To what extent did the role of the Soviet secret police change in the years 1917-85?

What did the role of the Soviet secret police changed significantly between 1917 and 1985 in terms of (3)?

methods, scale of repression and institutional organisation

Under Lenin and especially Stalin, what did the secret police become?

a mass instrument of terror

How did the Secret Police’s role change after 1953?

its activities were more controlled and focused increasingly on surveillance and the suppression of dissent

However, why was there also substantial continuity (what did it’s role remain as throughout the period)?

throughout the period the secret police's fundamental role remained the protection of Communist Party rule and the elimination of perceived threats to the Soviet state

Therefore, while the methods and intensity of repression changed considerably, what remained largely unchanged?

the core political purpose of the secret police

Judgement established?

Significant change in methods, strong continuity in purpose

What was the most important continuity?

that the secret police consistently defended the Communist regime against real and perceived opponents

When did Lenin create the Cheka?

December 1917

Who was the Cheka leader?

Felix Dzerzhinsky

Why was the Cheka founded?

specifically to defend the Bolshevik regime during a period of extreme instability

What was the Cheka tasked with?

to act against counter-revolution and sabotage

Examples of the wider powers given to the Cheka during the Civil War that allowed them to act with minimal interference from other legal bodies?

arrest, imprison and execute suspected counter-revolutionaries without trial

What prompted a wave of arrests in August 1918?

the attempted assassination of Lenin by Fanya Kaplin

Who was targeted during the Red Terror?

Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks (enemies of Communism)

When was the Red Terror?

1921-22

By 1921, how many personnel did the Cheka have?

250,000 personnel (demonstrating its importance in securing Bolshevik power during the Civil War)

What was OGPU changed to in 1934 (under Stalin)?

NKVD (role continued under Stalin, although on a much larger scale)

What was the NKVD central to?

the Great Purges 1936–38

What did the NKVD do during the Great Purges of 1936–38?

arrested and interrogated perceived enemies of the regime, including senior Party members, military officers and ordinary citizens

How many people were arrested during the Great Terror?

1.5 million people were arrested

How many people were executed between 1937 and 1938 alone?

681,692

What caused the purges of the of the Red Army?

they were were accused of working with foreign countries to undermine the USSR

What did the NKVD run?

Gulags

Examples of people who were sent to the Gulags?

those who opposed collectivisation

Although the scale of the secret police under Stalin was far greater than under Lenin, what did the essential purpose remain as?

the defence of Communist rule through the removal of potential opposition

When was the KGB established?

1954 (under Khrushchev)

Though the KGB o longer relied on mass terror, what did they continue to protect?

the Party's monopoly on power

Who was Yuri Andropov?

KGB chairman from 1967–82

What did the surveillance of continue?

the surveillance of perceived enemies

Who were targeted from 1953?

dissidents

Dissidents?

those who criticised the Soviet state or system

What did the KGB do to dissidents?

monitored, harassed, arrested, internally exiled or sent to psychiatric hospitals (until they are cured)

Example of a prominent critic of the Soviet regime?

Andrei Sakharov - him and his wife was exiled by the KGB

Example of an organisation advocating political reform that was infiltrated and suppressed?

Amnesty International (10,000 political prisoners)

From the Cheka to the KGB, what did its primary purpose remain as?

preserving Communist Party rule through the suppression of political opposition

However, what changed dramatically?

Scale and methods of repression used by the Secret Police

When did the use of mass terror and arbitrary executions reach its peak?

under Stalin

What did repression become after 1953?

became more selective and relied increasingly on surveillance, intimidation and psychological pressure

Under Lenin, what was the Cheka primarily used as?

an emergency weapon during the Russian Civil War (1918-21) - to enforce order during a time of crisis

What launched the Red Terror?

the attempted assassination of Lenin 1918

What is the estimated number for those executed by the Cheka or died in camps between 1918-22?

between 50,000 and 1.7 million

When did the Cheka intensify its actions?

during the Red terror of 1921-22 (200,000 shot)

What did the Cheka do to suspected counter-revolutionaries?

imprisoned, taken hostage or executed without trial

During Red Terror, what had become the rule rather than the exception?

execution

However, (under Lenin), what was repression was largely directed against?

goups perceived as threatening the survival of the new Bolshevik state during wartime conditions

Under Stalin, what did repression expand dramatically in?

both scale and intensity

What did terror move to under Stalin, that the NKVD helped enforce?

mass terror

Who did Stalin’s repression by the NKVD affect?

all sections of Society (larger scale than Lenin’s targeted war time terror

Collectivisation dates?

1929–33

What did the secret police help to carry out during Collectivisation?

the secret police helped carry out the campaign against the kulaks

How many peasants were deported between 1930-31?

1.8 million peasants

How many people did the NKVD arrest during the Great Terror (1936–38), when they conducted mass arrests based on quotas set by the regime?

1.5 million people were arrested

Why was it more brutal under Stalin?

Institutionalized terror into a massive, heavily bureaucratic system

Examples of their institutionalization of terror (3)?

utilized specialized execution centres and quotas set for arrests, Gulags

How many people did they execute in 1937–38 alone?

681,692

The secret police also managed the Gulag system, what was the population of the Gulags by 1953?

2.5 million

Examples of who Stalin’s terror affected (4)?

Party members, military officers, ordinary citizens and even members of the Secret police

When did Khrushchev denounce Stalin’s mass use of terror?

Secret Speech of 1956

What ended under Stalin?

the Secret Police’s large-scale purges and executions

What did the KGB focus more on?

surveillance and monitoring than mass arrests

Under Andropov, what were dissidents were frequently subjected instead of mass executions (4)?

house searches, loss of employment, harassment and internal exile

Example of a writer exiled from the USSR?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

What happened to dissidents placed in psychiatric hospitals (common method of dealing with them from 1967)?

patients held there until they were ‘cured’ (agreed to change their views and opinions of the soviet state) - run by the KGB

What does this show about what repression by secret police had come by the Brezhnev era?

repression had become more targeted, aiming to isolate opponents without creating the atmosphere of mass terror seen under Stalin

The contrast between the Red Terror, the Great Terror and the KGB's treatment of dissidents demonstrate?

a major shift in how the secret police operated

Under Stalin, what was repression characterised by?

mass arrests, executions and forced labour on an unprecedented scale

What reflects a move away from widespread physical terror (what did they rely on after 1953) 3?

After 1953, the secret police relied far more on surveillance, censorship and intimidation

Therefore, while the objective of defending Communist rule remained constant, what changed substantially?

the scale and methods of repression

What was another major change in the role of the Soviet secret police between 1917 and 1985?

its transformation from a revolutionary organisation created to deal with immediate threats into a highly professional, bureaucratic and technologically sophisticated security and intelligence agency

What does this institutional development broaden the role of the secret police beyond?

domestic repression to include intelligence gathering, counter-espionage and international operations

What was the original Cheka intended to be?

a temporary emergency body to defend the Bolshevik Revolution

What was the Cheka primarily concerned with?

crushing counter-revolution during the Civil War

Key feature of the Cheka’s methods?

often improvised

What did the Cheka function as?

it functioned as a revolutionary instrument rather than a permanent state institution

As the Soviet state became more established, what did the secret police undergo?

repeated restructuring

When did the Cheka become the GPU (State Political Administration)?

1922

When was GPU reorganised as OGPU (Unified State Political Administration)?

1923

What do these these changes reflect attempts to do?

to integrate political policing into the normal structures of government while maintaining extensive powers

Under Stalin, what did the secret police become?

increasingly bureaucratic

When was OGPU merged with the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs)?

1934

What did OGPU increasing its power by merging and becoming NKVD combine?

political policing with responsibility for prisons, border security and the Gulag system

During the Great Terror how did the NKVD demonstrate a level of organisation far beyond that of the early Cheka?

implemented centrally directed arrest quotas and managed a vast network of labour camps

Following Stalin's death, what did further institutional changes reflect?

the shift away from mass terror implemented by the Secret police

What was established in 1954?

the KGB (Committee for State Security)

Unlike the Cheka, the KGB was not simply a political police force; what did it become?

one of the world's largest intelligence organisations

Under Yuri Andropov, chairman from 1967 to 1982, how did the KGB develop?

sophisticated intelligence networks and increased its effectiveness against dissidents

By the 1970s and 1980s, what did the KGB operate?

extensive informant networks throughout Soviet society

What else did the KGB play a major role in?

Cold War espionage against Western governments

How does the KGB playing a major role in Cold War espionage against Western governments demonstrate the change from the Cheka?

now plays a role in foreign enemies (Cheka set up specially for internal opponents)

What do these developments show that the secret police evolved from a revolutionary emergency force into?

a permanent, professional state institution

While the Cheka focused largely on immediate internal threats, what did the KGB do?

combined domestic political control with foreign intelligence, counter-espionage and technological surveillance (representing a significant expansion and diversification of its role)

What was their strong continuity in, despite significant changes in organisation and methods?

in the role of the Soviet secret police as an instrument of social control - through surveillance, informers and the creation of fear

Under Lenin, what did the Cheka developed extensive networks of during the Russian Civil War.?

informers

Examples of what the Cheka monitored for signs of counter-revolutionary activity (3)?

political parties, trade unions and local communities

During the Red Terror (1918–22), what did the Cheka carry out?

arrests without trial and often took hostages from groups suspected of opposing Bolshevik rule

What did the uncertainty surrounding who might be arrested by the Cheka created an atmosphere of?

fear that helped secure the regime's authority beyond the actual number of arrests (maintain control in a period of political unrest)

This role intensified under Stalin, what did the NKVD rely heavily on?

denunciations from ordinary citizens - encouraging people to report neighbours, colleagues and even family members suspected of anti-Soviet attitudes

What could citizens be arrested for during the Great Terror?

arrested for alleged links to "enemies of the people" or for making critical remarks about the regime

What meant accusations were vague and difficult to challenge?

The widespread use of Article 58 of the Soviet Criminal Code, which criminalised counter-revolutionary

What did the constant threat of surveillance and arrest encourage?

conformity throughout society (historians often describe the 1930s as a period in which fear became embedded in everyday life)