The Most Cruel Laws Of The Times Of The USSR: TOP-5

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

The most cruel laws of the times of the USSR

In Russia and other countries of the world, there are many strange laws that seem ridiculous. During the Soviet era, the authorities were especially sophisticated. The most cruel laws of the USSR surprise with their ruthlessness. Millions of people have suffered as a result of their actions.

Law prohibiting trade

One of the first cruel laws. It was adopted already in November 1918. The decree prohibited trade and commodity-money relations. The aim was to keep the distribution of all goods in the hands of the authorities. Market relations were replaced by natural exchange. So, peasants growing grain had to come to the city with bread in order to receive in return the necessary household goods.

The ideological background is that the Bolsheviks, against the background of devastation and impoverishment, had nothing to feed the huge army (almost 5 and a half million soldiers), so the party monopolized grain supplies.

People who traded illegally were constantly caught. They were imprisoned, periodically the authorities staged ostentatious executions. The decree led to a terrible famine that claimed millions of lives. The Bolsheviks had to turn to other countries for help. The law was repealed in 1921.

Three spikelets law

It was approved in August 1932. Any theft of collective farm property, even food, was severely punished. The law was passed as cases of thefts from state fields became more frequent, and the country was threatened with famine.

The capital punishment is the death penalty. If the theft was forced (there is nothing to feed the children), then the violator was threatened with 10 years in prison. The law did not specify the amount of stolen goods, for which the punishment followed. Therefore, even three spikelets plucked from a collective farm field were considered evidence of a serious crime.

In 1936, the court decisions were revised, the prisoners were released, because in 3 years the prisons were overcrowded.

Punishment of minor children

The law was approved in April 1935. The age of responsibility for crimes was lowered to 12 years (instead of 14). Convicted teenagers were put in jail. But they could only be executed from the age of 18.

The law was passed because after collectivization and mass dispossession of kulaks, the level of child homelessness and crime increased. Teenagers united in gangs, committed thefts and murders. Despite criticism from foreign countries, even friendly ones, the law lasted until 1959.

About moving abroad

It was approved in June 1935. If a citizen of the USSR fled to a foreign country, then this was regarded as a betrayal of the homeland. The caught violators were executed.

The law mainly affected the military and civil servants, since they most often escaped abroad. Ordinary people could not escape to another country, except for those who lived in the border area. The project was adopted, since at the end of the 1920s, the number of escapes abroad became more frequent.

Relatives of the offender, who did not inform law enforcement agencies about the planned crime, received from 5 to 10 years in prison with full confiscation of property. If the relatives did not suspect of a future violation, then they were threatened with a five-year exile to Siberia.

The law was canceled after the collapse of the USSR. But during the Khrushchev thaw, the authorities revised the punishment. The fugitives were no longer executed, and their relatives were not punished.

Being late for work law

In June 1940, if a citizen was 20 minutes late for work, it was tantamount to absenteeism. Good reasons were considered: illness, fire or other force majeure. It was also forbidden to quit and move to another place without the permission of the boss. The law was aimed at reducing mass layoffs of workers.

The employee was punished with additional correctional labor, and a quarter of his salary was also withheld from him. Both measures were in effect for six months. If during the serving of the sentence the employee again skipped or was late, then he was threatened with imprisonment.

Over sixteen years, about 3 million people have been punished. The law was repealed in April 1956.

In the socialist state, there were other cruel laws (on the right to euthanasia, on the dispossessed, on the production of low-quality products). All of them were gradually canceled.