I gathered from the candid statements of the Tchekists that the Gpu has now no need to make a regular practice of mass shootings, because more humane measures — slow murder from starvation, work beyond the prisoners' strength, and "medical help" — are perfectly adequate substitutes.
It would be a mistake to suppose that one must commit some kind of offence to be sent to the Sekirka, the "sacks" and the mosquitoes, or to be shot. The prisoners are handed over by the central authorities to the unchecked caprice of the camp administration. If the Tchekists dislike your face, if you are seen crossing yourself on the sly, if you have said anything about your hard lot in your letters to your relations — the Sekirka and the "sacks" open their dreadful doors to you.
CHAPTER XV
HOW THE TCHEKISTS LIVE
Luxurious Proletarians — Merry Gatherings at Kem — A Revolting Orgy — "Holding the Banner of Communism Aloft" — How Criminals are Released.
The concentration camp on Solovetsky Island is guarded by the 3rd Escort Regiment of the Gpu troops (300 rifles strong), and that on Popoff Island by the 95th Division of the Gpu troops (150 strong). In spite of the good food they receive, scurvy rages among the Red soldiers, as does also syphilis. The soldiers, with the exception of those on duty guarding the camps, live in private quarters.
The Solovky guards, drawn from the criminal canaille which, after the October Revolution, suddenly discovered its "class consciousness" and joined the Communist Party in tens of thousands, spend all their time in card-playing, debauchery, swilling home-distilled spirits and drunken orgies.
In this they follow the example of the higher officials. The life led by the Solovky authorities is far from proletarian. Nogteff, Eichmans, Vasko, Kirilovsky, Popoff and the rest deny themselves nothing. Having earned piles of money at the expense of the prisoners, the "administrators" lead a thoroughly non-Communistic life. Liquor, clothes, and other things are always arriving for them in truck-loads from Moscow, Petrograd and Kem. I myself took part in the unloading of two of these trucks. They contained different kinds of vodka, Russian and foreign wines, including champagne, liqueurs, all kinds of hors d'œuvres, expensive clothes, both men's and women's — the latter for the harems — comfortable furniture, and so on.
The "administrators" are notorious for their orgies not only in the Solovky, but much further afield — all over Northern Russia. The scene of the debauches is usually Kem, where the Tchekists from the monastery and from Popoff Island assemble to make merry.
On Popoff Island itself they take place in the quarters of Kirilovsky, the commandant of the "Kemperraspredpunkt," who not long ago had the reputation of being a decently conducted man. They nearly always end in brawls.
For example, in August, 1924, a drinking-bout of the usual kind was held in Kirilovsky's quarters. Guests and host drank so heavily that Kirilovsky felt ill, and they took him out into the fresh air. When he returned to the house, the guests, as drunk as pigs, were vomiting over the table, and his wife was lying on a sofa in Popoff's arms in a shameless posture.