Secret Police Flashcards
Cheka
Felix Dzerzhinsky Bolshevik Secret Police formed after Revolution in 1917
OGPU
Felix Dzerzhinsky
Unified State Political Administration formed shortly before Lenin’s death in 1924
NKVD
Genrikh Yagoda/
Nikolai Yezhov/
Lavrenti Beria
Merging of the OGPU with the Interior Ministry under Stalin in 1934
KGB
Yuri Andropov
Soviet Security and Intelligence Service, reformed under Khrushchev after 1954
The Role of the Cheka 1917-22
Root out counter-revolutionaries, Help win war by enforcing War Communism and attacking opposition such as SRs and Mensheviks
Terror
Once Civil War won, what was the key role of the Secret Police?
Enforce orders of the Politburo and seek out enemies within the CP
What was the decree which gave them wide-ranging powers
Murder of Kirov: Decree Against Terrorist Acts 1934
Genrikh Yagoda (1934-36)
Ambitious to build personal empire - expansion of Gulag camps
But shift from ideological purpose to economic benefit
Under Yagoda, Gulags provide massive slave labour force
(white sea canals/show trials)
Nikolai Yezhov (1936-38)
Execution quota system in 1937
Yezhov so radical he purged the NKVD: 23,000 killed
This period known as the Yezhovshchina: ‘Yezhov’s Terror’
Lavrenti Beria
Focus on making NKVD more efficient and productive
Used skilled prisoners on projects: 1000 scientists put to work
Gulag economic growth from 2bn roubles in 1937 to 4.5bn in 1940
1/3 Russia’s gold, timber and coal produced by Gulag
The Role of the KGB
during de-Stalinisation?
Gulags taken away and made accountable to the state
New Criminal Code in 1960 severely limit use of terror
Role switched from mass terror to surveillance
Intellectuals reasons
(Dissidents)
Limitations on independent thinking; restrictions on contact with foreign academics and literature; ideological nature of academia; scientists led by Andrei Sakharov complained to Brezhnev
Human Rights bodies reasons for dissidents
After Russia signed UN Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 and Helsinki Accords in 1975, Human Rights groups attempted to hold Russian government to account for abuses
Nationalists reasons for dissidents
Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Georgians called for greater rights for their own cultures: attempt to ban 150th anniversary celebrations of Ukranian poet Taras Shevchenko in 1964
Catholics/Jews for dissidents
Restrictions on religious worship led to dissent, especially in Baltic regions; refusenik Jews denied right to emigrate to Israel which caused diplomatic friction with America
2 methods dissidents used against the CP
Samizdat – widely circulated literature critical of CP
Foreign press – undermined Russia’s international standing
2 methods used by Andropov to suppress dissidents
Intellectuals could be dismissed from positions
Arrested as ‘political prisoners’ – 10,000 by 1970s
What legal power did the KGB have to control dissidents
Article 70 of 1960 Criminal Code
Arrest those guilty of ‘anti-soviet agitation and propaganda’
How was psychiatry used against the dissidents?
Undermined their credibility in eyes of the public
From 1967 dissidents confined to ‘special hospitals’
Run by KGB and held there until ‘cured’
How successful in challenging the CP?
Succeeded in undermining Russia’s international standing
BUT
Failed to gain the support of general public – an intellectual movement
Failed to organise protests as split between numerous groups
Andropov as General-Secretary
Convinced popular dissent could lead to uprisings against CP
With Andropov in charge, KGB intensified surveillance
Surveillance techniques
Audio recordings
Cameras placed in bras!
3 Andropov’s economic reforms
Politburo to be more in touch with society – tours of factories
New government economic advisors – Novosibirsk group
Tackle ‘gerontocracy’ – promoted younger members of CP
