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The strike spread. Despite threats and promises, and the pleas of frantic Vorkuta officials, the revolt lasted ten days. In almost every camp the strikers maintained perfect discipline, and there was amazing unity among the prisoners, regardless of nationality. When prisoners chased officials from one camp, an officer gave the order to shoot. Two prisoners were killed, but there was no general riot.
Despite frantic appeals for instructions, Moscow was mysteriously silent for several days before word arrived that Deputy Minister of the Interior Maslennikov was on his way to Vorkuta by plane. The news sent a chill of fear through both the prisoners and guards. Strikers drafted eleven demands to present to him. At the first camp he visited, Maslennikov made a "fatherly" speech and promised a few concessions: unlocked barracks, more letters and a few rubles' pay. One by one the camps returned to work until finally there were only a few holdouts. At 10 a.m. on July 31 a detachment of Russian guards was deployed about Vorkuta. Quickly, they clamped an iron ring around the camp and the prisoners were told that everyone not out by 11 a.m. would be shot. As the frightened prisoners marched out of the gate, they were split up into groups of 100, and the strike leaders were arrested. Camp 20 refused to leave their barracks and the guards opened fire, killing about 150. Vorkuta quieted again.
In recent months, for whatever capricious reasons, the Communists have allowed a few men and women to leave this hell on earth, apparently supremely indifferent to whatever effect their small voices might have in the rest of the world.