On the origin of the soviet penal system

The paper examines some problems of the establishment of the Soviet penal system in 1918 - 1922. The correctional labour policy is shown as the policy of mass repressions against socially alien elements. The author concludes that differentiation was the characteristic feature of the Soviet penal system. It was governed by the class approach to an estimation of the situation in the country - the principle the leaders of the Communist Party and the Soviet state were guided by.