Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary and Analysis

In 1923, socialists are sent to the isolated Solovetsky Islands and divided among three monasteries where the threat of a hunger strike is accepted, but within 15 days, morale plunges and it is called off. In the spring, the inmates are sent to Verkhne-Uralsk while their leaders go to Tobolsk. They lose all freedoms and in 1928, clubs and boots break their next hunger strike. By the 1920s, when this proven political weapon is used by "riffraff" like the KRs, officials segregate strikers and keep their condition secret from fellow prisoners and those outside. From the 1930s onward, hunger strikes are illegal. By 1937, forced feeding is widely used in total secrecy. Also in 1937, hunger strikes become counterrevolutionary activities punishable by new prison terms. A hunger strike by a few tired socialists in Yaroslavl in 1937 marks a last, desperate effort to get the...