The ‘Reform’ of the NKVD, 1934

IN FEBRUARY 1932 at a RSFSR conference of judiciary cadres, P. P. Postyshev called for some new methods of 'selective repression', aimed at the political 'isolation' of the enemy.1 Repression ought not to be weakened, but an end should be put to such actions as the 'mass deportation of kulaks'.2 Shortly after, A. A. Sol'ts, a member of TsIK, of the party TsKK and of the Supreme Court (Verkhsud), sent the Politburo a joint decision by the TsIK Presidium and the Kollegiya of the NK-RKI.3 After an introductory analysis by Sol'ts himself on the operation of the judiciary organs in Belorussia and the Ukraine, this document criticised both the local attorney general (prokuror) and the Commissariat of Justice (NKYust) for the excessive severity of the sentences issued by the local courts, in particular in cases of 'chauvinism' by ordinary people. The document also called for inspections in the imprisonment camps and for the release of inmates who had clearly mended their ways, before completion of their sentences.