According to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the uprising was provoked by two unconnected events of June 1953: the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in Moscow and the arrival of Ukrainian prisoners who, unlike long-term Russian inmates, were still missing their freedom (similar dissent existed between Baltic, the second largest group, and Polish inmates).

According to the inmate Leonid Markizov, Voice of America and the BBC broadcast regular news about the events in the Rechlag, with correct names, ranks and numbers.

For a week following the initial strike the camp administration apparently did nothing; they increased perimeter guards but took no forceful action against inmates.

The mines were visited by State Attorney of the USSR, Roman Rudenko, Internal Troops Commander, Ivan Maslennikov, and other top brass from Moscow.

A similar fictional uprising at Vorkuta, however in 1963 when the camp had already been shut down, was depicted in the story mode of the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.