The composition of the rear militia called various so-called "unearned elements" (kulaks, clergy, former nobles, and so on) that were not subject to conscription in combat units of the Red Army, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union.
Initially, the Red Army was formed on a voluntary basis, but soon, in the conditions of the expanding Civil War, the Soviet government turned to a forced recruitment into its ranks.
In connection with the forced industrialization, on December 7, 1931, a resolution was adopted by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union "On the Use of Labor of Citizens in the Logistics Militia".
It stated that part of the rear militia carried out defense-strategic works through the High Council of the National Economy of the Soviet Union, the People's Commissariat of Communications and the Central Administration of Highways and Dirt Roads and Automobile Transport.
It was noted that "the labor regime and political education in the parts of the rear militia should pursue the goal of making non-labor elements useful in all respects citizens of the Soviet Union".
It was stated that "units of the rear militia are contained on the basis of self-sufficiency at the expense of funds received from the departments (including the Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs)".
A survey conducted in the spring of 1931 showed that labor camp formations in Prokopyevsk and Anzherka are located in difficult conditions, in damp barracks and built in a hurry.