thumb|A 1930s Soviet poster showing [[State Political Directorate|GPU striking at a "counter-revolutionary wrecker"]]
Wrecking ( or vreditel'stvo , lit. "inflicting damage", "harming") was a crime specified in the criminal code of the Soviet Union in the Stalin era. It is often translated as "sabotage"; however, "wrecking", "diversionist acts", and "counter-revolutionary sabotage" were distinct sub-articles of Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code) (58-7, 58–9, and 58-14 respectively), and the meaning of "wrecking" is closer to "undermining".
Types
Distinctions among the three categories in the sub-articles:
- 58-7: Wrecking was acts "with counter-revolutionary purposes" aimed against normal functioning of state and cooperative organisations, monetary and credit systems, such as giving deliberately wrong commands, counteracting their normal functioning, as well as acting in the interests of the former capitalist owners.
- 58-9: Infliction of physical damage to state and cooperative property "with counter-revolutionary purposes".
- 58-14 (added in 1927): "Counter-revolutionary sabotage" was non-execution, or careless execution, of one's duties.
As applied in practice, "wrecking" and "sabotage" referred to any action which negatively affected the economy, including failing to meet unrealistic economic targets, allegedly causing poor morale among subordinates (e.g. by complaining about conditions of work), lack of effort, or other incompetence. Thus, it referred to economic or industrial sabotage in the very broadest sense. The definition of sabotage was interpreted dialectically and indirectly, so any form of non-compliance with Party directives could have been considered a 'sabotage'.
Individual cases
- 1928: Nikolai von Meck, accused of wrecking on the railroad transport. He "confessed" in providing consultations which had led to actual wrecking. Executed in May 1929.
- 1931: Vladimir V. Tchernavin
- 1936: Nikolai Glebov-Avilov
- 1938, 1940: Nikolay Urvantsev