The textbook is devoted to certain aspects of the history of the European North of the country and the Komi Republic, the Ukhta region, in particular, related to the repressive policy of the Soviet state in the 1920-1950s. The main areas of scientific research that determined the content of the manual are the repressive system and the punitive policy of a totalitarian state, the camp economy as a special system of economy based on the use of various types of forced labor, primarily the labor of prisoners.