The Universalists were a Russian anarcho-communist organization established in 1920 to support the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War . After a period of growth, the organization split and was eventually suppressed in the wake of the Kronstadt rebellion .
90-566: In August 1920, the brothers Abba Gordin and Wolf Gordin came together with German Askarov to found the tendency of "Anarcho-Universalism" within the Russian anarchist movement , as part of a broader trend of " Soviet anarchism", which supported the Bolsheviks. As part of their "different approach to the Soviet state ", they sought to define a new course of action for the anarchist movement to take under
180-648: A Revolutionary : Since the first massacres of Red prisoners by the Whites, the murders of Volodarsky and Uritsky and the attempt against Lenin (in the summer of 1918), the custom of arresting and, often, executing hostages had become generalized and legal. Already the Cheka, which made mass arrests of suspects, was tending to settle their fate independently, under formal control of the Party, but in reality without anybody's knowledge. The Party endeavoured to head it with incorruptible men like
270-644: A gangster-like slang for the verb to kill in an attempt to distance themselves from the killings, such as 'shooting partridges', or 'sealing' a victim, or giving him a natsokal (onomatopoeia of the trigger action). On November 30, 1992, by the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized the Red Terror as unlawful, which in turn led to
360-791: A military section, headed by M. S. Kedrov , to combat counterrevolution in the Army. In early 1919, the military control and the military section of VCheKa were merged into one body, the Special Section of the Republic , with Kedrov as head. On January 1, he issued an order to establish the Special Section. The order instructed agencies everywhere to unite the Military control and the military sections of Chekas and to form special sections of frontlines, armies, military districts, and guberniyas . In November 1920
450-514: A minority within the Universalist organization, resolved to establish a new ideology that they felt could better respond to the conditions the Russian anarchist movement found itself in. In the wake of Joseph Stalin 's rise to power, a number of Universalists were let out of prison under police surveillance , and Askarov was later arrested on charges of anti-Soviet agitation before disappearing during
540-458: A modern, secular Hebrew, they believed, required teaching methods that were concrete and active, involving the body. They founded their own publishing house, "Novaya Pedagogika" (New Pedagogy), to publish their theory and methodology. Migrating to Moscow with other refugees during World War I , he and Wolf (under the collective title of the "Brat'ya Gordinii," the Gordin Brothers) joined
630-512: A motion "broadening the rights of the [Cheka] in relation to the use of the [death penalty]." There is no consensus among the Western historians on the number of deaths from the Red Terror . One source gives estimates of 28,000 executions per year from December 1917 to February 1922. Estimates for the number of people shot during the initial period of the Red Terror are at least 10,000. Estimates for
720-415: A new socialist state , as the older anarchist methods had been defined by "a different environment, different circumstances and a different power structures". They argued that a centralized " dictatorship of the proletariat " was necessary for the transition to a stateless communist society , and advocated for Russian anarchists to collaborate with the Bolsheviks, ceasing all hostile activity in opposition to
810-503: A radio telegram to all Soviets with a petition to immediately organize emergency commissions to combat counter-revolution, sabotage and speculation, if such commissions had not been yet organized. February 1918 saw the creation of local Extraordinary Commissions. One of the first founded was the Moscow Cheka. Sections and commissariats to combat counterrevolution were established in other cities. The Extraordinary Commissions arose, usually in
900-629: A systematic work of organs of VCheKa in RKKA refers to July 1918, the period of extreme tension of the civil war and class struggle in the country. On July 16, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars formed the Extraordinary Commission for combating counterrevolution at the Czechoslovak (Eastern) Front, led by M. I. Latsis . In the fall of 1918, Extraordinary Commissions to combat counterrevolution on
990-471: A team of sailors, and a strike team. Through the winter of 1917–1918, all activities of VCheKa were centralized mainly in the city of Petrograd. It was one of several other commissions in the country which fought against counterrevolution, speculation, banditry, and other activities perceived as crimes. Other organizations included: the Bureau of Military Commissars, and an Army-Navy investigatory commission to attack
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#17329208615511080-532: Is confused by the fact that the Soviet Bolshevik government used the term 'bandit' to cover ordinary criminals as well as armed and unarmed political opponents, such as the anarchists. Estimates on Cheka executions vary widely. The lowest figures ( disputed below ) are provided by Dzerzhinsky's lieutenant Martyn Latsis , limited to RSFSR over the period 1918–1920: Experts generally agree these semi-official figures are vastly understated. Pioneering historian of
1170-707: Is still found in use in Russia today (for example, President Vladimir Putin has been referred to in the Russian media as a chekist due to his career in the KGB and as head of the KGB's successor, FSB ). The Chekists commonly dressed in black leather, including long flowing coats, reportedly after being issued such distinctive coats early in their existence. Western communists adopted this clothing fashion. The Chekists also often carried with them Greek-style worry beads made of amber, which had become "fashionable among high officials during
1260-624: The Cheka (Russian: ЧК , IPA: [tɕɪˈka] ), was the first Soviet secret police organization. It was established on 20 December [ O.S. 7 December] 1917 by the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR , and was led by Felix Dzerzhinsky . By the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921, the Cheka had at least 200,000 personnel. Ostensibly created to protect
1350-612: The Great Purge . In the late 1920s, Abba Gordin emigrated to the United States, while Wolf Gordin, who had by this time fully converted to Bolshevism , was subjected to punitive psychiatry before being able to escape to the United States. The anarchist Alexander Berkman considered the Universalists to be "worse than crazy". The anarchist-turned-Bolshevik Victor Serge later praised the Universalists for condemning "the past errors of
1440-589: The October Revolution from "class enemies" such as the bourgeoisie and members of the clergy , the Cheka soon became a tool of repression wielded against all political opponents of the Bolshevik regime. The organization had responsibility for counterintelligence , oversight of the loyalty of the Red Army , and protection of the country's borders, as well as the collection of human and technical intelligence . At
1530-560: The October Revolution . The organization began to grow rapidly, establishing branches in Bryansk , the Urals , Ryazan , Minsk , and Samara , while in their headquarters of Moscow they opened up a number of establishments including a conference hall , bookstore , restaurant , and a number of clubs . The organization was quickly joined by a number of new members that had a different anarchist political philosophy to that of its founders, which split
1620-531: The Red Terror Sergei Melgunov claims that this was done deliberately in an attempt to demonstrate the government's humanity. For example, he refutes the claim made by Latsis that only 22 executions were carried out in the first six months of the Cheka's existence by providing evidence that the true number was 884 executions. W. H. Chamberlin claims, "It is simply impossible to believe that the Cheka only put to death 12,733 people in all of Russia up to
1710-720: The Soviet of Labor and Defense created a Special Section of VCheKa for the security of the state border. On February 6, 1922, after the Ninth All-Russian Soviet Congress, the Cheka was dissolved by VTsIK, "with expressions of gratitude for heroic work." It was replaced by the State Political Administration or GPU, a section of the NKVD of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Dzerzhinsky remained as chief of
1800-460: The Stavropol Cheka (hot basement, cold basement, skull measuring, etc.). The Chekists were also supplemented by the militarized Units of Special Purpose (the Party's Spetsnaz or ЧОН ). Cheka was actively and openly utilizing kidnapping methods. With kidnapping methods, Cheka was able to extinguish numerous cases of discontent especially among the rural population. Among the notorious ones
1890-491: The taking over of industry , the unionizing of the workers of the land, and economic reorganization through the free cooperation of workers and peasants." A wave of repression against the anarchist movement soon followed, with the Universalist organizations being broken up by the Cheka , and replaced by the more obedient "Anarcho-Biocosmists", which pledged not to launch a social revolution on "Soviet territory" but instead in " interplanetary space ". The Biocosmists, previously
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#17329208615511980-562: The "most visible spokesperson" among those anarchists who were "inclined to accept centralism and the dictatorship of the proletariat," had been imprisoned for three months in the notorious Butyrka prison "for the crime of having been elected to the Moscow Soviet by the workers of the factory where he worked": Gordin was a worker in a munitions factory. When the elections for the Soviet of the district that his factory belonged to were held, despite
2070-766: The Bolshevik victory over the White movement during the Russian Civil War, the Universalists were in good standing with the Bolsheviks; by the time the Kronstadt rebellion broke out, they were supporting the Baltic Fleet mutineers, denouncing the suppression of the rebellion by the Red Army under Leon Trotsky . When the New Economic Policy was implemented, Askarov responded by calling Universalists to prepare "the unions for
2160-481: The Cheka than died in battle. Historian James Ryan gives a modest estimate of 28,000 executions per year from December 1917 to February 1922. Lenin himself seemed unfazed by the killings. On 12 January 1920, while addressing trade union leaders, he said: "We did not hesitate to shoot thousands of people, and we shall not hesitate, and we shall save the country." On 14 May 1921, the Politburo , chaired by Lenin, passed
2250-411: The Cheka, created to punish desertions. These troops were used to forcibly repatriate deserters, taking and shooting hostages to force compliance or to set an example. In September 1918, according to The Black Book of Communism , in only twelve provinces of Russia, 48,735 deserters and 7,325 "bandits" were arrested, 1,826 were killed and 2,230 were executed. The exact identity of these individuals
2340-516: The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (Russian: Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия по борьбе с контрреволюцией и саботажем при Совете народных комиссаров РСФСР , Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya po borbe s kontrrevolyutsiyey i sabotazhem pri Sovete narodnykh komisarov RSFSR ). In 1918 its name was changed, becoming All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption . A member of Cheka
2430-1139: The Jewish Ethical Society. Gordin became a co-editor of the New York Yiddish-language anarchist journal Freie Arbeiter Stimme and editor of his own polemic periodical, The Clarion . By the early 1930s, Gordin had identified nationalism as a more prominent driver of modern history than social class conflict . He also critiqued Marxist doctrine as a "hybrid ... of quasi-religion and pseudo-science" that would depose one king for another. He emigrated to Israel around 1957, where he translated his Yiddish writing into Hebrew. Gordin died in Tel Aviv in 1964. Services were held August 23. Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( Russian : Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия , romanized : Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya , IPA: [fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə] ), abbreviated as VChK (Russian: ВЧК , IPA: [vɛ tɕe ˈka] ), and commonly known as
2520-562: The Red Army, the civil war and the dictatorship of the proletariat as the transitional form toward Anarchy." Nonetheless, both Gordin and the Anarchist-Universalists faced increasing government persecution. Observers attributed this persecution to Gordin's relative popularity among Russia's radical working class. In Seventy Days In Russia: What I Saw (1924), Angel Pestaña , recounting his visit to Moscow in 1920, notes that Abba Gordin,
2610-603: The Russian anarchist movement", advocating "participation in the Soviets", recognizing "what the revolution owes the Red Army", not wanting "to demonstrate any hostility toward the Communist International", and seeking "practical, immediate, and peaceful methods of work within the socialist state". Abba Gordin Abba Lvovich Gordin (1887–1964) was an Israeli anarchist and Yiddish writer and poet. Abba Gordin
2700-596: The Southern (Ukraine) Front were formed. In late November, the Second All-Russian Conference of the Extraordinary Commissions accepted a decision after a report from I. N. Polukarov to establish at all frontlines, and army sections of the Cheka and granted them the right to appoint their commissioners in military units. On December 9, 1918, the collegiate (or presidium) of VCheKa had decided to form
2790-573: The Soviet Republic had accounted for some 75 Uyezd-level Extraordinary Commissions. By the end of the year, 365 Uyezd-level Chekas were established. In 1918, the All-Russia Extraordinary Commission and the Soviets managed to establish a local Cheka apparatus. It included Oblast, Guberniya, Raion , Uyezd , and Volost Chekas, with Raion and Volost Extraordinary Commissioners. In addition, border security Chekas were included in
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2880-620: The Soviet government. Their policy was noted by Paul Avrich as being similar to that of the Maximalists , a radical faction of the Socialist Revolutionaries , which split off and later joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) . In articles published in the organization's official organ The Universal , Askarov criticised the recent history of the Russian anarchist movement and called for anarchists to participate in
2970-654: The Special Investigation Commission to investigate the atrocities of the Bolsheviks estimated the number of deaths at 1,766,188 people in 1918–1919 only. The Cheka engaged in the widespread practice of torture . Depending on Cheka committees in various cities, the methods included: being skinned alive, scalped, "crowned" with barbed wire, impaled, crucified, hanged, stoned to death, tied to planks and pushed slowly into furnaces or tanks of boiling water, or rolled around naked in internally nail-studded barrels. Chekists reportedly poured water on naked prisoners in
3060-469: The Universalists marked their transition "from anarchist Blanquism to the class struggle " and called for the anarchist participation in the soviets , where a number of Universalists including Askarov had already been elected. The Universalists declared themselves in support of the Communist International and their willingness to form a united front with other political parties that supported
3150-573: The Universalists, leading to a minority faction around the Gordins being expelled from the organization, going onto name themselves the Anarchist-Universalist Association (inter-individualist) ( Russian : Организация анархистов-универсалистов (интериндивидуалистов) ) and publish the journal Through Socialism to Anarchism-Universalism . The two groups subsequently began to attack each other, with "insults, defamation, and violence". With
3240-559: The VCheKa was officially an independent organization from the NKVD , its chief members such as Dzerzhinsky, Latsis , Unszlicht , and Uritsky (all main chekists), since November 1917 composed the collegiate of NKVD headed by Petrovsky. In November 1918, Petrovsky was appointed as head of the All-Ukrainian Central Military Revolutionary Committee during VCheKa's expansion to provinces and front-lines. At
3330-541: The VCheKa. Originally, members of the Cheka were exclusively Bolshevik ; however, in January 1918, Left SRs also joined the organization. The Left SRs were expelled or arrested later in 1918, following the attempted assassination of Lenin by an SR, Fanni Kaplan . By the end of January 1918, the Investigatory Commission of Petrograd Soviet (probably same as of Revtribunal) petitioned Sovnarkom to delineate
3420-430: The address of VCheka's first headquarters as "Petrograd, Gorokhovaya 2, 4th floor". On December 11, Fomin was ordered to organize a section to suppress "speculation." And in the same day, VCheKa offered Shchukin to conduct arrests of counterfeiters. In January 1918, a subsection of the anti-counterrevolutionary effort was created to police bank officials. The structure of VCheKa was changing repeatedly. By March 1918, when
3510-558: The ages of 8 and 13 were imprisoned and occasionally executed. All of these atrocities were published on numerous occasions in Pravda and Izvestiya : January 26, 1919 Izvestiya #18 article Is it really a medieval imprisonment? («Неужели средневековый застенок?»); February 22, 1919 Pravda #12 publishes details of the Vladimir Cheka's tortures, September 21, 1922 Socialist Herald publishes details of series of tortures conducted by
3600-431: The anarchist forces. In May 1919, two Cheka agents sent to assassinate Makhno were caught and executed. Many victims of Cheka repression were "bourgeois hostages" rounded up and held in readiness for summary execution in reprisal for any alleged counter-revolutionary act. Wholesale, indiscriminate arrests became an integral part of the system. The Cheka used trucks disguised as delivery trucks, called "Black Marias", for
3690-576: The anarchists that was willing to postpone the abolition of the State. A Communist Party Central Committee memo of 1921 noted that the All-Russian Section of Anarchist-Universalists was "one of the most peaceful in the Anarchist movement," as it "recognizes 'workers' parliamentarism' as represented by the Soviet government" and "finds [it] necessary to participate in the work of the Soviet apparatus, to uphold
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3780-543: The areas during the moments of the greatest aggravation of political situation. On February 25, 1918, as the counterrevolutionary organization Union of Front-liners was making advances, the executive committee of the Saratov Soviet formed a counter-revolutionary section. On March 7, 1918, because of the move from Petrograd to Moscow, the Petrograd Cheka was created. On March 9, a section for combating counterrevolution
3870-419: The commission were: "to liquidate to the root all of the counterrevolutionary and sabotage activities and all attempts to them in all of Russia, to hand over counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs to the revolutionary tribunals , develop measures to combat them and relentlessly apply them in real-world applications. The commission should only conduct a preliminary investigation". The commission should also observe
3960-438: The construction of a new society, claiming that the Soviet state was a matter of fact. On the re-organization of the anarchist movement, the Universalists stressed the necessity of creating a "single, coherent organization, bound by firm self-discipline and which places itself on a defined revolutionary platform " and criticized the individualist anarchist model of small disorganized affinity groups . At their first Conference,
4050-511: The counterrevolutionary element in the Red Army , plus the Central Requisite and Unloading Commission to fight speculation. The investigation of counterrevolutionary or major criminal offenses was conducted by the Investigatory Commission of Revtribunal. The functions of VCheKa were closely intertwined with the Commission of V. D. Bonch-Bruyevich , which beside the fight against wine pogroms
4140-466: The department of TsIK for the fight against "counterrevolutionaries". On December 6, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) strategized how to persuade government workers to strike across Russia. They decided that a special commission was needed to implement the "most energetically revolutionary" measures. Felix Dzerzhinsky (the Iron Felix) was appointed as Director and invited the participation of
4230-425: The desertion-plagued Red Army . After 1922 Cheka groups underwent the first of a series of reorganizations ; however the theme of a government dominated by "the organs" persisted indefinitely afterward, and Soviet citizens continued to refer to members of the various organs as Chekists . In the first month and half after the October Revolution (1917), the duty of "extinguishing the resistance of exploiters"
4320-476: The direction of Vladimir Lenin , the Cheka performed mass arrests, imprisonments, torture, and executions without trial in what came to be known as the " Red Terror ". It policed the Gulag system of labor camps , conducted requisitions of food , and put down rebellions by workers and peasants. The Cheka was responsible for executing at least 50,000 to as many as 200,000 people, though estimates vary widely. The Cheka,
4410-589: The editorial staff of the influential newspaper, Anarkhiia , published from 1917–1918. There, they published a series of works delineating the principles of "Pan-Anarchism," a form of anarchism intended to address the distinctive problems and aspirations of "the Oppressed Five": The "Oppressed Five" referred to those categories of humanity which endured the greatest hardships under the yoke of Western civilization: "worker-vagabond," national minority, woman, youth, and individual personality. Five basic institutions –
4500-434: The election, but only with regard to this particular delegate, and not with regard to the communists who were elected during that same proceeding. After the election was repeated with the same result and subsequently nullified three times, Gordin was jailed and the munitions factory denied representation. Alexander Berkman reports that it was only on May 25, 1920, after some 1,500 Butyrka prisoners refused to eat, that Gordin
4590-421: The end of the civil war." Donald Rayfield concurs, noting that, "Plausible evidence reveals that the actual numbers … vastly exceeded the official figures." Chamberlin provides the "reasonable and probably moderate" estimate of 50,000, while others provide estimates ranging up to 500,000. Several scholars put the number of executions at about 250,000. Some believe it is possible more people were murdered by
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#17329208615514680-423: The executioner fired slightly downward at point-blank range. This had become the standard method used later by the NKVD to liquidate Joseph Stalin 's purge victims and others. It is believed that there were more than three million deserters from the Red Army in 1919 and 1920 . Approximately 500,000 deserters were arrested in 1919 and close to 800,000 in 1920, by troops of the 'Special Punitive Department' of
4770-446: The fact that the communists always allowed only their nominees on the election list for the Soviet and did not allow any of their candidates to be defeated, the workers in the factory where Gordin worked chose him instead of the communist nominee. When the votes were counted at the Soviet headquarters, and it was discovered that a communist was not selected and that Gordin was chosen instead, the Soviet exercised its veto powers and annulled
4860-580: The first in a long succession of Soviet secret police agencies , established the security service as a major player in Soviet politics. It was dissolved in February 1922, and succeeded by the State Political Directorate (GPU). Throughout the Soviet era, members of the secret police were referred to as " Chekists ". The official designation was All-Russian Extraordinary (or Emergency ) Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under
4950-529: The first months of its existence, VCheKa consisted of only 40 officials. It commanded a team of soldiers, the Sveaborgesky regiment, as well as a group of Red Guardsmen. On January 14, 1918, Sovnarkom ordered Dzerzhinsky to organize teams of "energetic and ideological" sailors to combat speculation. By the spring of 1918, the commission had several teams: in addition to the Sveaborge team, it had an intelligence team,
5040-469: The following individuals: V. K. Averin , V.V Yakovlev , D. G. Yevseyev , N. A. Zhydelev , I. K. Ksenofontov , G. K. Ordjonikidze , Ya. Kh. Peters , K. A. Peterson , V. A. Trifonov . On December 7, 1917, all invited except Zhydelev and Vasilevsky gathered in the Smolny Institute to discuss the competence and structure of the commission to combat counterrevolution and sabotage. The obligations of
5130-596: The former convict Dzerzhinsky, a sincere idealist, ruthless but chivalrous, with the emaciated profile of an Inquisitor : tall forehead, bony nose, untidy goatee, and an expression of weariness and austerity. But the Party had few men of this stamp and many Chekas. I believe that the formation of the Chekas was one of the gravest and most impermissible errors that the Bolshevik leaders committed in 1918 when plots, blockades, and interventions made them lose their heads. All evidence indicates that revolutionary tribunals , functioning in
5220-476: The functions of detection, suppression, and prevention of anti revolutionary crimes. At the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars on January 31, 1918, a merger of VCheKa and the Commission of Bonch-Bruyevich was proposed. The existence of both commissions, VCheKa of Sovnarkom and the Commission of Bonch-Bruyevich of VTsIK, with almost the same functions and equal rights, became impractical. A decision followed two weeks later. On February 23, 1918, VCheKa sent
5310-401: The jail and free political prisoners in Vilkomir . He and his brother Wolf (Ze'ev) , who were at that time affiliated with the labor-Zionist youth movement Tseirei Tsion, broke from their father's religion after their mother's death in 1907. In 1908, Abba and Wolf Gordin opened a secular Hebrew school , "Ivria," where they experimented with a unique form of libertarian pedagogy . To teach
5400-534: The left. On April 11/12, 1918, some 26 anarchist political centres in Moscow were attacked. Forty anarchists were killed by Cheka forces, and about 500 were arrested and jailed after a pitched battle took place between the two groups. In response to the anarchists' resistance, the Cheka orchestrated a massive retaliatory campaign of repression, executions, and arrests against all opponents of the Bolshevik government, in what came to be known as " Red Terror ". The Red Terror , implemented by Dzerzhinsky on September 5, 1918,
5490-451: The light of day and admitting the right of defense, would have attained the same efficiency with far less abuse and depravity. Was it necessary to revert to the procedures of the Inquisition?" The Cheka was also used against Nestor Makhno 's Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine . After the Insurgent Army had served its purpose in aiding the Red Army to stop the Whites under Denikin , the Soviet communist government decided to eliminate
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#17329208615515580-441: The meeting of December 8, the presidium of VChK was elected of five members, and chaired by Dzerzhinsky. The issues of " speculation " or profiteering, such as by black market grain sellers and " corruption " was raised at the same meeting, which was assigned to Peters to address and report with results to one of the next meetings of the commission. A circular, published on December 28 [ O.S. December 15] 1917, gave
5670-402: The new organization. As its name implied, the Extraordinary Commission had virtually unlimited powers and could interpret them in any way it wished. No standard procedures were ever set up, except that the commission was supposed to send the arrested to the Military-Revolutionary tribunals if outside of a war zone. This left an opportunity for a wide range of interpretations, as the whole country
5760-401: The number of people shot by the Cheka in 1918–1922 is about 37,300 people, shot in 1918–1921 by the verdicts of the tribunals – 14,200, i.e. about 50,000–55,000 people in total, although executions and atrocities were not limited to the Cheka, having been organized by the Red Army as well. According to anti-Bolshevik Socialist Revolutionary Sergei Melgunov (1879–1956), at the end of 1919,
5850-484: The organization came to Moscow, it contained the following sections: against counterrevolution, speculation, non-residents, and information gathering. By the end of 1918–1919, some new units were created: secretly operative, investigatory, of transportation, military (special), operative, and instructional. By 1921, it changed once again, forming the following sections: directory of affairs, administrative-organizational, secretly operative, economical, and foreign affairs. In
5940-407: The people etc.'". That day, Sovnarkom officially confirmed the creation of VCheKa. The commission was created not under the VTsIK as was previously anticipated, but rather under the Council of the People's Commissars. On December 8, 1917, some of the original members of the VCheka were replaced. Averin, Ordzhonikidze, and Trifonov were replaced by V. V. Fomin, S. E. Shchukin, Ilyin, and Chernov. On
6030-497: The presidium of VCheKa approved the draft on the establishment of the Politburo at Uyezd militsiya . This decision was approved by the Conference of the Extraordinary Commission IV, held in early February 1920. On August 3, a VCheKa section for combating counterrevolution, speculation and sabotage on railways was created. On August 7, 1918, Sovnarkom adopted a decree on the organization of the railway section at VCheKa. Combating counterrevolution, speculation, and crimes on railroads
6120-448: The press and counterrevolutionary parties, sabotaging officials and other criminals. Three sections were created: informational, organizational, and a unit to combat counter-revolution and sabotage. Upon the end of the meeting, Dzerzhinsky reported to the Sovnarkom with the requested information. The commission was allowed to apply such measures of repression as 'confiscation, deprivation of ration cards, publication of lists of enemies of
6210-469: The remaining three oppressors, however, the antidotes were rather more novel: "cosmism" (the universal elimination of national persecution), "gyneantropism" (the emancipation and humanization of women), and "pedism" (the liberation of the young from "the vise of slave education"). As tensions mounted between Russian anarchists and Bolsheviks, Abba Gordin attempted to make peace with the Bolshevik government, founding an " Anarchist-Universalist " tendency among
6300-413: The right to directly enter their representatives into the VCheKa. Sovnarkom recognized the desirability of including five representatives of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary faction of VTsIK. Left SRs were granted the post of a companion (deputy) chairman of VCheKa. However, Sovnarkom, in which the majority belonged to the representatives of RSDLP(b) retained the right to approve members of the collegium of
6390-399: The role of detection and judicial-investigatory organs. It offered to leave, for the VCheKa and the Commission of Bonch-Bruyevich, only the functions of detection and suppression, while investigative functions entirely transferred to it. The Investigatory Commission prevailed. On January 31, 1918, Sovnarkom ordered to relieve VCheKa of the investigative functions, leaving for the commission only
6480-467: The secret arrest and transport of prisoners. It was during the Red Terror that the Cheka, hoping to avoid the bloody aftermath of having half-dead victims writhing on the floor, developed a technique for execution known later by the German words " Nackenschuss " or " Genickschuss " , a shot to the nape of the neck, which caused minimal blood loss and instant death. The victim's head was bent forward, and
6570-405: The state, capitalism, colonialism, the school, and the family – were held responsible for their sufferings. The Gordins worked out a philosophy which they called "Pan-Anarchism" and which prescribed five remedies for the five baneful institutions that tormented the five oppressed elements of modern society. The remedies for the state and capitalism were, simply enough, statelessness and communism; for
6660-408: The system of local Cheka bodies. In the autumn of 1918, as consolidation of the political situation of the republic continued, a move toward elimination of Uyezd-, Raion-, and Volost-level Chekas, as well as the institution of Extraordinary Commissions was considered. On January 20, 1919, VTsIK adopted a resolution prepared by VCheKa, On the abolition of Uyezd Extraordinary Commissions . On January 16
6750-577: The time of political competition between Bolsheviks and SRs (January 1918), Left SRs attempted to curb the rights of VCheKa and establish through the Narkomiust their control over its work. Having failed in attempts to subordinate the VCheKa to Narkomiust, the Left SRs tried to gain control of the Extraordinary Commission in a different way: they requested that the Central Committee of the party be granted
6840-575: The time of the 'cleansing'". In 1921, the Troops for the Internal Defense of the Republic (a branch of the Cheka) numbered at least 200,000. These troops policed labor camps , ran the Gulag system, conducted requisitions of food , and subjected political opponents to secret arrest, detention, torture and summary execution . They also put down rebellions and riots by workers or peasants, and mutinies in
6930-435: The whole period go for a low of 50,000 to highs of 140,000 and 200,000 executed. Most estimations for the number of executions in total put the number at about 100,000. According to Vadim Erlikhman's investigation, the number of the Red Terror's victims is at least 1,200,000 people. According to Robert Conquest , a total of 140,000 people were shot in 1917–1922. Candidate of Historical Sciences Nikolay Zayats states that
7020-614: The winter-bound streets until they became living ice statues. Others beheaded their victims by twisting their necks until their heads could be torn off. The Cheka detachments stationed in Kiev would attach an iron tube to the torso of a bound victim and insert a rat in the tube closed off with wire netting, while the tube was held over a flame until the rat began gnawing through the victim's guts in an effort to escape. Women and children were also victims of Cheka terror. Women would sometimes be tortured and raped before being shot. Children between
7110-533: Was assigned to the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee (or PVRK). It represented a temporary body working under directives of the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) and Central Committee of RDSRP ( b ). The VRK created new bodies of government, organized food delivery to cities and the Army, requisitioned products from bourgeoisie , and sent its emissaries and agitators into provinces. One of its most important functions
7200-608: Was born in 1887 in Smorgon (now in Belarus ) to Rabbi Yehuda Leib Gordin of Łomża and Khaye Ester Sore Gordin (née Miller). As a teenager, he organized a strike by apprentice tailors in Ostrów , disseminated radical propaganda in Kreslavka (Krāslava) and Dvinsk (Daugavpils) , and was briefly imprisoned after taking part in the abortive revolution of 1905–1906 , having led demonstrators to storm
7290-466: Was called a chekist (Russian: чеки́ст , romanized : chekíst , IPA: [t͡ɕɪˈkʲist] ). Also, the term chekist often referred to Soviet secret police throughout the Soviet period, despite official name changes over time. In The Gulag Archipelago , Alexander Solzhenitsyn recalls that zeks in the labor camps used old chekist as a mark of special esteem for particularly experienced camp administrators. The term
7380-674: Was created under the Omsk Soviet. Extraordinary commissions were also created in Penza , Perm , Novgorod , Cherepovets , Rostov , Taganrog . On March 18, VCheKa adopted a resolution, The Work of VCheKa on the All-Russian Scale , foreseeing the formation everywhere of Extraordinary Commissions after the same model, and sent a letter that called for the widespread establishment of the Cheka in combating counterrevolution, speculation, and sabotage. Establishment of provincial Extraordinary Commissions
7470-510: Was engaged in the investigation of most major political offenses (see: Bonch-Bruyevich Commission ). All results of its activities, VCheKa had either to transfer to the Investigatory Commission of Revtribunal, or to dismiss. The control of the commission's activity was provided by the People's Commissariat for Justice (Narkomjust, at that time headed by Isaac Steinberg ) and Internal Affairs (NKVD, at that time headed by Grigory Petrovsky ). Although
7560-404: Was in total chaos. At the direction of Lenin, the Cheka performed mass arrests, imprisonments, and executions of " enemies of the people ". In this, the Cheka said that they targeted "class enemies" such as the bourgeoisie , and members of the clergy . Within a month, the Cheka had extended its repression to all political opponents of the communist government, including anarchists and others on
7650-588: Was largely completed by August 1918. In the Soviet Republic, there were 38 gubernatorial Chekas (Gubcheks) by this time. On June 12, 1918, the All-Russian Conference of Cheka adopted the Basic Provisions on the Organization of Extraordinary Commissions . They set out to form Extraordinary Commissions not only at Oblast and Guberniya levels, but also at the large Uyezd Soviets. In August 1918, in
7740-493: Was passed under the jurisdiction of the railway section of VCheKa and local Cheka. In August 1918, railway sections were formed under the Gubcheks. Formally, they were part of the non-resident sections, but in fact constituted a separate division, largely autonomous in their activities. The gubernatorial and oblast-type Chekas retained in relation to the transportation sections only control and investigative functions. The beginning of
7830-575: Was released "by order of the Tcheka , in the hope of breaking the hunger strike." In 1925, speaking at a public event, Abba Gordin was shot and then arrested by the Cheka; only the personal intercession of Lenin's wife won his release. Abba and his wife, Voronina, fled across the Manchurian border, making their way to Shanghai. Abba Gordin emigrated to the United States in 1927 where he wrote books, essays, and poems in several languages. He later established
7920-534: Was the Tambov rebellion . Villages were bombarded to complete annihilation, as in the case of Tretyaki, Novokhopersk uyezd, Voronezh Governorate . As a result of this relentless violence, more than a few Chekists ended up with psychopathic disorders, which Nikolai Bukharin said were "an occupational hazard of the Chekist profession." Many hardened themselves to the executions by heavy drinking and drug use. Some developed
8010-584: Was the security of revolutionary order, and the fight against counterrevolutionary activity (see: Anti-Soviet agitation ). On December 1, 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK or TsIK) reviewed a proposed reorganization of the VRK, and possible replacement of it. On December 5, the Petrograd VRK published an announcement of dissolution and transferred its functions to
8100-415: Was vividly described by the Red Army journal Krasnaya Gazeta : Without mercy, without sparing, we will kill our enemies in scores of hundreds. Let them be thousands, let them drown themselves in their own blood. For the blood of Lenin and Uritsky … let there be floods of blood of the bourgeoisie – more blood, as much as possible..." An early Bolshevik, Victor Serge described in his book Memoirs of
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