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.
Infuriated, Kirilovsky dragged Popoff from the sofa and flung him away so violently that his head went through the door. Popoff, however, managed to give him a blow in the face, smashing his glasses. Shots were fired. Popoff was dragged out of Kirilovsky's quarters and taken home, where he broke all the windows with his fists and, shedding bitter tears, began to bellow so that all the camp could hear him:
"They've killed me! They've killed me!"
It would appear that such a manner of life is ideal Communism, for in November, 1924, at the time of the anniversary of the October Revolution, the Natchuslon received a letter of thanks from the Moscow Gpu, in which the latter expressed its gratitude to Nogteff and his colleagues for "holding the banner of Communism aloft."
In the time which their alcoholic occupations leave at their disposal, the "administrators" of the Solovetsky Islands amuse themselves by amnestying prisoners of the shpana category. Every day, after navigation has begun, some five hundred prisoners are released.
The procedure is as follows. The ordinary criminals, male and female, are stripped of their last rags ("State clothing"), are given railway tickets to the towns where they live, and a supply of bread in accordance with the length of their journey. Then they are put into freight trucks stark naked, and sent off to Kem station! Naturally half the shpana rob somebody to get clothes directly they arrive at Kem station, and return to the camp to undergo an extra year's imprisonment. The rest go away naked.
None of the "K.R.'s" are ever liberated. From time to time it is rumoured that the politicals are to be released or transferred to a prison on the mainland of Russia. These rumours usually remain rumours; if politicals leave the Solovky it is only for another place of exile.