Stalin's Gulag at War: Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory in the Second World War. By Wilson T. Bell. University of Toronto Press, 2019. xiv + 262pp. $29.95 (pb).

Since the renewal of academic and popular interest in the camp system in the early 2000s, and its subsequent use as a metonym detailing the barbarities of the Soviet (even at times simply Stalinist) system more generally, the word ‘Gulag’ itself has been subject to a number of preconceptions which differ from its original bureaucratic designation. This is particularly the case in regard to the panoply of detention institutions covered under this more general banner, and the importance of Wilson Bell's erudite and nuanced study of a region which contained, among other types of imprisonment, the remarkably understudied corrective-labour colonies. In creating a rich and varied source base compiled from both published and unpublished memoirs alongside dense archival material at the central and local level, Bell has successfully followed the work of Kate Brown, Stephen Kotkin and the more Gulag-specific Alan Barenberg in creating a microstudy which not only provides deep insight into the workings (or non-workings) of the Western Siberian Gulag but also overflows with conceptual ideas to help illuminate the system and period as a whole. Beginning with the onset of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Bell's introduction neatly lays out both the geographical and historical parameters of his study. Positioning Western Siberian Gulag within the wider Stalinist state both before and during wartime, the author crucially, as this theme will be returned to regularly, looks at the development of the Gulag in this region in its temporal context, even pointing out the irony of Stalin being exiled there in the years leading up to 1917. Indeed, this approach continues in the first chapter, which studies the link between forced labour and Western Siberia's economic development, recalling how the need to extract resources represented an attempted solution to a long-standing issue in Russian (not just Soviet) history. Bell details the myriad problems facing the largest camp complex Siblag following its establishment in 1929 through some particularly visceral recollections from former prisoners (p. 41). Continuing the reader's chronological journey, Bell's following chapter seeks to demonstrate how the Western Siberian camps adapted to the destructive effects which followed the Nazis’ incendiary prorogation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the ensuing total mobilisation of resources towards Soviet victory at all costs. The author's remarkable attention to detail is highlighted by comparisons of prisoner populations and mortality rates alongside an intricate discussion of rationing and its potential effects on prisoner society (p. 61). Recalling vividly how authorities evidently viewed prisoner labour as a ‘human-resource puzzle’ (p. 77) the underpinning theme of the chapter, and of another which will be continued later, remains the overwhelming sacrifice forced upon both prisoners and non-prisoners, who were, as Bell surmises, intertwined in this struggle at various levels within the forced labour apparatus. Delving deeper into the underlife of Gulag society, the third chapter on the perceived patriotism displayed by prisoners, and the potential differences from overt forms of camp propaganda, again focuses on hitherto understudied minority groups within the prisoner population such as the Volga Germans and Kalmyks. The author astutely judges some of the geographical reasoning which explains why the majority of prisoners incarcerated for petty offences are regularly overlooked by historians preferring to focus on the experience of 58ers incarcerated for alleged counter-revolutionary activities (p. 105). He deftly engages with recent discussions regarding the paradoxical functions of the system in relation to the medical condition of their inmates, often aligning his own analysis alongside Giorgio Agamben's concept of ‘bare life’ with which Bell interacts in a complex and assured manner throughout (p. 110). As with prisoner society, Bell's fourth chapter on ‘Patriotic Personnel’ also seeks to develop another understudied area, suggesting that many camp employees (like Soviet citizens outside the camps) were not ideologically motivated and in fact stood out for their ‘ordinariness’, viewing the camps as merely a place of work. Discussing the multiplicity of camp positions and continued blurring of Gulag and non-Gulag, the author advances further conceptual influences by suggesting that the Western Siberian camps were prime examples of a number of Primo Levi's ‘grey zones’ in which personal relationships were very complex and marked by the importance of individual decisions opposed to formal directives, prevalent nepotism, abundant black market activities, and the frequency of prisoners and non-prisoners occupying the same social sphere (pp. 114–19). Examining the many disciplinary procedures initiated against Gulag workers and noting that fewer than 20 per cent had a party-influenced background (p. 125), Bell argues that, against the backdrop of war, violence became increasingly normalised within the camp system (p. 135). Chapter 5 sees Bell looking to (re)assess the Gulag's role in Second World War victory, not only through the same detailed analytical reading of archival documents as in the previous chapters but also by introducing more fully a comparative aspect to situate the wartime Gulag within a global context. Underpinning Bell's own analysis here is the Foucauldian-influenced concept of biopolitics and modernist debates initiated, among others, by Zygmunt Bauman (p. 139). Arguing persuasively for more specific periodisation, highlighting the fact that over half of Gulag deaths took place between June 1941 and May 1945, the author again shows how a top-down emphasis on bureaucratisation and professionalisation was far removed from the informal practices, which were not only tacitly encouraged but ultimately defined prisoner society on the ground (p. 148). Sadly, as Bell highlights, the ultimate military victory seemingly provided Soviet officials with ample justification for prolonging the system in the immediate post-war period. Tying these many complementary themes and insights together through the complexities of Gulag memory, Bell concludes his study by recalling the continuing opposition to the work of human rights organisations such as Memorial and the Sakharov Centre through the powerful vignette detailing the vandalism of the Tomsk ‘Sorrow Stone’ (p. 162). In doing so the author highlights how commemoration of the Gulag's role is often viewed as officially acceptable only if aligned alongside, yet still in the shadow of, memorialisation of the wider conflict. This stark reality, Bell suggests, demonstrates alarmingly how the Second World War victory can only be viewed as a pyrrhic one at absolute best for the many people incarcerated not only in Western Siberia but throughout the Soviet Union. It is in these considerations of the fragility of many of Bell's anonymous subjects, many of whose deaths could potentially have been avoided if mobilisation had occurred in a different manner, that the author closes an excellently researched and thought-provoking study which will no doubt influence the direction of future research.

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