Until now, there has been little scholarly analysis of the Soviet Gulag as an economic, social, and political institution, primarily owing to a lack of data. This collection presents the results of years of research by Western and Russian scholars. The authors provide both broad overviews and specific case studies.

The first English-language account of the changing role of children in the Russian workforce, from the onset of industrialization until the Communist Revolution of 1917, and an examination of the laws that would establish children's labor rights.

This book examines changes in official Soviet policy towards the labour protection of women workers, 1917-41. Important legislative enactments are analysed. In the 1920s emphasis was placed on the 'protection' of female labour by the agencies responsible for regulating women's role in industrial production. With the mass recruitment of women workers to the Soviet industrialisation drive by the early 1930s, labour protection issues were often ignored as women were encouraged to play a more 'equal' role in the production process.