A network of forced labor camps established in 1919 eventually grew into what?

• A. The Duma
• B. The KGB
• C. The Gulag
• D. The Politburo

Answer: (C)

Understanding what this network became means recognizing how the Soviet Union turned a set of early forced-labor camps into a nationwide system. After 1919, the Bolshevik government used imprisonment and forced labor to punish opponents and to mobilize labor for economic projects, and over time this network expanded into a vast system known as the Gulag. The term Gulag refers to the Chief Administration of Camps and its associated camps, colonies, and transit centers spread across the country, serving both political repression and economic production under state control. This is distinct from other Soviet institutions: the Duma was the parliamentary body, the Politburo was the Communist Party’s top leadership, and the KGB was the security agency. So, the network of forced labor camps eventually grew into the Gulag.