"Low totals led to their being kicked out, to the loss of their feedbag. For Stalin could never be convinced that in any district, or city, or military unit, he might suddenly cease to have enemies.
That was why they felt no mercy, but, instead, an explosion of resentment and rage toward those maliciously stubborn prisoners who opposed being fitted into the totals, who would not capitulate to sleeplessness or the punishment cell or hunger. By refusing to confess they wanted to bring him down. In such circumstances all measures were justified! If it's to be war, then war it will be! We'll ram the tube down your throat - swalow that salt water."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago
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