Katorga (ка́торга, from Greek: katergon (galley)) was a system of penal servitude in Imperial Russia. Prisoners were sent to remote camps in vast uninhabited areas of Siberia and forced to perform hard labor. Katorga began in the 17th century, and was taken over by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution, eventually transforming into the Gulag.

Unlike concentration camps, "katorga" was within the normal judicial system of (Imperial) Russia, but both share the same main features: confinement, simplified facilities (as opposed to prisons), and forced labor, usually on hard, unskilled or semi-skilled work.

Katorgas were established in underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East that had few towns or food sources. Nonetheless, a few prisoners successfully escaped back to populated areas. Since these times, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment, which was further enhanced by the Soviet Gulag system that developed from the Katorga camps.

The most common occupations in katorga camps were mining and timber works. A notable example was the construction of Amur Cart Road (Амурская колесная дорога), praised as a success in organisation of penal labor.

Anton Chekhov, the famous Russian writer and playwright, in 1891 visited the katorga settlements in the Sakhalin island in the Russian Far East and wrote about the conditions there in his book Sakhalin Island. He criticized the shortsightedness and incompetence of the officials in charge that has led to poor living standards, waste of government funds, and poor productivity. Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his book Gulag Archipelago about the Soviet era labor camps quoted Chekhov extensively to illustrate the enormous deterioration of living conditions of the inmates in the Soviet era compared with those of the katorga inmates of Chekhov's time.

Peter Kropotkin, while being aide de camp to the governor of Transbaikalia , was appointed to inspect the state of the prison system in the area, and later described the findings in his book, In Russian and French Prisons .

Penal labour has been quite common throughout history, in a number of countries. Parallels can be drawn between the katorga and the American chain gang, or the convict settlements in Australia, which played a part in building the country. As well as the punishment aspect, penal labour also partially attempts to address the financial cost of keeping prisoners.

Notable katorgas

• Nerchinsk katorga
  • Kara katorga
• Sakhalin katorga

Famous katorga captives

Please add to this list.

• Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, from 1849 until 1854, for revolutionary activity against Tsar Nicholas I. Dostoyevsky abandoned his leftist attitudes during this period, and became deeply conservative and extremely religious.
• Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky, imprisoned (and escaped) twice, in 1897 and 1900, for revolutionary activity.
• Peter Kropotkin, prominent Russian scientist and anarchist
• Lenin, the most famous Russian revolutionary. Reportedly escaped twice.

References

• P.Kropotkin, In Russian and French Prisons, London: Ward and Downey; 1887.

External links

• P.Kropotkin: In Russian and French Prisons