Cheka
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The Cheka (ЧК), officially the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (ВЧК), was the first Soviet secret police organization, established in December 1917 under the Council of People's Commissars. Headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky, it wielded powers of preliminary investigation, arrest, and summary execution against counter-revolutionaries and class enemies, serving as the principal instrument of the Red Terror. It was dissolved in February 1922 and reorganized as the State Political Directorate (GPU), establishing the institutional lineage that would run through the OGPU, NKVD, KGB, and FSB.
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Sources
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: official name, creation date (7/20 December 1917), Dzerzhinsky as first chairman, dissolution date (6 February 1922), structure, and repressive powers
- Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia: first Soviet secret police, Red Terror role, estimates of executions (50,000–200,000), succession by GPU/OGPU/NKVD/KGB
- prlib.ru Presidential Library of Russia: decree establishing VChK on 7(20) December 1917, initial staff numbers (40→120→31,000), succession timeline GPU→OGPU→NKVD→KGB→FSB
- history.blog.gov.uk UK Foreign Office historians: Cheka as reincarnation of Tsarist Okhrana, Dzerzhinsky's background, shield-and-sword symbolism, role in Red Terror
- Marxists Internet Archive Lenin's original note to Dzerzhinsky (7 December 1917) with draft decree on fighting counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs, establishing the Cheka's founding mandate