Talk:Family members of a traitor to the Motherland

It was signed by Nikolai Yezhov acting both as chief of NKVD and General Commissar of State Security (KGB).

General Commissar of State Security was not - KGB, it was top rank in NKVD's - GUGB - Main Directorate of State Security !!!!!!!!!!!!!

In many articel's Cheka/GPU/OGPU/NKVD/GUGB/NKGB/MGB/MVD it become (call as) - KGB.


 * Thanx. Fixed.mikka (t) 01:41, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

For all the excitement, this law only lasted slightly over 1 year. I wish all goffy laws were corrected this quickly.

after the verdict
''The order had elements of humanism: wives with breast-fed children, ill or with ill children were not arrested. They were moved to labor camps later: breast-feeders after the verdict, those with illness after the recovery.''

What? Don't you mean after the children are weaned? njaard 05:19, 25 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The order had elements of humanism'' is simply cynical. --85.179.64.123 (talk) 14:23, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Requested move 21 May 2016

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: No consensus to move the article has been established within the RM time period and thus defaulting to not moved. &mdash; Music1201  talk  02:23, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Family members of traitors of the Motherland → NKVD Order No. 00486 – Current title is a malicious Soviet NKVD propaganda term which does not reflect the true nature of what the operation was all about. Criminal Code of the RSFSR from 1934 (!) is not neutral per our own WP:NEUTRALITY policy guideline. The term "traitors of the Motherland" was invented in 1934 for the purpose of mass persecution of targeted groups of Soviet citizens. We do not define crimes of the Stalinist period using nomenclature provided by the perpetrators themselves. We use reliable third-party sources which offer terms that are commonly used today. Please consult out policy guidelines about this particular WP:NPOV breach (quote): "Avoid judgmental and non-neutral words".  Poeticbent  talk 16:03, 21 May 2016 (UTC) -- Relisting.   Anarchyte  ( work  &#124;  talk )   04:11, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Support as nominator. NKVD Order no. 00486 was the original title of this article.  Poeticbent  talk 13:24, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Support restoring the original title. I agree no reason here to promote Stalinist phraseology into article titles, unless it is an established term, such as "kulak". However I disagree about leaving no redirects. The term is widely used in memoirs and historical literature about the period (at least in Russian), however in is often given in "scary quotes", to imply "not really". - üser:Altenmann >t 16:17, 21 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Changed my opinion. See below. - üser:Altenmann >t 15:53, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Accordingly, the article must be rewritten, since it was expanded with a sloppy original research. It particular "family members of..." was not a "clause" in Article 58 of 1934: they were simply mentioned in Clause 58.1. - üser:Altenmann >t 16:28, 21 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Oppose moving to NKVD Order No. 00486. As the lead of the article says, these clauses originated in 1922 before the NKVD was even created.  That they were somewhat revised and reissued by the NKVD 15 years later, doesn't really make the NKVD order the whole story.   Hence using NKVD as the title of the article seems to make little sense.  Also the article is only speaking to a small part of the NKVD directive, rather than the whole order, so the article would need to be expanded/rewritten to fit that title.  That said, the current title is also rather awkward.  I think ideally the current content would be merged/expanded into a larger context, and presented as something like Legal guilt by association in early Soviet Russia, but obviously that doesn't exist right now.  If someone can come up with a better title, I'd be willing to entertain that, but I don't think the NKVD suggestion works.  Dragons flight (talk) 07:14, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Executed men were not "traitors of the Motherland". This politically-charged clause used by the NKVD was a lie (which is historically proven). – When and how this phrase was 'invented' is of little relevance. We don't use lies as WP article WP:TITLES. The women and children were dealt with using NKVD Order No. 00486 which introduced a new category of inmates, and established the terms of "at least 5–8 years" punishment by association at the Gulag. – What you're proposing (above) is a good rationale for a brand new article called "Legal guilt by association in Soviet Russia". Great Purge did not take place in "early" Soviet Russia. It took place from 1936 to 1938. Meanwhile, "Legal guilt by association" affected the entire Soviet society for many years to come. You're free to start such article from scratch.  Poeticbent  talk 13:24, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
 * For what it is worth, in my head, I was thinking roughly up to WW2 as the "early" Soviet Era, and hence I would have included the Purge. As for the rest, I still don't agree.  Assuming "traitors of the Motherland" is an accurate translation of the term used at the time, I don't see a major problem using that terminology in discussion of the laws and purges.  This is similar to discussing the witch trials.  I don't think anyone really believes that the various women condemned as witches were actually practicing evil magic, but it would be silly to ignore the terms used by prosecuting authorities.  That said, I don't think the current title is a particularly good one, but the NKVD title still seems worse to me.  If you want to suggest another option, or find ways to merge this into a larger context, then please do.  Dragons flight (talk) 15:06, 27 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Oppose per Dragons flight. This appears to be a WP:COMMONNAME issue as well. I seriously doubt whether the proposed title is the common name for this topic.  InsertCleverPhraseHere  05:44, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment: "NKVD Order No. 00486" may not be helpful as too intricate. Are "traitors of the Motherland" supposed to be "enemies of the people"? If yes, then perhaps Repressions against families of "enemies of the People" (with quotation marks) may be more recognisable to a casual reader. It also avoids sounding like a piece of Stalinist propaganda. Another option is "Family members of traitors of the Motherland" decree, with the same intention of pointing out the official wording as "non Wikipedia voice". K.e.coffman (talk) 09:12, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Support alternative name Repressions against families of "enemies of the People" with quotation marks (!) similar to Wikipedia article "Polish death camp" controversy whereas the quotation marks serve as indicator of naming ambivalence. Here's a book-title example of the same treatment: “Enemies of the People” Under the Soviets by Peter Julicher, McFarland, 2015.  Poeticbent  talk  14:18, 31 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Support, on second thought, as the current article name is problematic for POV reasons, as I mentioned above. "NKVD Order No. 00486" is neutral and the topic is probably obscure enough that it does not matter that much. K.e.coffman (talk) 09:36, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Oppose. No one knows what " NKVD Order No. 00486" is. Current name on ruwiki is "Член семьи изменника Родины", which is proper name in Russian. Current title is literally a translation of that title. However, an alternative naming/translation as Repressions against families of enemies of the people could also be fine. The proposed renaming will make finding this page significantly more difficult for anyone who is interested in this subject. I barely could find it when it had such name long time ago. My very best wishes (talk) 12:38, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment' Let me clarify the logic I applied when I created the article. The subject of my original article was the NKVD order, and not the category of people (in the classification of the Soviet law). These are two separate subjects. The second subject deserves its own article. There is much to write about the fate of "ChSIR". Unfortunately I didnt have much energy to cover the topic. The current article contains some hints. Therefore it may be reasonable to keep a single article for now. In such a case I would agree that a more general, descriptive title will be reasonable, such as Members of families of politically repressed in the Soviet Union. - üser:Altenmann >t 15:53, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Please take a second look at options already on the table. Adding yet another alternative might not be descriptive enough. The article is about not just "Members of families" but "Repressed members of families" ... of "politically repressed members of families" not necessarily "politically" in every respect. There's only so much we can say in WP:TITLE per Wikipedia policy guidelines. Thanks,  Poeticbent  talk 16:26, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I would suggest Traitor of Motherland family members. Try Google search. My very best wishes (talk) 18:57, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Comment: the discussion is possibly bogging down in too many alternatives, for a start-class article. I'd suggest going with the neutral "NKVD Order No. 00486" and then revisiting when the article is fleshed out. I think the main objective should be to get rid of this "terminally injured" term, presented in Wikipedia voice. K.e.coffman (talk) 19:46, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * No, this article is actually on a different subject because it tells not about "NKVD Order No. 00486", but about common practice established by several NKVD orders dated by years 1922, 1934, 1936, 1938 and 1942 (I just made an edit to clarify it). BTW, this term, as appears in the corresponding page of ruwiki ("Член семьи изменника Родины", or in NKVD abbreviation, "ЧC"/"ЧСИР") is perfectly neutral and "official". My very best wishes (talk) 19:58, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * P.S. See most famous labor camp from this category, ru:Акмолинский_лагерь_жён_изменников_Родины, we need such page on English WP. My very best wishes (talk) 22:39, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Just found another book reference . Based on the book, this should be probably written as "Traitor to the Motherland family members". My very best wishes (talk) 13:52, 1 June 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

History section
It seems that the initial version or article 58 did not include anything about automatic/obligatory arrest of members of the family. This appears only in 1934. Should be fixed. My very best wishes (talk) 18:00, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Requested move June 11 2016
Take two: we all know now a vast majority of them were not really traitors. Therefore, similar to "Polish death camp" controversy title, I'd like to suggest the title Family members of "traitors to the Motherland", which IMO a better description of the subject. - üser:Altenmann >t 06:39, 12 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Support, as a good solution to avoid having an POV article name, per "Polish death camp" controversy. K.e.coffman (talk) 07:17, 12 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Support.  Poeticbent  talk 13:54, 12 June 2016 (UTC)