Founding deputy chairman of the Cheka, Honorary Chekist No. 2
"He told me that he suffered physical pain every time he signed a death sentence. I believe it was true. There was a strong streak of sentimentality in his nature, but he was a fanatic as far as the clash between Bolshevism and capitalism was concerned, and he pursued his Bolshevik aims with a sense of duty which was relentless." — British diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart, recalling his 1918 interrogation by Peters
Latvian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and key architect of Soviet state security. He joined the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1904, took part in the 1905 revolution, and emigrated to London in 1909, active in the British Socialist Party. During the October Revolution he served on the Petrograd Military-Revolutionary Committee and after the revolution became the founding deputy chairman of the Cheka, laying the institutional foundations of the security apparatus. During the July 1918 Left SR uprising he served as acting chairman; later, as head of the Eastern Department of GPU/OGPU, he directed anti-Basmachi operations in Central Asia. Arrested in 1937 during the Great Purge, he was shot in 1938 and rehabilitated in 1956.
Career Timeline
- 1904Joined Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDRP)
- 1907–1908Arrested and charged; acquitted by Riga military court
- 1909–1917Exiled in London; active in British Socialist Party and Latvian SD group
- 1917.10Petrograd Military-Revolutionary Committee; prepared October uprising
- 1917.12–1918.07Deputy Chairman of the Cheka (first holder)
- 1918.07–1918.08Acting Chairman of the Cheka; suppressed Left SR uprising
- 1918.08–1919.03Deputy Chairman of Cheka; Kaplan case, Lockhart plot
- 1920–1922Plenipotentiary in Turkestan, head of Tashkent Cheka; anti-Basmachi ops
- 1922–1929Head of Eastern Dept GPU/OGPU; chief inspector of border troops
- 1930–1934Chairman of Moscow Control Commission, Central Control Commission
- 1934–1937Member of Party Control Commission
Related historical events
- 1917.10–1918.01The October RevolutionPetrograd MRC member, delegate to the Second Congress of SovietsAs a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee he prepared troop units for the armed uprising, and was elected a delegate to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets and a member of VTsIK. Immediately after the revolution he joined the newly created Cheka.
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionDeputy chairman of the Cheka
- 1937–1938The Great PurgeTarget of the Latvian OperationThe deputy founding chairman of the Cheka was arrested in the Latvian Operation and executed in 1938.
Summer 1918: Acting Cheka Chairman and the Left SR Uprising
On July 6, 1918, Left SR operatives Yakov Blumkin and Nikolai Andreyev assassinated the German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach. The attackers used Cheka credentials signed by Felix Dzerzhinsky himself, and Dzerzhinsky was then detained when he went to the Left SR headquarters to investigate. That evening, on Lenin's orders, Peters was appointed acting chairman of the Cheka.
Peters formed a new Cheka collegium composed entirely of Communists and directed the suppression of the Left SR uprising. The revolt was crushed within days and Dzerzhinsky was freed, but remained sidelined from Cheka command for over a month. In the interim, Peters led the investigation into the so-called 'Lockhart plot' (or 'Ambassadors' conspiracy'), involving British diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart. Lockhart later left a vivid memoir account of his interrogation by Peters.
When Fanny Kaplan shot and wounded Lenin on August 30, Peters personally interrogated her. Despite her immediate confession, he resisted swift summary execution and instead pursued a methodical investigation to uncover her motives and possible accomplices. Kaplan was shot in the Kremlin on September 3. Peters returned to his post as deputy chairman when Dzerzhinsky resumed command later that month.