Brandon's Impotent Rage
24th March 2015, 05:16
So I'm interested in how some of the others on this board view the (in)famous Polish revolutionary and head of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky.
There's no question that the Cheka had its excesses, and its mistakes (as is the nature of all secret police). But at the same time, one of the things about Dzerzhinsky that kind of surprises me is that virtually everyone in the Party seemed to be comfortable with giving Dzerzhinsky such an extraordinary position. They all viewed him as a 'chivalrous knight' whom they were willing to trust to lead their secret police force.
Apparently, Dzerzhinsky seemed to often take all of the most thankless jobs, even when he was in prison. Everything from cleaning slop buckets to the thankless task of repressing counter-revolutionaries, by ruthless means if necessary.
I've read bits of the letters he sent to friends and relatives. He comes off in private like a very sweet and passionate man. The idea that such a person could also lead the secret police is a fascinating contradiction.
Obviously, the Cheka would eventually become what we know as the NKVD, one of the most brutal secret police forces in human history. However, the Cheka was apparently meant to be a temporary measure, one that Lenin and company hoped would be brief in its existence.
There's no question that the Cheka had its excesses, and its mistakes (as is the nature of all secret police). But at the same time, one of the things about Dzerzhinsky that kind of surprises me is that virtually everyone in the Party seemed to be comfortable with giving Dzerzhinsky such an extraordinary position. They all viewed him as a 'chivalrous knight' whom they were willing to trust to lead their secret police force.
Apparently, Dzerzhinsky seemed to often take all of the most thankless jobs, even when he was in prison. Everything from cleaning slop buckets to the thankless task of repressing counter-revolutionaries, by ruthless means if necessary.
I've read bits of the letters he sent to friends and relatives. He comes off in private like a very sweet and passionate man. The idea that such a person could also lead the secret police is a fascinating contradiction.
Obviously, the Cheka would eventually become what we know as the NKVD, one of the most brutal secret police forces in human history. However, the Cheka was apparently meant to be a temporary measure, one that Lenin and company hoped would be brief in its existence.