UNIT 3: HOW DID THE USE OF THE SECRET POLICE CHANGE THROUGH THE PERIOD 1917-85? Flashcards
What was the Cheka?
The cheka was the secret police formed in December 1917 headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky to deal with counter-revolution by arresting, torturing and killing anybody who tried to destroy the communist state.
During the civil war, they often operated outside the law with minimal interference from other legal bodies.
For example, the Lubyanka building was where executions of suspects happened without using official courts. - was responsible for the executions of up to 200,000 people
In 1922, the OGPU replaced the Cheka and terror became more bureaucratic and discreet and focused on groups within the Party - this highlights the growing independence of the secret police who only took orders from the party leadership.
Merged in 1934 to form the NKVD.
How were political opponents identified?
The Kulaks and peasants who opposed collectivisation were sent to the Gulag.
Those accused of working with foreign countries to undermine the USSR resulted in widespread denunciations by the secret police.
after World War One
Those suspected of cooperating with the Germans.
Those who escaped German capture.
Those returning prisoners of the war.
How were opponents dealt with by the secret police?
They were arrested in the night to disorientate the accused.
Taken to secret police headquarters where they were subjected to torture until they confessed.
Show trials for high profile victims.
Deals where the accused would confess to crimes to save their family- not always followed through.
Shot or deported to the gulag.
They were used to clear minefields laid by the enemy.
Who was Yagoda?
Head of secret police in 1934, keen to prove his loyalty to Stalin.
Changed secret police focus from ideology to economic considerations so prisoners were used as a labour force for economic resources.
Completed the White sea canal in less than 2 years - used 180,000 labourers from the gulag digging by hand, 10,000 dead.
Arrested those alleged to have links with Trotskyism.
In 1936, he was accused of incompetence in safeguarding Kirov.
Stalin had him shot in 1938.
Who was Yezkov?
Replaced Yagoda, nicknamed ‘bloody dwarf’.
In 1937, he issued orders to require camps to meet quotas for the execution of prisoners because he thought the Gulag was underused.
Increased surveillance on the general public by the NKVD, created a system of public informers to inform on individual’s behaviour.
Widened the people considered opponents to include those who didn’t show sufficient commitment to the revolution.
In 1938, he was dismissed by Stalin for being responsible for excess purges.
Who was Beria?
Reformed the excessive behaviour of the secret police because he felt that indiscriminate arrests were inefficient and a waste of manpower.
Reintroduced conventional methods to police procedure eg. public trials only held when there was solid evidence.
Made the Gulag profitable, 1939 improved food rations for prisoners to improve their productivity - created new pieces of military hardware.
Cancelled early prison releases so the prisoner’s expertise could continue to be used - growth in gulag economic activity 2 bill roubles 1937 to 4.5 bill 1940.
What were the changes to the secret police during WW2?
1941 Given the power to monitor desertion and disloyalty in the Red army.
NKVD given control over the process of deportation of the national minorities whose loyalty to the Soviet state was doubtful e.g. Chechens, Crimean Tartars - conducted by Troikas.
1943 Special departments set up in areas previously captured by the Germans to root out traitors and cowards e.g. SMERSH delt with suspected spies.
Order 270 treated all Soviet troops who surrendered to the Germans as traitors, returning prisoners were used to clear minefields by walking through them.
Troikas were allowed to act outside the law
Describe the post-war rivalry.
Stalin’s last years saw a rivalry between politburo members so Beria launched a purge to gain Stalin’s favour - 1949 2000 members imprisoned.
Beria gained considerable influence.
Stalin then launched the Mingrelian Affair 1951 to purge the party in Geogia but it also targeted the Mingrelian ethnicity which Beria belonged.
When Stalin died, beria - head of sectret police - had enormous power so the politburo was quick to remove him from the position in June 1953.
What was the impact of the removal of Beria on the use of terror?
The Politburo had to quickly limit the independence of the secret police.
Terror was brought under the control of the Soviet security and intelligence service KGB.
Forced labour stopped.
The Lubyanka building ceased to be a prison.
Why can it be argued that Stalin was responsible for the apparatus of terror?
He signed death warrrants.
He gave the NKVD quotas to meet.
Terror accompanied his policies e.g. collectivisation.
After Stalin’s death the use of terror reduced and the gulag was dismantled.
Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria were just functionaries carrying out Stalin’s orders.
Why can it be argued that Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria were responsible for the apparatus of terror?
They all became powerful leaders of the secrat police by following Stalin’s orders.
They all added to the death lists and used their influence to undermine each other.
Who were intellectual dissidents?
Had a high status in society, so they developed an independent way of thinking which constantly came up against restrictions.
For example, nuclear scientist Andrei Sakharov was banned from military research because he complained that the restricted foreign material was needed for his research.
Who were political dissidents?
Those who tried to hold the government to the accounts of its own laws.
For example, the abuse of human rights that broke Soviet laws.
Groups were established to monitor the Soviet union’s application of the UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948.
Who were nationalist dissidents?
Those who called for greater status for their own national language and cultures.
For example, in 1974, four Lithuanian groups joined together to form a national Popular Front, calling for an end to Soviet colonisation.
Who were religious Dissidents?
Baptists and Catholics faced restrictions on their worship and religious practises.
