Gulag - Slavery, Inc. The Documented Map of Forced Labor Camps in Soviet Russia
- Title:
- Gulag - Slavery, Inc. The Documented Map of Forced Labor Camps in Soviet Russia
- Alternate Title:
- Gulag - Slavery, Inc.
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Levine, Isaac Don
- Other Creators:
- Free Trade Union Committee, American Federation of Labor, publisher
- Date:
- 1951
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2369.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2369_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Subject:
- Communism & Cold War
Other Moral & Social
Politics & Government - Measurement:
- 29 x 54 on sheet 43 x 57 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- Maps of the Soviet forced labor camps, the “Gulag,” are some of the most dramatic and best-known Western propaganda images of the Cold War, among “the most widely-circulated pieces of anti-Communist literature.” Barney 2015, 120; see generally ibid. 117-133. The collection includes a number of these, from 1945 to 1982; see Subjects > Communism & Cold War. For background on this map, see ID #1330 "Map of Concentration Camps in Soviet Russia, 1945" and #1337 "'Gulag' - Slavery, Inc.", Plain Talk, 1947.
After publication of the Plain Talk map in 1947, the American Federation of Labor asked UNESCO to conduct an international investigation of forced labor. When nothing substantial had resulted, the union determined to "wage a specific campaign galvanizing both domestic and international public opinion in a more innovative way" using the map. Barney 2015, 124. To that end, the AFL enlisted its Free Trade Union Committee (FTUC) - an entity covertly funded by the CIA and headed by a CIA operative - and commissioned Isaac Don Levine of Plain Talk to produce an updated version of the map. Ibid. (For more about Levine, see ibid. 121-27.)
When the AFL’s “New Edition” of the map was produced in 1951, the union promoted it aggressively. The collection includes three examples in different formats: as a separate poster (ID #2369); as part of a pamphlet (ID #1346); and in a Time Magazine article (ID #1345). “The domestic response to 'Gulag’—Slavery, Inc.' wildly exceeded expectations. The AFL fielded requests for reprints from a wide diversity of institutions - particularly labor unions, high schools, universities, and churches, but also government and military institutions." Ibid 130.
And the impact of the map was not only domestic. The map was used to embarrass Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Gromyko publicly at a conference in San Francisco, and thousands of copies were distributed in Latin America (in Spanish) and in Europe (in German, French and other languages). Ibid 117, 129-30. The Gulag map “would later be used as a training case in psychological warfare for army personnel.” Ibid. 120.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.