Article 58, which deals with what are described as counterrevolutionary crimes, is included in the part of the Criminal Code which deals with crimes against the state; offenders of this article are not considered "political" offenders, however. (These are dealt with in another section of the Code.) There are fourteen sub-sections, all of them formulated so broadly that practically any action (or even nonaction) could be, and was, interpreted as "a crime against the state."
Section 1: deals with any act designed to overthrow, undermine, or weaken the authority of the power of the state. This was applied to workers, even in prison camps, who were too sick or too weak to meet their quotas; it also covers Ivan Denisovich's "crime" of allowing himself to be taken prisoner. It should be noted that this particular section not only included proven acts of "treason," but, by way of another article of the Code, also included "intent to commit treason."
Section 2: covers armed rebellion, especially with the aim of forcibly separating any part or territory from the USSR. This was broadly applied to all members of annexed nations, such as the Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.
Section 3: assistance, rendered by any means whatever, to a foreign state at war with the USSR. This made it possible to send to a labor camp virtually any Russian who had lived in occupied territory during World War II.
Section 4: rendering assistance to the international bourgeoisie. This sent thousands of Russians to the camp who had left the country long before the Criminal Code was passed and who were captured by the Red Army or turned over to it by the Allies upon request.
Section 5: inciting a foreign state to intervene in the affairs of the USSR.
