Date Of Report January 11, 2010 Date Of Next Progress Report Date Of Work Program Ap: Fill & Download for Free

Many won’t agree with this answer .But this is happening!The main intention of BJP might to be to conquer whole India .I donno on what basis he(modi) announces package during elections .In 2014 elections he announced 70000cr package for Andhra Pradesh and not even 1/4th is given .In Bihar elections he announced 130000 cr package to development but not even 2000 cr is given .In Uttar Pradesh he announced 80700cr and nothing is released.There is no end for his promise .He announced 800 cr to Fuji island donno what made him to give .India has lakhs of crores debt .Is India overdeveloped?he is donating it to other countries .but just announcing packages in states for elections.what made him to give 800 cr to Fuji island .where states like Andhra Pradesh still searching for investors. This situation reminds me ““when a family suffers from poverty who doesn’t hav food to eat , the head of the family is donating biryani’s.he announced special status to AP . For its capital development.donno what is going in country .people praises Modi since media highlights what he is doing . They are not highlighting mistakes in his governance. Time to think . Not just blindly follow the road .Here, I will list all the reasons why I will not vote for Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidateNarendra Modi. Before that I want to make it clear that I was a hardcore BJP supporter.I know this blog might receive many abuses by crazy Modi Army who are never short of abuses 24 x 7 on social networking, but writing this is necessary to clean the illusion created by BJP.1 . Right to Information Act (RTI) -RTI activists in Gujarat are suffering , their RTI Applications are not responded and thousands of RTI applications are pending. Gujarat RTI Activists Association, which has around 5,000 members, says that there are around 14,000 RTI applications pending at different stages in various departments of the state government. According to them, these RTIs can expose Corruption on larger scale. So stopping an RTI and Modi ji wants India to be like USA, no that is not possible if you stop the Right To Information for your citizens.2. Weak Lokayukta :In April2012, Modi ji passed a new bill, The Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog which allows him to1. Choose the Lokayukta of his own choice.2. Block Lokayukta from investigating any cases against himself or his cabinet ministers.4. No Riots after 2002: Narendra Modi ji has claimed Many times that there are no riots in Gujarat after 2002, any intelligent person would try to do a re-search on this claim . No Riots in Gujarat in Last 12 years – ModiFacts : Large scale riots happened within Vadodara in 2006 (no coincidence that next Gujarat elections were in 2007), Apart from that, regular stream of incidences involving arson, stone-pelting, stabbing, lynching etc kept on happening regularly all over Gujarat – Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Dohad, Veraval etc.References:1. Vadodara: Centre sends para-military help (2006).2. Delhi-wary Modi calls in the army. Modi calls Army. Apart from these there are many riots which I am listing below for reference. So, its very normal to be rioting in any place of India and Gujarat is no-different.3.11 hurt in Communal Clashes in Rajkot4. Curfew in Parts of Dahod After Clash5. 26 shops Gutted in Kodinar Violence6. Violence in Gujarat town,3 dead7. Three Die in Vadodra Clashes 20048. Gomtipur Violence9. 30 people hurt in Clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Ahemdabad,200610. Tension Brews Violence spreads to Kalupur- 2010Either I am wrong or Mr modi forgets deaths of people so easily.4. False Promotions and fudging of facts , there are many examples of the same. i will list out some.a) Claim: Modi Claims that Gujarat has generated 25 lakh jobs generated in 2009link and also said that jobs generated will be 52 lakh in 2011 . 52 lakh jobs in 2011.Truth: Planning Commission Employment Report, page no 126, suggests that, number of people employed in major sectors has come down from 25.3 million in 2004-05 to 24.65 million in 2009-10. Check Page number 126, Planning Commission Employment ReportSo, these high figures are for what when the jobs have gone down from 2004 to 2009 ?b) Education : let’s look at the Gujarat’s education Sector .Gujarat is the worst state in the country, when we look at the reading, writing and math skills of the rural students. Planning Commission reports Education Report. Only 7% of Gujarat’s class 5 kids can read English sentences, way below all India average and it’s better not to compare with other states.ASER survey taken in Jan 2013, shows clearly this fact. ASER surveyA major part of survey was reported by DNA which can be read here. Gujarat’s Class 8 literates can’t read.Its clear that Mr Modi is too busy in infrastructure and building roads that he doesn’t have time for future generations, he is aware that they can’t vote.b) TOURISM : Under Modi, Gujarat has turned out to be the visitors favourite destination in India. this is a quote from Modi’s website : Potential of Gujarat TourismHere is a quote from Modi’s website : ’In the last year Gujarat got over 22 million tourists and witnessed a tourism growth rate of over 16%, which is double of the national tourism growth rate. From Rs 30 crore in 2005-2006, the tourism budget today is Rs 500 crore.’As recorded in Gujarat’s official tourism website Gujarat Tourism.Number of tourists during 2010-11 = 19,811,936 (19.8 million)Number of tourists during 2011-12 = 22,354,665 (22.3 million)Anyone who can do simple calculation would find out that, increase is around 13% (12.8% to be exact) and not 16% as Modi tells the nation.c) FALSE CLAIMS : Automobile majors are flocking to Gujarat because of great industrial climate Modi has created.Fact: Plain lie. Tata was given sops estimated to be worth Rs 30,000 crores over a period of time for investing only a fraction (Rs 2,000 crore) in Sanand, Gujarat. That’s what brought Nano to Gujarat. Modi Team confirms Mega Loan For TataModi Gives Rs 30,000 crore loan to Tata : Free public money in form of Rs 9,570 crore loan as the interest is 0.1% and payment time is 20 years (23% of Gujarat’s budget for that year). Plus, usual sops of tax and duty exemption, infrastructure development and 100 acres of land near Ahmedabad for township.Which businessman will refuse such a deal? link –> linkd) Claim: Gujarat is only state in the whole India to provide 24*7 and 365 days electricity to almost all of its 18000 villages. Modi to Mulayam: Modi to Mulayam: Making Gujarat means providing 24/7 electricityFact : Plain Lie . This is a two part claim1. 100% village electrification2. Gujarat’s leadership in electricity availability to its populaceGujarat’s villages were fully electrified by 1996 (or even before), Modi has no role in 100% village electrification. Electrification of villages, Page 23, Annual Report 1996-97, Ministry of PowerMoving on to availability of electricity, refer to a report of Census 2011, Availability of Electricity Census 2011Percentage of households using electricity as the source of lighting in Gujarat is 90.4%, ranked 14th behind big states like (TN 93.4, Andhra 92.2), many smaller states and UTs. Thus, Gujarat is not the leader in providing electricity to its populace. Interestingly, Gujarat rank fell from 12th in 2001 Census to 14th in 2011 Census.E) FALSE CLAIMS :Every Gujarati is in love with ModiFact: Less than 50% Gujaratis are voting for Modi and around 40% are voting for Congress. BJP’s high vote share pre-dates Modi.Vote per cent share Gujarat elections.In last General Elections (2009) in Gujarat, vote share difference between BJP and Congress was only 3.5%. Correspondingly, seats won BJP 15 and Congress 11.In India electoral systems, winners are based on seats won in which Modi/BJP is clear winner, but that does not mean everyone in Gujarat is voting for Modi/BJP. Within Gujarat Congress too have a healthy vote share in range of 40%.Source: Election Commission of IndiaF) False Claims: Gujarat’s agricultural growth is 10-11% , modi proudly says this fact and writes on his official website too Gujarat Agricultural growthFact : Plain lie. In last 6 years, Gujarat’s agriculture had -ve years of growth -1.08% (2007) & -8.71% (2009), and a zero growth year 0.3% (2010). Gujarat has had a very peculiar growth rate for agriculture. Although I have to say that the Sardar Sarovar Project has had a huge impact on agriculture in Gujarat.Page 61, GDP by Industry of Origin, Data for use of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.Furthermore, another data table of Ministry of Agriculture, mentions Gujarat’s agriculture from 1996-97 to 2010-2011 (not given whether it is at constant/current price or gross/net DP), to have frequently years of high negative growth and high positive growth, the variance is so high, by selecting a year, the corresponding growth can significantly change over a period.Page 53, GDP by Industry of Origin, Data for use of Deputy Chairman, Planning CommissionBy no stretch of Imagination Gujarat has 10-11% Agriculture growth, if that be would the farmers do suicides in Gujarat? Yet another lie exposed from RTI. What drove 135 Gujarat farmers to suicide?One more interesting read on suicides of Farmers in Gujarat . -> Sudden rise in farmer suicides in Gujarat.g) FALSE CLAIMS:Gujarat is the only state in country to have “high speed wireless broadband” service in its all 18000 villages.Fact: BSNL brought that to Gujarat. Ironically this is one of deals for which former Telecom minister A Raja is under investigation.BSNL, US’ Soma Networks in tie-up for largest WiMAX deal.SNL Launches India’s First High-speed Wireless Broadband Network in GujaratNow,they say its the only state in the country ,is it so ? No. Wimax comes to GoaIncidentally, BSNL-SOMA WiMAX deal is under investigation in corruption saga of former Telecom Minister A Raja. A Raja may be booked in BSNL’s WiMax deal.In other words, its A Raja, who bought WiMax to Gujarat.h) FALSE CLAIMS :Modi made the Asia’s biggest solar plant.Intending: Solar energy revolution was started by Modi.Fact: Solar energy revolution in India was started by UPA govt in 2010. JLNSM was launched on the 11th January, 2010 by the Prime Minister. The mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022.Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar MissionSince launch of the JLNSM, the capacity of solar power projects has grown from 8 MW in January 2010 to over 979 MW in the country. Progress under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar MissionClearly Rajasthan and Gujarat, being the biggest desert states in India, solar program was likely to have the largest impact there. Due credit to Gujarat though that it beat Rajasthan to first placeH) Also Modi PR people have claimed that “The entire length of SSNL canal network in Gujarat is around 19,000 kilometres and if even 10 per cent of it is used for this type of projects it could generate 2,400 MW of clean energy annually.” People have touted him as if he was the inventor of the idea of putting solar panels over the canals.Fact: Again Plain Lie. First and foremost, the World’s first over the water solar power project is in California, United States. It’s functioning over a pond since April 2011 (picture above and below). Thus, there is nothing original about the idea of solar panel over water nor Gujarat is first to implement that.Forget 2,400 MW, not even 2MW is a reality.In last one & half year, after 1MW launched in April 2012, not a even one MW more is added. At best there are few “announcements” of Gujarat government to fund 10-20 MW. No news of any further construction as of now. Perhaps Gujarat’s bureaucracy knows; the whole thing was just a publicity stunt, why waste more money on this one.The 0.75 km is the total length of the existing canal top solar panels; somehow fan boys are convinced that 1,900 km (2,500 times) is being covered on war footing and try to force this lie with full rhetoric over anyone skeptical.Just to add, the original purpose of Narmada canals, to bring water to parched lands of Gujarat (a high priority task for any Gujarat CM), as of now remains way behind schedule. Only 35% of the total 75,000 km canal work is complete and in Modi’s 10 years as CM, 10,000 km is dug. Modi’s announced deadline of year 2010 for the task expired 3 years back.I ) FALSE MODELS: Gujarat model of governance – Clean and corruption free.Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has come up with many reports on How Modi government gave undue benefits to corporates resulting in several hundred crores loss to exchequer. CAG reportApart from this, there are many allegations of him providing land at Rs 1 sq/ft to Adani , 17 scams of Gujarat govt can be read here – > 17 Scams that Narendra Modi doesn’t want to talk.j) Gujarat has lost zero man days due to labour unrest (strikes, lockouts etc.), Modi ji in his videos and his speeches many times claimed the same.Plain lie : Check the annual report of Union finance ministry - The economic survey for the year 2010/11 (page no. 235 – 236), It clearly shows the “maximum incidences” of strikes and lockouts were recorded in Gujarat. Wage and allowance, bonus, personnel, indiscipline and violence were the major reasons.k): Somethings that are not spoken about.a. POVERTYThere are some things which Modi doesn’t tell you. In social sector, Gujarat is one of the worst performing states in the country. Source: Planning Commission Report on state Wise Population Below Poverty lineAnd this was not enough that. Now facts coming out that a person who earns Rs 11/ Day is not below Poverty line in Gujarat and so the person who earns below Rs 11/day are 24 lakhs in number. Read Rs 11/day and you are rich in Gujarat.These were my reasons, apart from that there are many reasons why I wouldn’t choose Modi as my PM. There are 24 hour trolling of BJP trolls on Twitter, Facebook. Their abusive nature and calling other parties with a bad name. Let’s know that showing disregard and abusing are two different things. Many of the journalists are being threatened if they say against Modi and they have shown disregard on Twitter and some of them even have been fired because they write against Mr Modi. Must read -> Why Sagarika Ghose can no longer criticize Modi.Apart from that, the silence of BJP on section 377, their links with LTTE funded Viako (please Google for that), Baba Ramdev’s and Subharamaniam Swamy’s dual nature forces me to not vote for Modi. Silence of BJP big wigs in Asaram Bapu case too is worrying . Apart from it, Wikileaks never said Modi as fully uncorrupt and the whole cable tells Modi to be communal and a ruler by few means and corruption in Oil refinery is evident.Wikileaks Cable on Modi Wikileaks, I see fake claims which say Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said “US Does not want Modi to be the PM because they are scared ”, that too is a plain lie. Half of the followers of Modi are fake, he purchases sponsored likes on Facebook, who funds BJP? Can BJP be transparent about its funds? Why BJP was funded Rs 1 crore by Dow Chemicals – the company responsible for Bhopal gas tragedy? Can BJP explain?As if these reasons are not enough, Modi ji tongue slips many times. He said Mohandas Gandhi as Mohanlal Gandhi, said Alexander came till Bihar, Takshila was in Bihar and what not! He is a good speaker no doubt but speaking facts is too much too ask for.Lastly this also is the link where Modi fans have claimed what all I explained.Facebook post.Why Narendra Modi allotted land to Indian Air Force at the cost of 8-9 times more than the market price ?People think before vote don’t just follow Road.

Few people know what communism even means.Communism—Marx said that capitalism will give rise to automation to eliminate labor costs. Competition will lead to automation. But this will displace so many jobs that unemployment will rise, causing misery and suffering that would make the Great Depression look like nothing. People will rise up and seize the means of production for themselves. Workers will own the means of production and manage themselves. A new age will begin, the age of communism. Society will become moneyless, stateless, and classless. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”“Communism”—colloquialism. In America the term “communist” is used to describe Marxist Leninist socialist nations like the USSR, China, and Cuba. As indicated by the definition above, these nations did not meet the definition of true communism as they still used money and still had a state. Colloquialisms are words that are everyday meanings used by people but which are not accurate.Socialism—Workers own the means of production. There is still money and a state.2. There were millionaires in the Soviet Union. And no, this was not illegal.3. Under socialism, everyone is required to work unless they are sick, elderly, or a caregiver. Jobs were guaranteed. Many believe that under socialism some just lounge around while others work hard and are poor. That is not the case at all.4. When you work you can save your money. Some people made more than others. More education meant higher pay. You didn’t work and turn over your entire salary and then receive an allowance.5. The means of production were publicly owned. Personal property was yours.6. You could leave your home to your kids in the USSR in the form of a life estate.7. Lenin was not a dictator. He was often overruled by members of the party. So was Stalin.8. The workers wanted the purges and voted for them in 1937.9. Stalin tried to resign several times but he was talked out of it.10. It has been shown that the purges were more complicated than one might imagine. Russia had always been under great pressure from attack on all sides. Within a few years Russia had seen the Tsar overthrown, a bloody civil war sponsored by 18 imperialist nations, conspiracies within his own party as discovered earlier in an undercover sting called “Operation Trust.” 37 volumes of conspiracies and treachery were discovered. The intelligence services would arrest people and then torture them until they admitted they knew something, believing that something had to be happening given the threats from outside the country, particularly the Nazis and Japan. People would say anything to make the torture stop. This led to more arrests and tortures. Members of the party, the factory workers, and everyone in the society believed there were conspiracies afoot. Stalin was terrified of the revolution being toppled. He also knew that Germany planned on invading for certain by 1939 and the country was not ready. Production shortfalls led to the belief by members of the party that there was intentional sabotage. This led to the estimation that based on intelligence (faulty) that it was “for certain” there were a certain number of traitors. This led to quotas. The individual members of the party at the lower levels began to increase their numbers to give the impression of loyalty so they wouldn’t be blamed. The entire thing became its own system of feedback loops. As documents have not been released it is not known how many conspiracies there were, or how they could know. This is not the first time this has happened in history.During the Red Scare in America a sense of great fear and paranoia overcame the American public. Each accusation led to more, and the paroxysm of fear overcame the bourgeoisie in America. It reached critical mass, ruining the lives of many before people took a step back and stopped it. This also happened with the ramp up to the Iraq war after 911. America was terrified after the attack. It felt powerless. It was reported that Dick Cheney almost had a nervous breakdown. The response was to pressure the intelligence services to find out who caused 911 and to root out the terrorists. This led to expectations. The intelligence services began to see conspiracies where they did not exist. Anything that could remotely be seen as negative was. There became a genuine belief that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. This led to a mass hysteria in the U.S. It was rumored that Saddam was developing biological weapons that would be released to terrorists. The U.S. invaded Iraq. It would be found there were no WMDs. The U.S. also started the “War on Terror,” which saw conspiracies where they did not exist. Torture began to be used to get information, but this information was unreliable. It led to false accusations which led to more arrests. Then drone attacks, indefinite detention, and black op cites. The large scale surveillance program began. Likewise, the Salem Witch Trials took on a similar tenor. Mass accusations, paranoia, murders, and more repression. Feedback loops of torture, accusations, more torture followed. But somehow they never seemed able to get to the root of the problem. Enemies were everywhere and nowhere. People were tortured with the expectation that they would say something incriminating. Protestations of innocence were regarded as lies. But then the torture led to them getting whatever they wanted to hear because torture is an unreliable way to get information as people will say anything to make the torture stop.Released documents show no disparities in Stalin’s agreement to the repressions and his own personal thoughts. They confirmed he believed they were real. There was no indication that they repressions were done for cynical, self serving purposes. Stalin knew that purging the military would make the country more weak, but he feared conspiracies more. The conventional wisdom was that people were working with Trotsky, who was collaborating with Germany and Japan to overthrow the Soviet Union. After the civil war there were a number of Tsarists, fascists, and others who had indeed has some conspiracies. But the extent of this is unknown. And it wasn’t just Stalin that expressed these fears. The fears went all the way down to the factory worker level.Source: The Great Fear: Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s, by James Harris11. 60% of former members of the USSR miss it. Russian nostalgia for Soviet Union reaches 13-year high12. The USSR did not collapse due to Stalinism. It collapsed because it abandoned Stalinism. Mismanagement Killed the Soviet Union13.14. Communism is not like being a little bit pregnant. Levels of capitalism vs socialism fall on a spectrum. China is socialist with a Leninist NEP style of socialism with some private property and markets. The land in China is owned by the government, and leases are given. 66% of industry is owned by the state. 86% of businesses have Communist Party cells in them. Children learn Marxism in school. The financial sector is owned by the state. The fundamental direction of the economy is planned. Either you are pregnant or not. When it comes to political systems, it isn’t so black and white. That is why there is a political spectrum, with left, center left, center, right center, right wings.There has been much discussion about whether Venezuela is socialist, whether China is socialist, etc.At its core a socialist country is at least a system where the workers own the means of production. Capitalism is a system where the means of production are privately owned.In reality there are many mixed economies around the world. For example, the U.S. has many socialist elements, such as Social Security, some state owned industries that belong to the public, progressive income taxes, etc.My concern is when systems are named socialist or capitalist for propaganda purposes, untethered to any policies.In the USSR Lenin permitted some private ownership and small businesses during a period of crisis after the war with the Whites. Stalin later did away with this and nationalized most private property that constituted the means of production. We will call this Stalinism, which is a form of Marxism Leninism. On the political spectrum Lenin’s NEP style is still socialism, given the restrictions on enterprise, the heavy regulation of the system, but permitting from some market style elements.Stalinism would fall further to the left of this system. Modern China is Marxist Leninist because it is a one party Communist state, 66% of industries are still state owned, the economy is planned, but there are market systems that permit some business and 86% of industries still have communist party cells in them. A large factor too is that the land is still owned by the state. This is crucial. The government issues leases for use. Because the system is working well, propagandists want to claim this is capitalism. But strangely, if you were to propose this same model in the U.S. people would freak out about it being socialism. The U.S. is objectively different in its form of economic system than China. China’s banking system is owned by the state. In America the big banks are privately owned. The economy is primarily market based in the U.S. Land is privately owned. There are two corporate based political parties, with elections of representatives and the President. In China the leader is chosen by the party. The U.S. style of capitalism is based on deregulation, privatization, free trade, and liberal democracy. China is the opposite. Based on any reasonable criteria, China is socialist, but different from the type of socialism we saw under Stalin and even under Lenin. However, the economic system of China has much more in common that Lenin’s NEP than it does in the U.S. version of neoliberal capitalism. None of these systems, however, are “pure.” They are mixed economies, falling on a political spectrum.Consider Venezuela. People say it is “socialist.” Yet 80% of the wealth is held by 200 ultra rich oligarch families. The oil reserves are nationalized. It is a market economy with many social programs, like health, education, and some housing. This is more like a social democracy like Norway, not the U.S., but also not China or Cuba.In the U.S., systems which do well are labeled capitalist, because according to them, capitalism is so wonderful. But systems that fail are socialist, because “socialism always fails.”How the Chinese government works15. 90% of Americans work for a boss. Altruism and ingenuity have absolutely nothing to do with the completion of their jobs. They are asked under both systems to perform a task or get fired. Same thing. In both systems your boss doesn’t care about whether you really meant to pickup that trash or build that house—you do it according to spec and get paid.16. The Gulag Archipelago was meant to be fiction. Solzhenitsyn’s wife told the truth very clearly:A 2003 article regarding the death of Solzhenitsyn’s wife put it like this:“In her 1974 memoir, Sanya: My Life with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn”…, she wrote that she was ”perplexed” that the West had accepted ”The Gulag Archipelago” as ”the solemn, ultimate truth,” saying its significance had been ”overestimated and wrongly appraised.”Pointing out that the book’s subtitle is ”An Experiment in Literary Investigation,” she said that her husband did not regard the work as ”historical research, or scientific research.”She contended that it was, rather, a collection of ”camp folklore,” containing ”raw material” which her husband was planning to use in his future productions.”The Gulag Archipelago shouldn’t be taken seriouslyFurther, Solzehenitsyn was a right wing radical and extremist.“But there's something else that makes him more complex than just a victim of tyranny and a crusader against it. Once in America and feted by Western leaders, he urged the US to continue bombing Vietnam. He condemned Amnesty International as too liberal, opposed democracy in Russia, and supported General Franco.”Mark Steel: A reactionary called SolzhenitsynThe other accounts of the gulags from letters written by prisoners depicts a whole different reality.“Well-known accounts of Stalin-era labor camps like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” and Gustaw Herling’s “A World Apart” imply, in their very titles, that detention sites were almost entirely cut off from the rest of Soviet society – islands divided from the country’s “mainland,” or underworlds into which prisoners disappeared, never to be heard from again.In fact, most Stalin-era labor camp inmates theoretically enjoyed at least some letter-writing privileges. Although rules varied depending on where and when a prisoner was held, often inmates could receive an unlimited amount of correspondence through the official camp mail system (though this was heavily censored).The amount they could send depended on the crime, with harsher limits for political offenders. In the 1940s, inmates sentenced for political crimes were often limited to sending only two to three letters home per year. But some political prisoners, like Formakov, managed to get around these constraints and send steady streams of letters through a mixture of official and illicit channels.”“In a separate series of letters, Formakov describes the stage shows he performed in as part of a camp cultural brigade. In a letter to his wife dated March 9, 1946, Formakov explained that the sunny attitudes the inmates who participated in these shows had to assume were often very much at odds with their reality:“We had a concert on the 8th in honor of International Women’s Day. I served as the emcee… You act as master of ceremonies, make some witty remarks, and then head backstage, release your soul, and you just want to wail… For this reason, I never let it go; my soul is always in a corset.”In addition to letters on standard lined notebook paper and mass-produced postcards, Formakov sent handmade birthday and Christmas cards. In one case, he carved a special anniversary greeting into birch bark for his wife. He wrote and illustrated short stories for his two children (Dima, five years old at the time of Formakov’s first arrest in July 1940, and Zhenia, born in December 1940). And he decorated the pages of some of the letters he sent with pressed wildflowers.”In letters from Stalin's labor camps, a window into Soviet political oppression“But his letters – both those sent through official channels and those smuggled out – capture many details that rarely figure in the memoirs of labor camp survivors. For instance, in a letter dated August 10, 1944, Formakov describes the surreal experience of going to the camp club to watch the 1941 American musical comedy “Sun Valley Serenade,” which had just been purchased by Soviet authorities and would have been a hot ticket in Moscow. Similarly, in a communication dated Oct. 27, 1947, he references rumors of an impending devaluation of the ruble, which suggests that – despite the Soviet state’s efforts to keep plans for a December 1947 currency reform secret – news had leaked, even to distant labor camps.Such passages support recent research by scholars Wilson Bell and Golfo Alexopolous, who have noted that labor camps were far more intertwined with the rest of Soviet society than previously thought.”Other accounts have also corroborated these facts.The Truth about the Soviet Gulag – Surprisingly Revealed by the CIA““Humanitarian” lies serve to brainwash the population into supporting imperialist wars. Fed by far-right propaganda, and funded by the CIA, the mainstream “news” outlets describe the Soviet labour camps – also known as the “the Gulags” – as Stalin’s means to repress pro-democracy dissidents and to enslave the Soviet masses. However, the same CIA that, through Operation Mockingbird, gave the US military almost-total control over mainstream press in order to foster anti-Soviet disinformation (Tracy 2018), has recently released declassified documents that invalidate the slanders surrounding the Gulags.The CIA which conducted various anti-Soviet operations for almost five decades, and whose staff strived to obtain accurate intelligence about the USSR, cannot be said to have any bias in favor of the USSR. Therefore, the following declassified CIA files that surprisingly “confess” in favor of the Soviet Union are particularly valuable.”“The Conditions of the PrisonsA 1957 CIA document titled “Forced Labor Camps in the USSR: Transfer of Prisoners between Camps” reveals the following information about the Soviet Gulag in pages two to six:1. Until 1952, the prisoners were given a guaranteed amount food, plus extra food for over-fulfillment of quotas2. From 1952 onward, the Gulag system operated upon “economic accountability” such that the more the prisoners worked, the more they were paid.3. For over-fulfilling the norms by 105%, one day of sentence was counted as two, thus reducing the time spent in the Gulag by one day.4. Furthermore, because of the socialist reconstruction post-war, the Soviet government had more funds and so they increased prisoners’ food supplies.5. Until 1954, the prisoners worked 10 hours per day, whereas the free workers worked 8 hours per day. From 1954 onward, both prisoners and free workers worked 8 hours per day.6. A CIA study of a sample camp showed that 95% of the prisoners were actual criminals.7. In 1953, amnesty was given to 70% of the “ordinary criminals” of a sample camp studied by the CIA. Within the next 3 months, most of them were re-arrested for committing new crimes.The following are excerpts of the CIA document, underlined and put together for the reader:“According to page four of another CIA (1989) document titled “The Soviet Labour System: An Update,” the number of Gulag prisoners “grew to about 2 million” during Stalin’s time.These figures match Soviet statistics as well, from declassified Soviet achieves. The following is a 1954 declassified Soviet archival document (Pyakhov), an excerpt of which is translated into English:“During the period from 1921 to the present time for counterrevolutionary crimes were convicted 3,777,380 people, including to capital punishment – 642,980 people to the conent in the camps and prisons for a period of 25 years old and under – 2,369,220 into exile and expulsion – 765,190 people.“Of the total number of convicts, approximately convicted: 2,900,000 people – College of OGPU, NKVD and triples Special meeting and 877,000 people – courts by military tribunals, and Spetskollegiev Military Collegium.“It should be noted… that established by Decree … on November 3, 1934 Special Meeting of the NKVD which lasted until September 1, 1953 – 442,531 people were convicted, including to capital punishment – 10,101 people to prison – 360,921 people to exile and expulsion (within the country) – 57,539 people and other punishments (offset time in detention, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) – 3,970 people…Attorney General R. RudenkoInterior Minister S. KruglovJustice Minister K. Gorshenin”The Soviet archives remained declassified for decades, only to be released near or after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, after Stalin died, the pro-Stalin head of the NKVD (Soviet interior ministry) Lavrenty Beria had already been executed by Khrushchev, a staunch anti-Stalinist (History in an hour 2010). These facts make it very unlikely that the Soviet intelligence would have a pro-Stalin bias.The Italian-American historian Michael Parenti (1997, pp. 79-80) further analyzes the data provided from the Soviet archives:“In 1993, for the first time, several historians gained access to previously secret Soviet police archives and were able to establish well-documented estimates of prison and labor camp populations. They found that the total population of the entire gulag as of January 1939, near the end of the Great Purges, was 2,022,976. At about that time, there began a purge of the purgers, including many intelligence and secret police (NKVD) officials and members of the judiciary and other investigative committees, who were suddenly held responsible for the excesses of the terror despite their protestations of fidelity to the regime.“Soviet labor camps were not death camps like those the Nazis built across Europe. There was no systematic extermination of inmates, no gas chambers or crematoria to dispose of millions of bodies…. [T]he great majority of gulag inmates survived and eventually returned to society when granted amnesty or when their terms were finished. In any given year, 20 to 40 percent of the inmates were released, according to archive records. Oblivious to these facts, the Moscow correspondent of the New York Times (7/31/96) continues to describe the gulag as ‘the largest system of death camps in modern history’.“Almost a million gulag prisoners were released during World War II to serve in the military. The archives reveal that more than half of all gulag deaths for the 1934-53 period occurred during the war years (1941-45), mostly from malnutrition, when severe privation was the common lot of the entire Soviet population. (Some 22 million Soviet citizens perished in the war.) In 1944, for instance, the labor-camp death rate was 92 per 1000. By 1953, with the postwar recovery, camp deaths had declined to 3 per 1000.“Should all gulag inmates be considered innocent victims of Red repression? Contrary to what we have been led to believe, those arrested for political crimes (‘counterrevolutionary offenses’) numbered from 12 to 33 percent of the prison population, varying from year to year. The vast majority of inmates were charged with nonpolitical offenses: murder, assault, theft, banditry, smuggling, swindling, and other violations punishable in any society.”Thus, according to the CIA, approximately two million people were sent to the Gulag in the 1930s, whereas according to declassified Soviet archives, 2,369,220 up until 1954. When compared to the population of the USSR at the time, as well as the statistics of a country like the United States, the Gulag percent population in the USSR throughout its history was lower than that of the United States today or since the 1990s. In fact, based on Sousa’s (1998)research, there was a larger percentage of prisoners (relative to the whole population) in the US, than there ever was in the USSR:“In a rather small news item appearing in the newspapers of August 1997, the FLT-AP news agency reported that in the US there had never previously been so many people in the prison system as the 5.5 million held in 1996. This represents an increase of 200,000 people since 1995 and means that the number of criminals in the US equals 2.8% of the adult population. These data are available to all those who are part of the North American department of justice…. The number of convicts in the US today is 3 million higher than the maximum number ever held in the Soviet Union! In the Soviet Union, there was a maximum of 2.4% of the adult population in prison for their crimes – in the US the figure is 2.8% and rising! According to a press release put out by the US department of justice on 18 January 1998, the number of convicts in the US in 1997 rose by 96,100.”ConclusionSeeing the USSR as a major ideological challenge, the Western imperial bourgeoisie demonized Stalin and the Soviet Union. Yet after decades of propaganda, declassified archives from both the US and USSR together debunk these anti-Soviet slanders. Worth our attention is the fact that the CIA – a fiercely anti-Soviet source – has published declassified documents debunking the very anti-Soviet myths it promoted and continues to promote in the mainstream media. Together with declassified Soviet archives, the CIA files have demonstrated that the bourgeois press has lied about the Gulags.Notes13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2018, from 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of SlaveryCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA). (1989). THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM: AN UPDATE (GI-M 87-20081). Retrieved February 12, 2018, http://fromhttps://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500615.pdfCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA). (2010, February 22). 1. FORCED LABOR CAMPS IN THE USSR 2. TRANSFER OF PRISONERS BETWEEN CAMPS 3. DECREES ON RELEASE FROM FORCED LABOR 4. ATTITUDE OF SOVIET PRISON OFFICIALS TOWARD SUSPECTS 1945 TO THE END OF 1955. Retrieved January 5, 2018, from https://www.cia.gov/library/read...Hillary and Bill used ‘slave labour’. (2017, June 08). Retrieved June 10, 2017, from Hillary and Bill used ‘slave labour’Игорь, П. (n.d.). Книга: За что сажали при Сталине. Невинны ли «жертвы репрессий»? Retrieved August 28, 2018, from Книга: За что сажали при Сталине. Невинны ли "жертвы репрессий"?Parenti, M. (1997). Blackshirts and reds: Rational fascism and the overthrow of communism. San Francisco, Calif: City Lights Books.Sousa, M. (1998, June 15). Lies concerning the history of the Soviet Union. Retrieved August 27, 2018, from Lies concerning the history of the Soviet UnionThe Death of Lavrenty Beria. (2015, December 23). Retrieved August 31, 2018, from http://www.historyinanhour.com/2...Tracy, J. F. (2018, January 30). The CIA and the Media: 50 Facts the World Needs to Know. Retrieved August 28, 2018, http://fromhttps://www.globalresearch.ca/the-cia-and-the-media-50-facts-the-world-needs-to-know/5471956 “Source: The Truth about the Soviet Gulag – Surprisingly Revealed by the CIA17. Famines were common in Russia and China for centuries. Stalin never deliberately starved anyone, nor did Mao. After Stalin collectivized agriculture there were no more famines. Alexander Finnegan's answer to What is the history of famines and starvation in Russia 1850-present day?18. The claims that Stalin and Mao killed 100 million people are lies. Even the authors of the book, The Black Book of Communism, now admit the numbers are not true. Alexander Finnegan's answer to What is the most biased book you’ve ever read?19. A single mother in the USSR could live without worrying about homelessness, lack of electricity and heat, healthcare for her children, food, education, and being unemployed. Daycare was free if she worked. She would receive paid maternity leave, paid vacation, equal pay as a man, and the infant mortality rate was lower than in America. Alexander Finnegan's answer to Is it true that a single mother with one job was able to live well in the Soviet union?20. It was a meritocracy. The child of an unskilled worker could study all the way through college and graduate school to become a leading scientist. Educational cost was no barrier.21. Housing was provided to everyone. There was no risk of homelessness.22. Russia was a developing nation before socialism. Then it was a superpower. After the collapse of the USSR it became a developing nation again. There is no middle class, mass emigration, a negative birth rate, and massive inequality. The Eastern Bloc nations, except for Poland, have fared even worse. Ukraine is almost a failed state.