Cheka
The first Soviet state security organ, instrument of the Red Terror from 1917
Overview
The Cheka was founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky in December 1917 as the emergency commission for combating counterrevolution and sabotage. Armed with extrajudicial powers, it carried out the Red Terror during the civil war, executing tens of thousands and deporting many more. It evolved through successive reorganizations, the GPU, OGPU, NKVD, and MGB, absorbing ever larger roles in policing, camps, and foreign intelligence. In 1954 its state security functions passed to a new committee, the KGB, closing the circle begun at the Cheka.
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