“The reason why camps proved economically profitable had been foreseen as far back as Thomas More, the great-grandfather of socialism, in his Utopia. The labor of the zeks was needed for degrading and particularly heavy work, which no one, under socialism, would wish to perform. For work in remote and primitive localities where it would not be possible to construct housing, schools, hospitals, and stores for many years to come. For work with pick and spade—in the flowering of the twentieth century. For the erection of the great construction projects of socialism, when the economic means for them did not yet exist.” Utopia1974Hard LaborPrison LaborFor Profit PrisonsWe Are Building Book:The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books III-IV Source: The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books III-IV