The Cheka Essay

Cheka

At the end of December 1917 Soviet authorities formed The Cheka, the Extraordinary Ordinary combined security police and function with a sort of political army.

After the Russian Revolution it was obviously that not everyone wanted Lenin as their leader. So Lenin had to do something in order to hold the power. Without the brutal help of Cheka it would be very difficult for Bolsheviks.

After the civil war everything had changed. The old state, upper classes, and much of the intelligentsia were gone dead or abroad. In their place was the new party-state the core of which was the Communist Party. In old place of the nobility the Party set up museums, party offices, schools and Cheka headquarters and administrative offices(P .Bushkovitch).

Communist officials feared the bloody Cheka, but in fact party made GUP even more formidable by giving the new organization discretionary arrest powers. The Cheka never had this discretionary power even though it did carry out summary executions (E. Gayan).

Felix Dzerzhinsky, the original head of the Cheka, remained head of the GPU until his death in 1926, when he was succeeded by Pole, Menzhinsky(qtd. Foreign Affairs, Vol.13,No.1)

The Cheka death toll was high. According to M. Gayan between 1918 and 1920 more than 12,000 prisoners were killed. Some historians, however, state the numbers exceeded 300,000.

These numbers did not bother Lenin or Dzerzhinsky, who agreed that it was better to overkill than be overthrown(M. Gayan).

The Cheka’s heritage still has an impact on the contemporary Russia and Soviet Union. The 20th day of the month was the day that KBG officers used their salaries, this was done in order to honor the day of Cheka’s birth. Nowadays, a movement is getting popular in Russia, whose goal is to reinstall the statue of Dzerzhinsky in which is 40 feet in high and positioned in front of the Lubyanka Prison(cited E.