The Bitch Wars or Suka Wars occurred within the Soviet prison system between 1945 and around the death of Joseph Stalin. The Russian word suka (literally, "bitch") has a general negative connotation, somewhat different from that of English language. In Russian criminal argot it specifically refers to a person from criminal world who cooperated with law enforcement or government, or "went bitch" ("ссучился"); the American counterpart is the "snitch" or "rat". Known sukas would have a miserable life in prisons. Soviet redirects here. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... (Russian, in full: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин [Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin]; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a... It has been suggested that son of a bitch be merged into this article or section. ... Argot is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. ... For the band, see The Police. ...

Within the Russian prison system there was a history and social structure that had existed since tsarist Russia. One of the important tenets of the system was that members would not serve or collaborate with the Tsarist and later Soviet government. Look up Tsar in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For the US community of Czar, see Czar, West Virginia. ...

As World War II progressed Joseph Stalin made an offer to many prisoners that in exchange for their service within the Soviet military they would be granted a pardon at the end of the war. Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

At the end of World War II, Stalin reneged on his promise and promptly sent those prisoners who had served in the military back to prison.

The veterans returned to prison declared sukas and placed on the bottom of the prisoner hierarchy. As a result they sought to survive through collaboration with prison officials and in return got some of the better jobs within the prison.

This, along with the sukas involvement in the Soviet military, started an internal prison war between the military veterans and the leaders of the Russian criminal underground, or "Thieves in Law". Many prisoners were killed in the Bitch Wars. Prison authorities turned a blind eye, since prisoner deaths would reduce the prison population. Thief in law (Russian: Вор в законе) is a skilled worker, particularly a thief, within the Russian Criminal world who satisfies certain requirements of the Russian criminal tradition. ...

These wars are said to have transformed the old criminal organizations. As the wars ended the old criminal ethic of non-collaboration with government officials is said to have ended.

With the prison reforms that occurred after Stalin, most notably under Leonid Brezhnev, the reformed criminal organization would break historic traditions and seek to be involved with government. This new interworking among the changed criminal organization and Soviet government officials would deepen corruption within the Soviet Union and, upon its collapse, helped create conditions for a new wealthy criminal upper class. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: ; December 19 [O.S. December 6] 1906 – November 10, 1982) was the effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with others. ...

See also

• Russian Mafia
• Russian oligarchs