Eight Years on Sakhalin: A Political Prisoner’s Memoir

By Ivan P. Iuvachev

In 1887, following several years’ imprisonment for his role in the People’s Will terrorist group, Ivan P. Iuvachëv was exiled with other political prisoners to the notorious Sakhalin penal colony. The penal colony emerged during the late 1860s and 1870s and collapsed in 1905, under the weight of Japan’s invasion of Sakhalin. The eight years between 1887 and 1895 that Iuvachëv spent on the island were some of the most tumultuous in the penal colony’s existence. Originally published in 1901, his memoir offers a first-hand account of this netherworld that embodied the extremities of tsarist Russian penality. A valuable historical document as well as a work of literature testifying to one man’s ability to retain his humanity amid a sea of human degradation, this annotated translation marks the first time Iuvachëv’s memoir has appeared in any language besides Russian.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Release date: Jan 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781785278242

Book preview

Eight Years on Sakhalin

Eight Years on Sakhalin

A Political Prisoner’s Memoir

By

Ivan P. Iuvachëv

Translated with commentary by

Andrew A. Gentes

Anthem Press

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2022

by ANTHEM PRESS

75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK

or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK

and

244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © Andrew A. Gentes 2022

Original Author: Ivan P. Iuvachëv

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the translator of this work.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means

(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),

without the prior written permission of both the copyright

owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021952772

ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-822-8 (Hbk)

ISBN-10: 1-78527-822-3 (Hbk)

Cover Images: Pavlovskii, Innokentii Ignat’Evich, Born Approximately 1855, photographer. Poselenie Derbinskoe vnutri ostrova v Tymovskoĭ doline. Russian Federation Tymovskoye Sakhalin Oblast, 1880. [Dui: Publisher Not Identified, to 1899] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018691395/.

Unknown - Five Lives of Ivan Pavlovich Magazine

Around the World, November 2010.

This title is also available as an e-book.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Foreword, by Andrew A. Gentes

A Note on Transliteration and Dates

Glossary of Measurements

Preface

PART I

Chapter 1First impressions of the Sakhalin coast • Time aboard the steamer on the run to Aleksandrovsk Post • Transfer of penal laborers to the wharf • Prisoners’ baggage • A view of Sakhalin’s shorelines • First encounter with Warden L—— • Anticipating dinner • Along the road to Aleksandrovsk Post • In the prison yard • Distribution to the barracks

Chapter 2Searching for food • Invitation from the warden • His favorite trick • Supper • Morning impressions • Punishment with birch rods • The method of registering penal laborers • The warden’s irritation • Deprivation of all personal rights

Chapter 3Dinner • An alarming noise in the canteen • The failed attempt on Warden L——’s life • Prisoners’ malevolence • A penal laborer’s death by gunfire • A walk outside the prison • Assignment to Tymovsk District • Administrators’ opinions regarding the wounding of Warden L—— • A meeting with him

Chapter 4Meeting the educated exiles • Their solicitousness and attention • Examples of conflict over the cap issue • Priest Georgii Salˊnikov • Penal laborers’ petitions • Prisoners’ dinner • Bakers’ difficult situation

Chapter 5The penal laborers’ march to Tymovsk District • Bivouac in Novo-Mikhailovsk settlement • An unwelcome task • We approach the Pilinga Mountains • Sakhalin flora • Across the ridgeline • The convoy guards’ revelation • District commander Butakov • Weariness • The Tym Valley

Chapter 6Rykovsk settlement • The Sakhalin prisons’ natural barrier • Artist K.’s hospitality • Installation in a workshop • The bathhouse • First katorga jobs

Chapter 7Assignment as a carpenter • My sickly constitution • Sakhalin’s keta salmon • Poisonous fish • Night blindness • Carpentry work • Auditorium in the church square • Relations with workers • Incident with Masiukevich • Exiles’ conscience

Chapter 8My comrades • Difficulty living together • The latrine watchman • His good soul • Old type of prison garb • Penal laborers’ vulgarity • Rykov, founder of the Tym Valley settlement

Chapter 9The situation in the Tym Valley • Farming conditions • Rykovsk settlement • Exile-settlers’ dinners • The new warden F.’s relaxations • A bed along the way and on Sakhalin • The ward’s unhygienic conditions • Doctor Sasaparel • His patience

Chapter 10The warden’s efforts to build a church • My assignment as a chorister • A temporary church in the barracks • The hatchet-wound • My importance to the church choir • Hieromonk Iraklii • His self-exhaustion as a youth • The cleric’s special importance to Sakhalin • New jobs

Chapter 11Katorga assignments • Wood-cutting • The expedition • Six nighttime workers • The taiga in winter • Felling trees • Penal laborers’ log-hauling • End of the workday

Chapter 12The difficulty of katorga • Blizzards • Logging during the mud season • The workers’ barracks at night • Vacations • Sawyers • Guards • Their lives on the island and on the mainland • Golubev

Chapter 13Headmen-executioners • Punishment with birch rods • Headmen-maidanshchiki • Ivan Lebedev • The sanctioned whip • The schismatic Katin • Punishment with lashes

PART II

Chapter 1A new assignment • M. A. Krzhizhevskaia • Her work • The meteorological station • Secret philanthropy

Chapter 2A change of situation • An official’s sympathy • My attitude toward him • First winter mail • Anticipating correspondence • Inspecting letters • Making Butakov’s acquaintance • The importance of letters in exile

Chapter 3Preparing the new church for Easter • A passion for work • My importance as a church headman • Building a garden • Botanical excursions • Leaving the prison • Departing comrades’ situations • Butakov’s dangerousness • His renown on the island

Chapter 4The temptation of an artless existence • America’s woodland residents • Sakhalin Giliaks • Chubuk and Matrënka • Kindhearted Kanka • Mutual gifts • Giliaks’ unclean crowding • Their welcome and entertainment

Chapter 5Recording Giliak fables • A comparison of Giliaks with Vancouver Island’s inhabitants • Their degeneration • The lack of brides • Giliak religions • Orthodox missionaries’ lack of success • Giliak guards • False shame

Chapter 6Solitary and general prison confinement • The boy Semën Alaev • Sakhalin children • An apartment in a schoolhouse • Children’s adventurous games • The teacher Iurkevich • His success working with children • A new school

Chapter 7The murder of choirmaster Gennisaretskii • A quiet time in the life of the prison • My old acquaintance L—— is named warden • My meeting with him • Petitioning for comrades • The tightening measures over penal laborers • The prison’s model orderliness and external cleanliness

Chapter 8Morning impressions • Victims of discipline • The warden’s cruelty • My altercation with him • L——’s kindness • The nature of his conversations with laborers • Concessions towards the end of his service

Chapter 9Summer jobs • Surveying Tym Valley • A disputed issue • Mikhail Semënovich Mitsul • Sakhalin contrasts • The Tym Valley’s climate • Humidity • Clear air • Rarely observed planets and the zodiacal world • Climatic variations on Sakhalin

Chapter 10The situation of designated homeowners • M. S. Mitsul’s government assistance • An insufficiency of good land • Decline of the agricultural economy • Mistakes regarding the climate • The Tym Valley in spring • Sakhalin exile-settlers’ opinions • Rains and overflowing rivers • The difficulty of improving local farming

Chapter 11Meeting penal laborers from the barracks • The return from work • Nighttime in the barracks • Morning in the valley • Road work; a comparison with mining • The division of laborers by class

Chapter 12Catching fish with a hook • State fishing • The keta catch and its uncleanliness • The cleaners’ guard • Salting fish • Drying keta • Eating fish eggs • The diminution of fish and Giliaks’ starvation • Sakhalin’s natural wealth

Chapter 13My sailing assignment • Traveling through Aleksandrovsk District • Derbinsk settlement • Lower and Upper Armudan • A mountain road • Transporting a government load • Arkovo Valley • The sea’s proximity • A Giliak settlement • On the beach at high tide • Entering Aleksandrovsk Post

Chapter 14The educated exile Pl——’s farm • Among Aleksandrovsk officials • A new job offer • The surveyor Karaulovskii • P. S. Karaulovskii’s mountain • Triangulating and surveying Aleksandrovsk Post

PART III

Chapter 1Invitation to a seaside stroll • The steamer Prince Shakhovskoi • In the Tatar Strait • Stormy weather • The messengers’ concern • The mainland’s coast • De-Kastri Bay • A chance to escape • Inspecting a settlement • Military vessels’ anchors and hulls

Chapter 2Guests of the military commander • Visiting a lighthouse • The Sakhalin penal laborers’ crossing • Leaving De-Kastri • On the sea at night • Fog • The Sakhalin coast • Returning to Aleksandrovsk Post

Chapter 3Preparations for a new journey • A conversation on the wharf • Going to sea • Night in Khoé • A risky approach to Viakhtu • A rest on the coast • Surveying and measuring a lake • The Giliak village of Tyk • Old Man Orkun • A baby Giliak’s cradle

Chapter 4Cape Nevelˊskoi • The pilot’s note • The narrowest part of the strait • Penal laborers’ escape aboard a steam cutter • The absence of a coastal fleet for sakhalintsy • Return to Tyk • Guests of the Tungus • After the ebb tide

Chapter 5Giliaks’ provisions caches • A Giliak’s request • Tangi settlement • Russians’ disputes with Giliaks • Giliak dogs • Rich man Gilelˊka • Mgachi settlement • An abandoned woman • Coastal settlements • Measuring the Aleksandrovsk fairway • Hosting Englishmen on Sakhalin

Chapter 6Aboard the steamer Shooter • Sakhalin’s west coast • Mauka Bay • Cape Crillon and danger rock • Wreck of the steamer Kostroma • Prisoners in a locked hold • Saving the carriage • A human victim

Chapter 7Korsakovsk Post • A Japanese junk • Going to the Okhotsk Sea • The mining engineer • Whales and seal furs • Seal island • Predatory Japanese • Tikhmenev Post • Negotiations with the Japanese • Unloading provisions • Nighttime wanderings

Chapter 8Manué Post • The Ainu of Sakhalin and Matsumae • In the La Pérouse Strait • Seabirds • Sea lions on Danger Rock • Totomosiri Island • Return to Aleksandrovsk Post • In Rykovsk again

Chapter 9The 1891 Manifesto • Anticipating an imperial pardon • Congratulations on the ending of katorga • Disappointment • New griefs • M. A. Krzhizhevskaia’s illness • Her death and funeral • Tears for the penal laborers’ mother • My loneliness in exile

Chapter 10Katorga’s tragic days • Deprivation of bread as punishment • The road to the Okhotsk Sea • The guard Khanov • His command in Onor • The leadership’s attitude toward the road gang • The sick and the beaten • Khanov’s murdered laborers • Onor fugitives

Chapter 11My new manservant • His past • Escape from Onor • Andrei’s story • The situation for Khanov’s laborers • Self-maiming • Onor cannibals • D. S. Klimov’s investigation

Chapter 12L——’s retirement and departure • Warden N. N. Ia——v • Flowers, poetry, and a reprisal from prisoners • Tymovsk District’s expansion • A complicated business • Assigning exiles to Sakhalin • At the clapboard hut, turn right • What Butakov knew • No return from a graveyard

Chapter 13Leaving Sakhalin • Penal laborers building the Ussuri Railroad • Laborers’ complaints • Difficulty on the Amur • The development of a steamship line • The pay office • Drunken sailors • Sakhalintsy’s thinnest praise • Depending on the katorga island • Definitively breaking from Sakhalin

Chapter 14A visit to Rykovsk settlement • An itinerary to entertain guests • The church • The prison • The school • The stable • The potato palace • The mill • The gardens • The fields • The Tymovsk military command • A clash between soldiers and the exile population • Between two fires

Chapter 15First news in the press about the Onor atrocities • A Sakhalin correspondent’s investigations • The commandant’s menacing threats • N. P——’s arrest • Two fates • Administrators’ attitude towards exiles • The suicides of K—— and D——i

Chapter 16The situation for educated people on the island • A Sakhalin family • Deceptive expectations • Drunkenness • The disbursement of vodka • Spirits • A guard’s revelry • Sakhalin’s sobriety measures

PART IV

Chapter 1The new status of exile-settler • Decline in air quality • News of the governor-general’s arrival • Meeting Baron Korf in Rykovsk • The arrival of N. I. Grodekov • Sakhalin flags • The general’s simple arrangements • His tour of district settlements • Submitting petitions • A lack of administrators

Chapter 2My meeting with General Grodekov • A false rumor about our relationship • Golden Hand • A tearful, sobbing confession • The energetic general • Rykovsk under the Russian flag • Resurrection of the dead • N. I. Grodekov’s parting speech • Old Lady Marˊia’s request

Chapter 3The exile-settler Elizaveta K. • Her daughter’s arrival from Russia • Masha’s story about her journey • Matchmaking • Cohabitation with a laborer • A victim of jealousy • Masha’s illness • Abandoning cohabitation

Chapter 4Women on Sakhalin • Exiled penal laborers • Abolition of corporal punishment • The female penal laborer’s unbridledness and showiness • The female penal laborer’s preference for freedom • Legal wives • Shamelessness • The card game • The chorister O——

Chapter 5Personal morality’s importance in lifting a man • Comparison of a Russian to foreigners • Our peasant’s humiliating position • The exiled penal laborer Shalaev • Refusal to work • A voluntary loss of sight • What attention does for an exile • Good people on Sakhalin • Reasons for being sentenced to katorga

Chapter 6Losing the most favorable period of life • The difficult situation in exile • One night among the people • Farewell to friends • Butakov’s death • His honesty and kindness toward people • The Onor Affair • A new collection of administrators • Patience’s end

Chapter 7A trip to Aleksandrovsk Post in winter • Meeting with the governor • Visiting comrades • Exiles’ situations • A noble tiller of the soil • An impromptu marriage • A village feast • A cheerful tour of huts

Chapter 8Exiles’ hidden sorrows • The issue of Sakhalin’s sick • The female penal laborer’s life of fear • The fate of two Marˊias • A cousin’s spouse • A romance interrupted for ten years • The chancery’s mistake • The brides are delivered by steamer • Undeserved insults • The two Marˊias’ arrival in Vladivostok

Chapter 9Vladivostok under military alert • Rumors of war • Sergeant-Major Kobchik • His punishment • Penal laborer military detachments • Exiles in the Crimean campaign • Arsenii Kobchik’s death • Stories about military campaigns • The tsar’s inspection • A Sakhalin passport • A new obstacle to leaving

Chapter 10In a grave • A request from old men • Farewells and bidding goodbye to comrades • Through the snowy Kamyshev Pass • The island’s emptiness • Burning taiga • An encounter with Giliaks • Visiting the military governor • Arrival of the steamer Baikal • With comrades yet again

Chapter 11Held back! • The governor’s explanation • Comrades’ efforts to distract me • Barge building • Japanese traders • Hasegawa’s opinion regarding an impending war •Japanese crafts • My understandings of an expected departure • Journey to Dué • A pitiful man

Chapter 12The governor’s new request • Difficult connections • Invaluable victims • Aboard the steamer Velox • My travel companions • Loading of coal by penal laborers • Double supervision • The war against the secret gift of liquor • Communication by water • A lack of restraint • Setting sail • Forward yo!

Chapter 13Sakhalintsy in Vladivostok • The difficulty of dissociating oneself from the island of penal laborers • The region’s gray fogs • S. G. Iurkevich’s letter • Ocean industry • No harvest due to drought • First bees on Sakhalin • Robbery and murder • The agricultural colony’s difficult circumstances • The antagonism between penal laborers and exile-settlers

Chapter 14Distance and time make an impression • The Sakhalin kaleidoscope • Can good come from bad? • The school of humiliation • The pathetic incident with Riukhin • Pathways for saving the soul • To suffer is the exiles’ common lot • Farewell, Sakhalin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The text upon which this translation is based was accessed online (Восемь лет на Сахалине - Ювачев Иван Павлович - Cистема онлайн-просмотра (rusneb.ru)). All photos in this book and on its cover fall under Fair Use rules and were acquired via the Library of Congress’s online photo, print, and drawing collections (specifically: Виды и типы острова Сахалин (Vidy i tipy ostrova Sakhalin. | Library of Congress (loc.gov)). Therefore, I first of all want to acknowledge and thank the archivists and librarians in Russia and the United States who have made these and other documents and publications available to scholars and readers the world over. The map of Sakhalin was designed by me. I wish also to thank Jan Adamczyk, of the Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois library, for providing biographical source material on the elusive I. P. Iuvachëv. Thanks as well to Tej P. S. Sood, Megan Greiving, and everyone else at Anthem Press for recognizing the value in this project and for making this publication possible. Finally, thanks to my wife Dinah Loculan, whose patience and support I could not do without, and to whom this translation is dedicated.

FOREWORD

Andrew A. Gentes

I. P. Iuvachëv (1883)

Ivan P. Iuvachëv was born on 23 February 1860 (Old Style), in St. Petersburg, to a family of floor polishers employed by the Anichkov Palace. In 1874, following grammar school (gimnaziia), Iuvachëv enrolled in the Department of the Navy’s Technical Institute, located in the Kronshtadt Fortress, where he learned navigation. Four years later, he joined the navy as a navigator and began his service in the Black Sea Fleet.

It is unclear if any particular event or just the tenor of the times inspired him, but by 1880, Iuvachëv was openly espousing radical political views. This led to his being assigned to shore duty in Nikolaev, in southern Ukraine, where he served as assistant director for the meteorological station there.

In March 1881, the regime’s worst fears were realized when the revolutionary terrorist organization The People’s Will (Narodnaia volia) assassinated Alexander II.

One year later, Iuvachëv met Mikhail Iu. Ashenbrenner, a military officer and member of the People’s Will. He also met, apparently around this same time, Sergei P. Degaev, another narodovolets, whom several years earlier the military had cashiered for political unreliability. Under the influence of one or both of these men, Iuvachëv organized a political circle within the navy, as was confirmed years later by the famous political terrorist Vera Figner, who stated that he was central to propagandizing Nikolaev’s military officers. Iuvachëv may also have participated in the plan to assassinate the late tsar’s son and successor, Alexander III.

Iuvachëv’s career as a propagandist and conspirator was, however, brief. Due to his connection to Degaev (who managed to escape to America), he was soon arrested, during a visit to the city of Verkholensk, in Transbaikalia, on 2 March 1883. Eighteen months later, Iuvachëv found himself in the dock alongside other defendants in the celebrated Trial of the 14. On 6 October 1884, the court sentenced Iuvachëv to death. According to well-established practice, his punishment was immediately commuted to 15 years penal labor (katorga).

Those sentenced to katorga usually served their time in Siberia. However, shortly before Iuvachëv’s arrest, six political prisoners had escaped from a prison in Transbaikalia, and so the regime was reluctant to send additional state criminals there or anywhere else east of the Urals. Nonetheless, during the two years it continued to hold Iuvachëv in solitary confinement in the capital, the government did begin deporting such prisoners to the Sakhalin penal colony.

While inside the cold, dark, casemate cells of the Petropavlovsk and Shlissel´burg fortresses, Iuvachëv renounced political radicalism and experienced a religious conversion. His embrace of a spiritual life is key to understanding Iuvachëv’s views and activities while on Sakhalin. Whereas he undoubtedly acted as well out of notions of social justice, his apparent belief in the healing power of religious works and activities seems to have been a primary motivation for keeping ceaselessly busy while in exile. Moreover, this association with Russian Orthodoxy would seem to account for much of Iuvachëv’s present-day renown in Russia.

One of the largest islands in the world, Sakhalin occupies a north/south axis traversing a variety of climatological and vegetal variations, from bamboo forests in the south to lichen-covered tundra in the north. Marking the point where the frigid waters of the Sea of Okhotsk meet the warmer waters of the Sea of Japan, Sakhalin is assaulted by arctic winds that sweep south from inner Siberia and by typhoons churned north by the Kuroshio, or Black Current, of the Pacific. This combination results in bitterly cold winters with heavy snowfall and summers that are cool, rainy, and brief. Fog prevails along the coast, and sunny days are few. Drawing upon his meteorological experience, Iuvachëv discusses in his memoir the island’s unique weather and the challenges it posed for agriculture.

Iuvachëv also describes the island’s native Giliaks. Sakhalin had three main indigenous groups: the Ainu, Oroki (or Orochon; known today as the Uilta), and the Giliaks (known today as the Nivkh or Nivkhi). The first two hardly figure in Iuvachëv’s account. By contrast, and because he had numerous interactions with them, he discourses at length on the Giliaks. To this extent, his memoir represents a valuable primary source addition to Sakhalin anthropology. The centuries and decades that preceded Iuvachëv’s arrival had seen outsiders disrupt each of these native peoples’ traditional lifestyles. During the thirteenth century, the Mongols forced each of these groups to supply furs and other goods; and the Manchu and Han perpetuated this tributary vassalage. Beginning in the late seventeenth century, the Japanese established seasonal fishing villages in southern Sakhalin, transforming in the process the local Ainu into a veritable slave labor force. Iuvachëv adds to this dolorous history by describing the harm that his own countrymen inflicted on the Giliaks.

Prior to the mid-1800s, Sakhalin was largely unknown to the Russians. Like other Europeans, they did not even realize it was an island until 1849, when Admiral Gennadii I. Nevel´skoi dispelled all notions that an isthmus connected it to the mainland. (The Japanese had learned this several decades earlier, but kept their discovery a secret.) Nevel´skoi’s expedition came amid a general effort by the Russian Empire to reassert itself in the Far East and North Pacific. Having been forced, in 1689, to cede the Amur region to China through the humiliating Treaty of Nerchinsk, Russia now embarked upon a concerted effort to reacquire that territory and much more besides from the ailing Qing dynasty. Its annexations of the Amur and Ussuri regions were also intended to offset the imperial designs of Japan, only recently dragged into the international arena by Commodore Matthew Perry’s gunboat diplomacy. But whereas the Japanese were only using Sakhalin as a resource for sea-kelp and fish (much of which they turned into fertilizer for farms on Honshu), for the Russians, the discovery of coal on the island’s west coast inspired a belief that Sakhalin could serve as the main coal depot for their nascent Pacific Fleet.

In 1856, the Russians founded Dué Post (Duiskii post), their first permanent settlement on Sakhalin. Two years later, the government sent the first convicts to Sakhalin, to work the coal mines outside the post. The Russian military spent much of the following decade maneuvering to seize control of the Japanese-dominated south through force majeure. Japan was not in a position to offer much resistance: Sakhalin’s Japanese population consisted nearly entirely of seasonal fishermen; and during 1868−69, Japan was embroiled in a civil war that eventually led to the Tokugawa shogunate’s replacement by Emperor Meiji. Russia took advantage of this domestic turmoil to establish Korsakovsk Post and other settlements in the south, and to populate them using a combination of soldiers and their families, free colonists, and exiled convicts. So ruthless were the Russians in doing so, that the chess match for control over Sakhalin was actually decided several years before Japan agreed to the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875). This gave to it the Kurile Islands in exchange for ceding all of Sakhalin to Russia; it moreover allowed the Japanese to maintain on Sakhalin their island fisheries and to establish a consulate there, in Korsakovsk Post. All the same, prior to 1905, when Japan invaded during the final days of the Russo-Japanese War, Sakhalin now became the Russians’ to do with as they would.

As early as the mid-1860s, moves had begun to transform Sakhalin into a penal colony, and these soon coalesced into a plan that superseded the one to turn it into a coal depot. This was in part because several factors conspired to limit the island’s coal industry and prevent it from competing on the world market, salient of which were Sakhalin’s lack of natural harbors and the fact that it was ice-bound for nearly half the year. With coal mining failing to meet expectations, there arose a notion that Sakhalin could nevertheless be made to solve two, entirely different, problems that were bedeviling the government. Among government decision-makers, particularly those in the Imperial Cabinet and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this notion quickly became an idée fixe.

The first of these problems was an exponential increase in Russia’s violent crime rate, which in turn was creating an increase in the number sentenced each year to katorga. Instituted by Peter the Great (r. 1696−1725), katorga represented more than just penal labor, for this penultimate punishment (the death penalty did exist, but was rarely used) formed the centerpiece of an empire-wide penologico-administrative apparatus, whose primary function was to exploit convict labor to the benefit of the imperial treasury. Mining, though emblematic of katorga, actually accounted for just one of several uses that were made of penal laborers (katorzhane). The regime also used this bonded labor force to build the docks and (probably) to man the galleys Peter needed during his 1696 siege of Azov. Penal laborers constructed Rogervik and other Baltic ports and fortresses, as well as Peter’s new capital of St. Petersburg. In addition to mining silver, gold, and iron ore in Transbaikalia—which, during the late eighteenth century, became the principal location of katorga—they labored in both this region’s smelteries as well as the many other government works (zavody) scattered throughout Siberia and which produced textiles, salt, or vodka. (On Sakhalin, besides mining coal, penal laborers would similarly build all necessary settlements, military outposts, and prisons and be assigned to road and logging crews. Numerous others would work as craftsmen or serve as domestics and lackeys for administrators and their families.)

By the late 1860s, however, as Russian forces maneuvered to seize all of Sakhalin and domestic crime and conviction rates soared, Transbaikalia’s mines were fast approaching exhaustion. Explicitly acknowledging that katorga as a financial enterprise was losing money, the Imperial Cabinet failed to maintain both the Nerchinsk Mining District’s physical plant and its convict population. As a result, prison barracks were literally rotting off their foundations, and desperate prisoners were escaping with such frequency they formed an estimated 50,000 fugitives who were roaming throughout Siberia at any one time. Individuals and entire squadrons from this vagabond army were begging, robbing, and murdering the civilian population to such an extent that even Alexander II took notice. Nevertheless, despite exhortations from numerous penal reformers, the regime steadfastly refused to replace katorga and exile with a penal system modeled