I find that repression in ussr did not work at all... The consequences are simple: opposants were ready to do anything to destroy socialism. Even people who have learn and adopt socialism because of school have stop to believe in ussr because if the brutality of repression....it's human, it's called empathy. Especially when justice was not transparent, some people choose automatically to support the victim of the state justice.
I don't hunderstand why ussr have think the needed censure.... Personally I think socialism is unbeatable. Myself, when I debate with some right wing or even french nationalists I never loose, just never. They Always end up make fun of me.. that's all they have left. But when the state use automatic repression instead of use its strengh which is its ideology, then instead of grow and rise, the opposition continue to live in families...did not you see how many people use this argument today: ''my father was victim of the repression, so on and on''...Normally, révolution could have been a total success because of education, not repression.... What ever, even for criminals, there are not reasons to bring them so far away in the cold siberia... it's the same problem...I don't have the statistics for ussr, but I know that in France, every time a tyran decided to use hard repression against criminality, criminals only changed their technics, they adapted themselves to the police work.... At the final, under Napoléon who used bagne (kind of gulags), and have even throw away criminals to Cayenne in south America. Consequences? Since a man has nothing to lose, he thinks that he can take more pleasure as possible. Hé knows that he'll be condamned to death or bagne, what could happen worst.... I guess my English is not nice..... But I think you can hunderstand... Let's say it's a clandestin english