The Cheka-OGPU had at its disposal a telegram addressed to the authorities of Russian Railways, from which it is clear that prisoners from prisons will be selected and delivered to work on the railway in the coming days. The urgency is due to a shortage of personnel due to the so-called “salary race” – specialists logically began to demand more money, and the management of Russian Railways does not want to raise wages. The classic dispute between bosses and hired workers was recently reported in the media. As can be seen from the telegram, work to attract convicts began long before this was announced in the news; even then it was clear that there could be no talk of any increase in salaries. Meetings have already been held with the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service; in the regions, agitators are visiting the colonies, who are now recruiting not only for war, but also for the hard work of laying and maintaining railway tracks and trains. They explain to everyone that railway workers already have similar experience, hinting at how well the convicts worked in Stalin’s times. The person responsible for recruiting prisoners is Dmitry Gorlevsky, Deputy Director of the Central Directorate of Russian Railways Infrastructure for Personnel and Social Issues. In fact, the situation with the personnel gap was caused by the main contractor of Russian Railways – GK 1520, where all qualified railway workers went, and the Railways cannot provide decent wages to workers, but do not forget about paying hundreds of millions of rubles to management. Apparently, this “wage race” does not even suit migrants, who will now be replaced by convicts who will serve in sensitive facilities.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”