Cheka

The Cheka was the Bolshevik government’s political police, founded in December 1917 to combat counterrevolution and sabotage. It used arrests, imprisonment, and executions during the Russian Civil War.

Red Terror: A campaign of political repression and mass executions conducted by the Bolshevik government during the Russian Civil War. The Cheka became the principal instrument of this campaign in 1918.
October Revolution: The Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd in October 1917, which established a new revolutionary government. The new government created the Cheka soon after taking power.
Soviet Union: A federal socialist state that existed from 1922 to 1991 across much of Eurasia. The Cheka’s successors became part of the Soviet state’s security apparatus.
Okhrana: The Russian Empire’s political police, which monitored and disrupted revolutionary movements before 1917. The Cheka replaced a tsarist political-police system while serving a new regime.
Russian Civil War: A conflict from 1917 to 1922 among Bolshevik forces, anti-Bolshevik opponents, and foreign interveners. The civil war provided the Cheka’s central justification and operating environment.
Vladimir Lenin: The Bolshevik leader who headed the Soviet government after the October Revolution. Lenin backed the commission as a means of defending Bolshevik rule.
GPU: The State Political Directorate, which replaced the Cheka in 1922 as Soviet political police. Its creation formalized the Cheka’s transition into a successor agency.
Gestapo: Nazi Germany’s secret state police, founded in 1933 to identify and repress political enemies. Both agencies used political policing, but arose under different regimes and historical circumstances.
All-Russian Extraordinary Commission: The full name of the Cheka, established by the Soviet government in December 1917. This formal institution held the authority commonly associated with the Cheka.
Council of People's Commissars: The Soviet government established after the October Revolution, headed by Vladimir Lenin. This governing body authorized the Cheka’s creation in December 1917.

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