Bitch war

The Thieves' Law forbade thieves to work anywhere and in the slightest way to cooperate with the authorities, including military service. Thieves who did not participate in the Great Patriotic War believed that thieves who were at the front, having cooperated with the authorities, betrayed thieves' ideas, and called the prisoners participating in the battles “machine gunners,” “military men,” or “Polish thieves,” declaring them to be his thieves' law "bitches." From here came the name of the events.

The camp administration initially intended to use the "bitch war" to reduce the number of thieves. With the tacit approval of the authorities, who succumbed to the idea of ​​a “new thieves' law” put forward by “bitches”, a “civil war” began in correctional institutions. Belligerent groups were deliberately deployed together, and the administration did not immediately suppress the resulting massacres.

The “bitches” quickly realized the importance of massive pressure and began to actively recruit “legitimate” thieves into their ranks. "Persuasion" was carried out either by brutally beating one thief with several "bitches" ("broomstick"), or simply by threat of death , or by all sorts of tricks in which correctional labor officers could also participate ^[1] .

If the thief of his own free will agreed to adopt a new law, he kissed the knife and forever became "knocked over." A. E. Levitin-Krasnov describes the following ritual:

From thieves require him to perform three symbolic actions. Firstly, they give him a rake, and he is obliged to conduct them two to three times according to the “prohibition” (the restricted area near the fence has been plowed so that the traces of the fugitive are visible). Further, he is handed the key to the punishment cell: he must (accompanied by a crowd of desecrated persons) go up to the punishment cell and lock the door lock with his own hands. And finally, the final act: he should eat with the bonded. After that, he was already leaked, and now he will be cut by thieves. ^[2]

This transition could be more prosaic - if the thief went to cooperate with the regime, violating the law, he became a bitch . Varlam Shalamov gives an example: “A thief walks past a shift. The guard on duty shouts to him: “Hey, please hit the rail ...“ If the thief hits the rail ... he already violated the law, “got it”. ” Controversial cases were discussed by thieves in honor courts, referred to as rules , where they decided whether the thief had a chance or not ^[3] .

In some camps, the leadership-encouraged war of bitches and thieves took extreme forms. So, in the documents for checking the Chaun and Chaun-Chukotka ITLs, it was reported that in 1951, on the initiative of Lt. Col. Varshavchik, the so-called brigade No. 21 was created in the camp department of the Krasnoarmeysky village, in which there were syphilis patients from the Suki camp group. In those cases when during the “hold” the prisoners from the group “Thieves” did not go over to the side of the “bitches” (refused to kiss the knife), they were sent to brigade 21, where they were raped, infecting with syphilis . Thus, the “ lowering ” rite, if it was not created as part of a bitch war, was at least actively used by the administration in some camps in the early 1950s ^[4] .

Bloodshed on such a scale that the old thieves were forced to change their code to stay alive. After numerous debates, they agreed on an exception to the rule: thieves had the right to become foremen and hairdressers in correctional labor institutions. The foreman could always feed some friends. Hairdressers had access to sharp objects - razors and scissors, which was an excellent advantage in the event of a fight.

In the 50s of the XX century, in order to survive, many "thieves in law" verbally abandoned the "thieves' traditions." Under the circumstances, they preferred to hide, began to observe even more stringent conspiracy, and preserved their old ties ^[5] . Initially, the decrease in the number of thieves was misinterpreted by law enforcement agencies as the final destruction of the thieves 'community, the disappearance of thieves' customs and the code.

The authorities were so firmly convinced that criminal leaders ("thieves in law") and their groups disappeared forever, that in the 60s essentially stopped all work in this area. However, there was no evidence that the measures used by the state were successful. The social and economic conditions of the time actually encouraged increased crime and played an important role for thieves. Thieves in law held special meetings (gatherings, rules) in various areas of the country (for example, in Moscow in 1947 , in Kazan in 1955 , in Krasnodar in 1956 ).

• US prison gangs

• Varlam Shalamov , “Bitch” war
• Kuchinsky A.V. Prison Encyclopedia
• Ust-Usinsky Uprising of 1942 (Rise of Retyunin)
• Sidorov A. A. Thieves against bitches: The true story of a thieves' brotherhood, 1941-1991. - M .: Eksmo , 2005 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 5-699-09276-5 . .