The Cheka and the Red Terror

Question 1

When were Cheka established by Sovnarkom?

Answer 1

December 1917.

Question 2

What was the full name of the Cheka?

Answer 2

The Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage.

Question 3

What was the Cheka?

Answer 3

• The new regime’s political police, which embodied Lenin’s views on revolutionary violence

Question 4

Why did Lenin believe that the Cheka was necessary?

Answer 4

He believed that in times of emergency revolutionaries needed to defend their government with force.

Question 5

How did the Cheka target the right-wing?

Answer 5

• Initially, they closed right-wing papers. Indeed, in November 1917 the Kadets were outlawed
• In December 1917 Lenin authorised the arrest of leading members of the Right SRs and the right-wing Mensheviks such as Tsereteli

Question 6

How did the Cheka target the left-wing?

Answer 6

In April 1918 the Bolsheviks expelled the SRs and the Mensheviks from the Soviets, claiming that they were counter-revolutionaries.

Question 7

The Cheka didn’t enforce laws, not were they bound by laws, rather they dispensed…

Answer 7

‘revolutionary justice’, which allowed them to act arbitrarily.

Question 8

The Mensheviks and SRs remained legal until…

Answer 8

1922.

Question 9

Some Mensheviks and SRs joined…

Answer 9

the Bolshevik Party.

Question 10

The Mensheviks and SRs who didn’t join the Bolsheviks…. How many people?

Answer 10

fled Russia, or ended up in the Cheka’s labour camps - around 2 million people.

Question 11

What were the methods of the Cheka?

Answer 11

Shooting suspects without trial and to use torture.
Their victims were:
- Scalped
- Allowed to freeze and turned into frozen statues
- Skinned
- Mutilated
- Eaten by staring
- Branded
- Crucified (in the case of priests)

Question 12

What was the purpose of the methods of the Cheka?

Answer 12

• In part, to terrify Russians into obeying the new government.

Question 13

Who was Felix Dzerzhinsky?

Answer 13

The first head of the Cheka - his headquarters were in Lubyanka in Moscow - he was ideologically committed to the use of terror against counter-revolutionaries, and was an advocate of swift and harsh revolutionary justice. He was know as ‘Iron Felix’ due to his ruthlessness.

Question 14

What was the Cheka’s role during the Civil War?

Answer 14

To protect Communist rule in areas held by the Communists.

Question 15

What were the Red Army responsible for during the Civil War?

Answer 15

For defending and enlarging Communist-held territory.

Question 16

How from 1918 to 21 did the Cheka use terror?

Answer 16

They:

• helped the Red Army requisition grain from the peasants as part of War Communism
• closed down opposition newspapers and imprisoned, tortured and executed socialist opponents of the new government
• used extreme violence against the enemies of Communist Party in recently captured areas; violence was often public in order to terrify the population
• Supported the Red Army’s attack on the Kronstadt naval base; Cheka agents with machine guns were positioned behind Red Army soldiers and instructed to shoot any soldiers who retreated or refused to fight
• ran concentration camps that housed the Communist enemies
• stopped private trading, which was outlawed under War Communism

Question 17

Why did the Cheka unleash a wave of ‘Red Terror’ at the end of August 1918?

Answer 17

In response to a failed assassination attempt on Lenin.

Question 18

How many people were executed by the Cheka in September 1918?

Answer 18

Around 15,000.

Question 19

What is the estimate for the number of people killed by the Cheka between 1918 and 1921?

Answer 19

Vary from 50,000 to 3 million

Question 20

As support for the Bolsheviks diminished, the new government relied increasingly on…

Answer 20

fear.

Question 21

What did Dzerzhinsky boast about in relation to the Cheka?

Answer 21

That it underpinned all of the achievements of Lenin’s government.

Question 22

What did Cheka end in Russia, transforming politics?

Answer 22

• Press freedom
• Freedom of speech
• Opposition groups