The NKVD

[Red Future]

Not much is talked about this feature of the USSR in the 1920s-30s and im more than confident this is one topic that there will be much disagreement on , but what do people actually think of the NKVDs role?? and less specifically of its predecessors the Cheka and OGPU??

[Geiseric]

It was used to find counter revolutionaries, and to police the people who had managerial positions and members of the bolshevik party at first, but as power became more centralised it was turned into something more sinister, with the job of policing and spying on the working class itself, and Stalin's political enemies.

[Die Neue Zeit]

One part of the NKVD was for political repression, but this was concentrated in the GUGB, or Main Directorate for State Security. Sometimes this organization was its own separate ministry, while at others it was subsumed, until permanent separation between the MVD and KGB.

Under Stalin, much of that portion that wasn't state security-related was dedicated to GULAG oversight. The rest was for firefighting, regular policing, prison guards, etc.

Someone should move this to History.

P.S. - The Cheka itself was part of the original People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. It was separated from the NKVD during the GPU/OGPU era.

[Property Is Robbery]

Unless someones a Stalinist they usually don't support the NKVD. That's why it's not really discussed.

[psgchisolm]

The NKVD
The Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs was originally part of the Soviet security apparatus. It had absorbed the old OGPU in June 1934 and, by 1941 was led by the notorious Lavrentii Beria. It was responsible for state security, as well as foreign and internal espionage and its members were known until recent times as "chekists" from the first Bolshevik counter-revolutionary teams.

The fighting forces that come under the heading of "NKVD" are actually fairly diverse and complicated. The first consists of the border guards, who were originally stationed on the state borders- but the state borders were considered by the Soviets to represent the boundaries of the area under their control. This meant that the Border Guards were ever present, providing rear-area security with the movement of the Red Army. These were also the troops that provided the notorious "Retreat Blocking" detachments. There remains great controversy about these units' roles even today, as well as disagreement about what they actually did. Apart from these units, the border guards provided well over 100,000 trained men to the Red Army. In addition, the NKVD formed a significant number of NKVD Rifle Divisions during the war - as many as 50 separate divisions.

Following Stalin's Order No.227 - "Not a step back!" - Authorized the introduction of Punishment ("Straf") Battalions and Companys. These collected officers who were deemed to have retreated without authority and would now have the opportunity to redeem themselves with their own blood. Many of these were commanded by the NKVD. In addition many of the Soviet Union's most famous divisions were NKVD-led. These were the so-called "Siberian Divisions". One of Stalin's very few trips to the front was to inspect "his Siberians" after the battles of Moscow, Rzhev, and Vyazma during the winter of 1941-42.

The NKVD Rifle Divisions were of variable quality and in some respects had similarities (in origin at least) to the Waffen-SS divisions. The best were formed from dedicated Soviets, with many years of military training. The worst were scraped together from rear-area security forces that had been happily lurking as far behind as possible.

The Siberians were mainly all-volunteer units. The volunteers came from the Gulags in Siberia, given the chances to have their crimes commuted and their families released, if they chose to serve in the armed forces. Many were actually officers from the pre-war Red Army who had been sent to the Gulags in the purges of 1936-37. These were experienced soldiers, properly trained before the war and hardened by 4-5 years in Siberia. They were initially led by guards from the camps - also volunteers. Their skill wand dedicated was noted by Stalin himself. It was also noted by the Germans, who believed they were being attacked by Asiatic "barbarians" with no respect for their own lives. The Germans were wrong. These NKVD-raised and led divisions were made up of tough and very skilled soldiers, mostly from European Russia, who were at least a match for the Wehrmacht forces who opposed them

[Red Future]

Cheers all ,this is really interesting stuff

[Omsk]

Народный комиссариат внутренних дел , NKVD Was a Soviet secret police,in the times of Stalin.The NKVD contained the regular, public police force of the USSR (including traffic police, firefighting, border guards and archives).In 1946, all Soviet Commissariats were renamed "ministries". Accordingly, the NKVD of the USSR was renamed as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), while the NKGB was renamed as the Ministry of State Security (MGB). The police and security services were finally split in 1954 to become:
The USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), responsible for the criminal police and correctional facilities.
The USSR Committee for State Security (KGB), responsible for the political police, CI, intelligence, personal protection,and confidential communications.
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky was a figure that served as a icon for the NKVD and later KGB.Do you want some info on him? (he was Cheka)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/NKVD1936.jpg/250px-NKVD1936.jpg
-Felix's picture during a parade.

[daleckian]

with the job of policing and spying on the working class itself, and Stalin's political enemies.

and what benefit would that prove, to spy on the working class? The Cheka was designed to root out counter-revolutionaries and subversive elements, of which the USSR had plenty of.

don't believe me? Think I'm just a crazy Stalinist nut-job?

Then explain how the USSR went from a ML like Chernenko to a pathetic free-market cappie like Gorbachev.

My only regrets is that the Cheka wasn't around to destroy all subversive elements.

[Jose Gracchus]

Jesus, you're an idiot. Gorby's predecessors, including Andropov, your sainted leader of the wondrous workers' secret police, had already outlined many of the Gorby policies that he simply implemented. A Marxist might consider that it is not a "Great Man" focus on Gorbachev as an individual, or an idealist insistence on the quality of party purges of "roaders" defined purely by their ideals (as the Maoist anti-materialists adore), but that the bureaucratic ruling class in the USSR had major factions openly side with capitalist restoration.

Read Simon Pirani's The Russian Revolution in Retreat 1920-24: Soviet Workers and the New Communist Elite. It is all about workers' opposition and workers' organization following the revolution, and its primary archival sources are...Cheka archives of spying on workers, putting quite the lie to your allegation.

I'm sorry the world is not some puerile Us-vs-Them Manichean struggle, where all you must do is pick a "Good Guys" and despise everyone who purportedly is "against" them.

[Dire Helix]

Then explain how the USSR went from a ML like Chernenko to a pathetic free-market cappie like Gorbachev.

A bureaucratic non-entity and a walking corpse Chernenko a Marxist-Leninist? Really? Learn something new everyday, I guess. And here I was thinking that he was just a transitory figure between Andropov and Gorbachev.


My only regrets is that the Cheka wasn't around to destroy all subversive elements.

They were around to establish ties with private businesses early on into the Perestroika in order to have a stronger position later when full-fledged capitalism finally kicked in.