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The Gulag, GULAG, or GULag (Russian: ГУЛАГ, ГУЛаг, an acronym for Гла́вное управле́ние лагере́й, Glávnoje upravlénije lageréj, "chief administration of the camps") was the government agency in charge of the Soviet network of forced labour camps which were set up by order of Vladimir Lenin, reaching its peak during Joseph Stalin's rule from the 1930s to the early 1950s. English-language speakers also use the word gulag in reference to all of the forced-labor camps that existed in the Soviet Union, including the camps that existed in the post-Lenin era.The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. The camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, a large number of whom were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas or other instruments of extrajudicial punishment.