — Bela Kun's Right Hand Man — "Smolensky Sticks" — Moscow Prison Riot — The "Mother" of the Criminals — An Unpunished Peculator.

In March, 1924, a so-called "change of cabinet" took place. I will speak of this later, and continue my portraits of the ministers in the earlier combination.