Olga Alexandrova Belousova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Kuzbass Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, Novokuznetsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Struggle for Cadres in the Penal System of the Our Country in 1917–1941
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-1-10
The article discusses some aspects of the personnel policy of the penal system of the our country in 1917–1941-ies: the system of personnel selection, vocational training. The comprehensive goal of the personnel policy is to form and develop the personnel potential of the department. For a long time, there were no special units among the management bodies of places of detention designed to implement a system of selection and training of personnel for the penitentiary system. After the October Revolution of 1917, the legislation of the RSFSR retained the social benefits and guarantees that existed in the penitentiary system of tsarist Russia, but it was not possible to fully implement them in the conditions of the civil war. During the years of the NEP, in order to combat staff turnover in the UIS, the authorities began to expand social benefits and guarantees, the government took measures to increase financial incentives for employees of the UIS. At the same time, there was a struggle to eliminate illiteracy among employees and increase the number of employees with special education. In general, employees of the penitentiary system were equated to Red Army servicemen in terms of the quality and quantity of benefits. But, despite the fact that the conditions of service in the UIS seemed quite favorable, the personnel shortage persisted. This was due, among other things, to the general increase in the number of prisoners in the 1930s, as well as domestic disorder, low wages and low (compared to state security agencies, for example) social status of camp workers. Due to the lack of staffing, prisoners began to be accepted to serve in ITU in financially responsible positions, in the protection of camps. The Great Patriotic War required the restructuring of the activities of the entire life of the state, its penitentiary system and the system of professional education of employees.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 01.11.2022
How to cite: Belousova O.A. The Struggle for Cadres in the Penal System of the Our Country in 1917–1941 // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 1 (27), pp. 129–140. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-1-10.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2023
Keywords: personnel policy; penal enforcement system