3- Secret Police 1917-85 Flashcards
Plan
P1- Agree, terror declined. P2- Agree- priorities changed. P3- Always served the Party and never had their own independent power. P4-Always had a role in supressing resistance to the regime
P1- Lenin Terror
Cheka tasked with acting against counter-revolutionaries, which it undertook with great ruthlessness. Up to 200,000 opponents were shot in RedTerror 1921-22 and extreme violence against enemies e.g. ppriests crucified and White Army members frozen to death and turned into ice statues
P1- STALIN TERROR
Similar to Lenin used in Great Terror. Lubyanka building to torture, widely used handbook on torture methods, extra staff employed to torture. During Yezhovshchina, 10% of the male adult population were arrested by NKVD.
P1- Khrushchev
Dismantled the Gulag system and forced labour never again played a part in Soviet economy. Lubyanka building ceased to be a prison. 1960, the criminal code abolished night-time interrogations. De-stalinistation and international scrutiny in the Cold War.
P1- Andropov
Treatment of those caught far less intense and harsh. Travel restrictions were given, people fired from jobs or sent into internal exile. Those who consistently opposed the authorities were allowed to emigrate 1970s- over 100,000 potential troublemakers allowed to leave USSR. Formal warnings- 70,000 received one 1970s. Concerned with international rep in light of Helsinki Accords 1975 agreed to respect human rights. Age of growing mass communication on a worldwide scale, could embarrass leader and damage Soviet diplomacy.
P2- Priorities under Lenin
Focused on establishing and consolidating communist control, eliminating opponents and quashing resistance, such as NEPmen.
P2- Early Stalin
Same as Lenin. Great Terror and show trials, purges in Red Army . Group of people considered opponents widened to include anyone who didn’t show sufficient commitment to Revolutionary cause. Sept 1937, the Karelian Troika processed 231 prisoners each day and gulag inmates rose considersbly. Paranoid nature at most instable period. Most excessive phase of purges under Yezhov
P2- Beria
Priority changed to economic considerations as threat of war loomed. Making Gulag more profitable part of economy by increasing food for inmates to increase productivity, using technical skills of inmates for specialist taskes e.g. Korolev played an essential part in the development of the Soviet space programme, early releases from camps cancelled. Measures resulted in a growth in gulag activity from 2 bil roubles 1937 to 4.5bil 1940.1/3 of country’s gold and much if its timber was produced tjrough Gulag 1950s- major contributor to Doviet economy.
P2- War
Dealing with prisoners of war- e.g. Beria set up special departments to root out traitors, deserters and cowards. SMERSH dealt with suspected spies. Returining prisoners of war automatically held in detention camps ran by secret police
P2- Andropov
Making the existing system work better and a greater desire to meet the needs of the general population. Popular discontent on economic concerns- fixing thid to deliver a reasonable standard of living. ‘We’ll make enough sausages, and then we won’t have any dissidents’. Shift in priorities to the promotion of a more stable society. 1982, used secret police to clamp down on alcoholism and absenteeism in the workplace to increase productivity. KGB officers did spotchecks on factories to record attendance and combed the streets for truanting workers. Reforming system by instilling greater discipline in workforce. Focused more on real crimes not just suspicions anymore. Told politburo needed to ‘acquire an understanding of the society in which we live.’
P3- after stalin
Often referred to as the ‘sword and shield of the Communist Party’. Members were recruited from the party. In 1991 coup where they tried to take power from Party and leader failed and Party had authority to strip them of extensive military units and domestic security functions. While they did have influence, this was often controlled by the leader.
P3- Stalin
Stalin set the parameters for the purges, dismissal of Yezhov used to slow down purges and reduce level of terror. Targets of the terror decided by Stalin and stemmed from the requirements if his policies and personality. Stalin gave the NKVD quotas to meet and if not met leaders purged. Merely carrying out Stalin’s orders
P4- Always had a role in supressing resistance to the regime
While methods got increasingly sophisticated and professional, e.g. development in surveillance technology like electric bugging devices, tape recorders and casettws to record convos, cameras secreted in bras and briefcases, THEIR overall aim was never changed. It was always to resist threats to ideology, Lenin after Red Terror purging class enemies like SR and Mensh, Stalin’s extensive use of them in the Great Terror and show trials purging power struggle members, Party members who opposed plan, secret police, red Army, local level quotas, Andropov purging intellectuals, political dissidents , nationalists, religious dissidents like Baptists and Catholics (restrictions on worship and religious practices), 10,000 political prisoners
Conclusion- role changed considerably
Declined in importance, with less need for terror due to lingering memory. Different aims, while was the same principle, less focused on personal piwer. The argument that the secret police only ever under party control can be undermined because Andropov head of KGB was appointed to Politburo 1973 then became leader of KGB showing how it was just undrr stalin that authority was limited and later on they were valued as an important organisation. The secret police had some roles that remained constant yet most of their responsibilities and priorities changed completely
Need to do a paragraph on growth of professionalism under Andropov
