Who were placed in the gulags?

Answer 1

During the rule of the Czars, other than the nobility it was the religious leaders-both Christian and Jews who wielded immense power and wealth. The single most important source of wealth was land and both, the Church and Synagogues controlled immense tracts of land. This land was cultivated by serfs while the rights of the produce was in the hands of the priesthood. The Orthodox Church and the Syangogues were huge landowners, the biggest in Russia, holding even more land than the Czar.The living conditions of these serfs was pathetic and they dare not raise their voice against this religious exploitation from the fear of direct retribution, from the state and as well as superstitious fear.

One of the first acts of the Russian Bolshevik revolution was the confiscation of land owned and cultivated by large landlords. This confiscation of land and its redistribution among the serfs led to an immediate collapse of the power of the religious authority. The first step of the religious leaders was the attack of the "White Armies" - aided by neighbouring countries for a counter revolution against the "Socialist Revolution".

The White Army failed but over the years the church and the synagogues kept attempting to reverse the creation of a more egalitarian social system.

Those, the idle rich who had tasted the good life under an extremely reppressive, authoritarian Czarist system wanted their power and wealth back.

Eventually these counter revolutionaries who wanted to re-install unequal land and social relations in Soviet Russia were carted off and for forced labour in these labour camps.
critics of the government