[Gritty]

In the Soviet Union, prisoners under brutal interrogation almost always ratted out their friends, families, acquaintances, and even people they didn't know. If they didn't admit what the interrogator wanted to hear they knew what was coming next and it wasn't going end soon if at all.

They knew what the consequences of not doing so was going to be.

[dfwgator]

In Stalin’s time, they kept track of people who denounced others, and those who had never denounced anyone. And then they would detain those who had never denounced anyone, and forced them to cough up some names, any names.