Oh, Come Now, Stalin's Gulags Were Fun!

They had theaters!

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From The Tom Woods Letter:

Last week journalist and Bernie Sanders supporter Sameera Khan posted the following list on Twitter, purporting to tell the truth about Stalin’s gulags — which weren’t really so bad after all!

– Two week annual holidays at home

– Marriage allowed

– Cabins for married prisoners

– Family stay with prisoners allowed

– Wages equal to common citizens

– Sending savings to family allowed

– No prisoner uniform

– No leg-irons and handcuffs

– Common living, no cells

– Freedom of movement inside Gulag area Real Dissent: A Libert... Thomas E. Woods Jr. Best Price: $8.48 Buy New $7.93 (as of 03:10 UTC - Details)

– Awards, rewards and reliefs for prisoners

– Education, music and theater for prisoners

– 80% cases decided by citizens’ courts

– Gulags were not celled-walled-barbed-wired jail buildings

– Gulags were far-away labor colonies

– Prison affairs managed by prisoners

– Maximum sentence 10 years

– Most sentences up to 5 years

– Sentence revoked on good conduct

– Employment after release

– Equal citizenship rights after release

– Prisoners allowed publishing newspaper

– Freedom of speech allowed

After being called on this, Khan had to retract: Meltdown: A Free-Marke... Thomas E. Woods Best Price: $0.25 Buy New $20.00 (as of 02:20 UTC - Details)

“I have just found out that the memes I shared re: Stalin’s gulags were inaccurate. My apologies to all those who were offended. I also in no way intended to make light of the tragic mass persecutions they took place under the Stalin regime and I again apologize for sharing this misleading and offensive information.”

Whoops! Just an innocent mistake!

She “in no way intended” to make light of the persecutions under Stalin.

Consult her list again. Do you believe that claim?

Can you imagine the motivation behind being at pains to demonstrate that the Soviet gulags weren’t really so bad?

I’m starting to see a pattern, by the way, since the previous month she wrote:

“I would have died for Stalin, the Red Army, and the USSR. No questions asked.”

and:

“I would give my life for the return of Stalin without hesitation.”

Huh.

Still, that was pretty embarrassing.

Probably best to get your history right the first time, so you don’t look like an idiot in front of the whole world:

Step one:

http://www.LibertyClassroom.com