3.2 THE SECRET POLICE
CHEKA 1917
● Created as an “emergency committee”
○ Suggests it was meant to be temporary
● Rooted out enemies of the revolution
○ aristocracy + church + middle classes + mensheviks
● Organised the Red Terror during the civil war
○ Granted power to act with minimal interference from legal bodies
○ 200,000 opponents shot 1921 to 1922
● Increased terror after assassination attempt on Lenin 1918
● Led by Felix Dzherzinsky
GPU 1922
● Cheka was reorganised into the GPU in 1922 after the civil war
OGPU 1923
● Growing independence of the secret police from other institutions
● Only took orders from the leadership of the Communist Party
NKVD 1934
● OGPU merged with the Interior ministry to become the NKVD
● Dealt with opposition to collectivisation and FYPs
○ Opposition was sent to the gulags
● Ran completely outside the law
KGB 1954
● Far more professional and effective than the NKVD
● Brought under party control by Khrushchev
○ Subject to the law due to socialist legality
○ New criminal code 1960 → abolished night time interrogations and limited the powers of the KGB
● Couldn’t use terror (executions)
○ Instead would place prisoners in mental asylums
01) TERROR UNDER STALIN
YAGODA 1934 TO 1936
● Keen to prove loyalty to Stalin
● Expanded the gulag system
○ No longer used to “reform class enemies” → now used as cheap labour aiding USSR to rapidly industrialise
○ Shift from ideology to economic considerations
● Responsible for the White Sea Canal
○ 180,000 labourers from gulags used to create the canal
■ dug by hand instead with machines
○ Completed under budget and in less than 2 years
■ However was a huge failure as they didn’t dig deep enough, making it useless for most shipping
○ 10,000 prisoners died
● Great Purge 1936
○ Arrested all “trotskyite opposition”
● Accused of not pursuing the opposition with sufficient enthusiasm and useless in safeguarding Kirov 1936
● Yagoda was removed from office in 1936 and shot in 1938
YEZHOV 1936 TO 1938
● Also known as “the bloody dwarf”
● Created “Troikas”
○ Sped up the process of arrest, trial and imprisonment
○ Troikas were made up of three people, one of them being the NKVD boss
○ September 1937 → one troika processed 231 prisoners each day
● Expanded the number of people in the gulag
○ Introduced quotas in 1937 for the execution of prisoners
● Introduced plain clothed officers to increase surveillance
○ Number of detectives x4
○ Extra staff employed to torture
, ● Attended a politburo meeting with blood on the cuffs of his shirt
Yezhovshchina 1937 to 1938
● 10% of the male adult population were arrested by the NKVD.
● Yezhovshchina transformed government districts of Moscow and Leningrad into ghost towns.
● Mass arrests of government officials left apartments empty.
His removal
● By 1938 Stalin became concerned that the levels of terror were demoralising the population
○ Stalin accused Yezhov of being responsible for the excessive purges - scapegoat
○ Yezhov dismissed and shot in 1938
BERIA 1938 TO 1953
● Impressive organisation skills
● Public trials were only held when solid evidence was found
● Oversaw Trotsky's murder in Mexico 1940
● Improved the gulag system for economic purposes
○ 1939 food rations for inmates improved
■ Get maximum work out of prisoners
○ Used technical skills of inmates for specialist tasks
■ 1,000 scientists put to work on various projects
○ Gulag economic activity increased from 2 billion roubles (1937) to 4.5 billion roubles (1940)
○ ⅓ of countries gold mined by the Gulag
Changes to the role of the secret police during WWII
● 1941 they were granted supervision over the red army
○ Dealt with desertions and disloyalty
● Deported local minorities whose loyalty was to the Soviet state was considered suspect
○ E.g Crimean Tartars
● By 1943 the Red Army had to control overseas ex German territories
○ Beria set up special departments to root out traitors
○ Killed more than 4,000 polish officers
● Soviet prisoners of war (soviet troops which escaped from german capture) were sent to gulags
○ “Order 270” treated these troops as traitors
○ Some forced to clear minefields by simply walking through areas where mines had been laid by the enemy
After the War
● The ‘Leningrad Affair’ 1949
○ Stalin launched a purge against officials in the Leningrad Party.
○ Stalin claimed that the Leningrad Party acted independently as if it were an island in the Pacific.
○ Over 2,000 members imprisoned or exiled
● The Doctors’ Plot’ 1952 to 1953
○ Many of Stalin’s medical staff were arrested for trying to poison Stalin.
○ Anti-semitism may have been a cause for this purge as many doctors were Jewish, and Stalin was a well known
anti-Semite.
○ Stalin died before the doctors could be prosecuted.
02) THE SUPPRESSION OF DISSIDENTS 1967 TO 1982
ANDROPOV AS HEAD OF THE KGB
● In 1967, Brezhnev promoted Andropov to lead the KGB.
● In Khrushchev’s period, heads of the KGB had been very low profile, and so the position had been a dead end.
● Under Andropov, this changed, the head of the KGB returned to become a leading position in government.
● Andropov’s role was much smaller than that of previous Secret Police officers.
REASONS FOR DISSIDENCE
● People’s confidence increased due to the absence of terror
● USSR expanded its borders onto satellite states
○ Harder to maintain control of western influence
● Development of technology
CHEKA 1917
● Created as an “emergency committee”
○ Suggests it was meant to be temporary
● Rooted out enemies of the revolution
○ aristocracy + church + middle classes + mensheviks
● Organised the Red Terror during the civil war
○ Granted power to act with minimal interference from legal bodies
○ 200,000 opponents shot 1921 to 1922
● Increased terror after assassination attempt on Lenin 1918
● Led by Felix Dzherzinsky
GPU 1922
● Cheka was reorganised into the GPU in 1922 after the civil war
OGPU 1923
● Growing independence of the secret police from other institutions
● Only took orders from the leadership of the Communist Party
NKVD 1934
● OGPU merged with the Interior ministry to become the NKVD
● Dealt with opposition to collectivisation and FYPs
○ Opposition was sent to the gulags
● Ran completely outside the law
KGB 1954
● Far more professional and effective than the NKVD
● Brought under party control by Khrushchev
○ Subject to the law due to socialist legality
○ New criminal code 1960 → abolished night time interrogations and limited the powers of the KGB
● Couldn’t use terror (executions)
○ Instead would place prisoners in mental asylums
01) TERROR UNDER STALIN
YAGODA 1934 TO 1936
● Keen to prove loyalty to Stalin
● Expanded the gulag system
○ No longer used to “reform class enemies” → now used as cheap labour aiding USSR to rapidly industrialise
○ Shift from ideology to economic considerations
● Responsible for the White Sea Canal
○ 180,000 labourers from gulags used to create the canal
■ dug by hand instead with machines
○ Completed under budget and in less than 2 years
■ However was a huge failure as they didn’t dig deep enough, making it useless for most shipping
○ 10,000 prisoners died
● Great Purge 1936
○ Arrested all “trotskyite opposition”
● Accused of not pursuing the opposition with sufficient enthusiasm and useless in safeguarding Kirov 1936
● Yagoda was removed from office in 1936 and shot in 1938
YEZHOV 1936 TO 1938
● Also known as “the bloody dwarf”
● Created “Troikas”
○ Sped up the process of arrest, trial and imprisonment
○ Troikas were made up of three people, one of them being the NKVD boss
○ September 1937 → one troika processed 231 prisoners each day
● Expanded the number of people in the gulag
○ Introduced quotas in 1937 for the execution of prisoners
● Introduced plain clothed officers to increase surveillance
○ Number of detectives x4
○ Extra staff employed to torture
, ● Attended a politburo meeting with blood on the cuffs of his shirt
Yezhovshchina 1937 to 1938
● 10% of the male adult population were arrested by the NKVD.
● Yezhovshchina transformed government districts of Moscow and Leningrad into ghost towns.
● Mass arrests of government officials left apartments empty.
His removal
● By 1938 Stalin became concerned that the levels of terror were demoralising the population
○ Stalin accused Yezhov of being responsible for the excessive purges - scapegoat
○ Yezhov dismissed and shot in 1938
BERIA 1938 TO 1953
● Impressive organisation skills
● Public trials were only held when solid evidence was found
● Oversaw Trotsky's murder in Mexico 1940
● Improved the gulag system for economic purposes
○ 1939 food rations for inmates improved
■ Get maximum work out of prisoners
○ Used technical skills of inmates for specialist tasks
■ 1,000 scientists put to work on various projects
○ Gulag economic activity increased from 2 billion roubles (1937) to 4.5 billion roubles (1940)
○ ⅓ of countries gold mined by the Gulag
Changes to the role of the secret police during WWII
● 1941 they were granted supervision over the red army
○ Dealt with desertions and disloyalty
● Deported local minorities whose loyalty was to the Soviet state was considered suspect
○ E.g Crimean Tartars
● By 1943 the Red Army had to control overseas ex German territories
○ Beria set up special departments to root out traitors
○ Killed more than 4,000 polish officers
● Soviet prisoners of war (soviet troops which escaped from german capture) were sent to gulags
○ “Order 270” treated these troops as traitors
○ Some forced to clear minefields by simply walking through areas where mines had been laid by the enemy
After the War
● The ‘Leningrad Affair’ 1949
○ Stalin launched a purge against officials in the Leningrad Party.
○ Stalin claimed that the Leningrad Party acted independently as if it were an island in the Pacific.
○ Over 2,000 members imprisoned or exiled
● The Doctors’ Plot’ 1952 to 1953
○ Many of Stalin’s medical staff were arrested for trying to poison Stalin.
○ Anti-semitism may have been a cause for this purge as many doctors were Jewish, and Stalin was a well known
anti-Semite.
○ Stalin died before the doctors could be prosecuted.
02) THE SUPPRESSION OF DISSIDENTS 1967 TO 1982
ANDROPOV AS HEAD OF THE KGB
● In 1967, Brezhnev promoted Andropov to lead the KGB.
● In Khrushchev’s period, heads of the KGB had been very low profile, and so the position had been a dead end.
● Under Andropov, this changed, the head of the KGB returned to become a leading position in government.
● Andropov’s role was much smaller than that of previous Secret Police officers.
REASONS FOR DISSIDENCE
● People’s confidence increased due to the absence of terror
● USSR expanded its borders onto satellite states
○ Harder to maintain control of western influence
● Development of technology
