Cheka

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Image:KGB Symbol.png The Cheka (ЧК - чрезвычайная комиссия) was the first of many Soviet secret police organizations, created by decree on December 20, 1917 by Vladimir Lenin and led by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky.

1 The name
2 History
3 Cheka in popular culture
4 See also
5 Sources

[edit] The name

The agency's full name was Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия по борьбе с контрреволюцией и саботажем (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage), but was commonly abbreviated to ЧК (Cheka) or ВЧК (Vecheka). In 1918 its name was changed slightly to: Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия по борьбе с контрреволюцией, спекуляцией и преступлениям по должности, or All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Official Corruption.

A member of Cheka was called chekist. Chekists of the post-October Revolution years wore leather jackets, and they are pictured in many movies with this apparel. Despite the name changes over time, Soviet secret policemen were referred to as "Chekists" throughout the Soviet period and the term is still found in use in Russia today (for example, President Vladimir Putin has been referred to in the Russian media as a chekist).

[edit] History

The Cheka was created immediately after the October Revolution, during the first days of Bolshevik government. It replaced the Tsarist Okhranka. The agency, established in December of 1917 with the ostensible purpose of investigating counter-revolution and sabotage, soon began mass arrests, imprisonments, and executions of "enemies of the people", targeting "class enemies" such as the bourgeoisie, members of the clergy, and political opponents of the new regime. Cheka played a role in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921, and orchestrated the campaign of repression that came to be known as "Red Terror".

In 1922, the Cheka was transformed to the State Political Administration or GPU, a section of the NKVD of the Russian SFSR.

[edit] Cheka in popular culture

The cheka were popular staples in Soviet film and literature. This was partly due to a romanticisation of the organisation in the post-Stalin period, and also because they provided a useful action/detection template. Films featuring the Cheka include Osterns Miles of Fire, Nikita Mikhalkov's At Home among Strangers, and also Dead Season starring Donatas Banionis and the 1992 Soviet Union film Chekist.