Stalin's Road of Bones

When Joseph Stalin took control of one of the largest landmasses on Earth, he did not neglect to make his presence felt in even the most remote of its corners. In the early 1930’s, the man of steel decided to embark on a project incredible not only for the scale of its engineering, but for the cruelty and inhumanity with which it would be carried out: the construction of the M56 Kolyma highway – the Road of Bones.

The road runs for over two thousand kilometres through the wildest terrain of the Asian continent, connecting Magadan and Yakutsk, and making an enormous loop through the Siberian mountains in order to reach the hundreds of gold mines that once operated there.

Forced labour was used to construct every inch of this incredible project – at first by inmates of labour camps, but later by the unfortunate denizens of the gulags that began springing up all over these near-uninhabitable provinces of Stalin’s Soviet empire. Many were Russian POW’s, banished to the region after being labelled German ‘collaborators’. 

Many were Russian Christians who refused to renounce their faith under the Communist regime.

 Prisoners were chained except when they were working their twelve-hour shifts. Many died during transport alone, and thousands were shot by the officers for not working hard enough. And any worker who died during construction of the road was ‘buried’ where he fell – survivors’ reports indicate that bodies were as common a sight as fallen logs.

Today, the road is in poor condition, and many parts of it are impassable for ordinary vehicles. It has become a challenge for off-road drivers and bikers to make a complete ‘run’ of the Road of Bones. Given the poor condition of the bridges that occur along the highway, common advice given is that the safest way to cross rivers along the route is to cross the ice when they freeze in winter!

The gulags that supplied the project with a seemingly-endless source of disposable labour – effectively slavery – were internment camps to which the Soviet regime banished any ‘undesirables’ – political prisoners, radicals, criminals, or persons who spoke out about (or even told jokes about) the government. Many gulags in remote places contributed to the Russian timber industry, or served as mining colonies.

 The Soviets were masters of propaganda, and cared deeply about how they represented themselves to the rest of the world. When a book of letters written by former gulag prisoners was published in the West in 1924, there was a worldwide demand for a boycott on Russian timber. Two reporters for the British Timber Federation were sent to Kotlas, where they were given a specially-commissioned tour of the facilities. The glowing report the two produced afterwards indicates that they were shown only what the authorities wished them to see, and no more. This practise is known as the ‘Potemkin village’ trick, as the earlier Tzarist regime supposedly constructed entire false villages to convince visitors that their system was just and fair.

It was only after the fall of the Soviet regime that many people within Russia and other countries learned of the sheer number of atrocities committed in the gulags and along the Road of Bones. For many people who still regarded Stalin as a great leader, this new relative freedom of information brought many uncomfortable facts to light.

Original Source at http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/stalin-road-of-bones/

Warning - They are Out There!

On the “SBC Voices” blog last night I ran across (or got ran over by) one of the most angry, aggressive, and belligerent, Anti-Calvinist I have come across in a long time. I post this not because this person said anything new, (I have heard all this before) but I post this because of my growing concern that such “hate” is being fostered in the SBC by those who hold conferences in order to “Address Calvinism in the SBC”.

This person posted under the name of Jeannie and left no means of contact (note, Jeannie is probably not this persons real name). This person came in late on the discussion (comments #44, #47) but wasted no time in making his/her belligerent views toward Calvinism known.


Comment #44

Jeannie 11.18.08 at 9:45 pm

The best thing a church can do is preach the Gospel of God, not the gospel
of John Calvin. Since they’re the opposite, the choice should be easy to the one who ‘believes’ the Word (God) is Sovereign (the truth).

It hard to believe that God was Sovereign to Mr. Calvin when in his opinion (judgment) of the Word at John 6:29, he says, “First, it is plain enough that Christ does not speak with strict accuracy, when he calls faith a work, just as Paul makes a comparison between the law of faith and the law of works,” (See Calvin’s opinion of the inspired Word of truth by Paul at Romans 3:27.)

Unlike Pilate, Mr. Calvin saw fault in the Word (Christ), and reformed (corrected) it/him to fit a faith of his own (that faith ‘is not’ a work to be accounted as merited by a man and rewarded). (See Abraham at Gal 3:6/James 2:23 and Heb 11:6)

Anyway, Calvinism isn’t called the “reformed” faith for
nothing. I for one refuse to have my faith (the Word of God) reformed
(corrected) by any man.

… (remainder omitted)

Comment #47

Jeannie 11.19.08 at 12:32 am

Do you believe Calvin practiced doctrines of Grace? If so, you haven’t studied his life. As the sovereign of Geneva, his grace was cruel. Whereas Christ died for the ungodly, Calvin burned them instead.

No Calvinist should complain that he’s not well received in other churches, be they Southern Baptist or whatever. WHAT are they doing in our churches anyway? We don’t want their doctrines and they don’t want ours. As far as our churches go, Calvinists need to mind their own business, like the other Christian cults do.

2 Pet 2:1-3 explains Calvinists in our churches….

Comments Anyone?