The Birth of the Soviet Secret Police
Lenin and History's Greatest Heist, 1917–1927
Boris Volodarsky
- This
- book
- is
- new
- in
- every
- aspect
- and
- not
- only
- because
- neither
- the
- official
- history
- nor
- an
- unofficial
- history
- of
- the
- KGB,
- and
- its
- many
- predecessors
- and
- successors,
- exists
- in
- any
- language.
- In
- this
- volume,
- the
- author
- deals
- with
- the
- origins
- of
- the
- KGB
- from
- the
- Tsarist
- Okhrana
- (the
- first
- Russians
- secret
- political
- police)
- to
- the
- OGPU,
- Joint
- State
- Political
- Directorate,
- one
- of
- the
- KGB
- predecessors
- between
- 1923
- and
- 1934.
- Based
- on
- documents
- from
- the
- Russian
- archives,
- the
- author
- clearly
- demonstrates
- that
- the
- Cheka
- and
- GPU/OPGU
- were
- initially
- created
- to
- defend
- the
- revolution
- and
- not
- for
- espionage.
- The
- Okhrana
- operated
- in
- both
- the
- Russian
- Empire
- and
- abroad
- against
- the
- revolutionaries
- and
- most
- of
- its
- operations,
- presented
- in
- this
- book,
- are
- little
- known.
- The
- same
- is
- the
- case
- with
- regards
- to
- the
- period
- after
- the
- Cheka
- was
- established
- in
- December
- 1917
- until
- ten
- years
- later
- when
- Trotsky
- was
- expelled
- from
- the
- Communist
- Party
- and
- exiled,
- and
- Stalin
- rose
- to
- power.
- For
- the
- long
- period
- after
- the
- Revolution
- and
- up
- to
- the
- Second
- World
- War
- (and,
- indeed,
- beyond
- until
- the
- death
- of
- Stalin)
- the
- Cheka’s
- main
- weapon
- was
- terror
- to
- create
- a
- general
- climate
- of
- fear
- in
- a
- population.
- In
- the
- book,
- the
- work
- of
- the
- Cheka
- and
- its
- successors
- against
- the
- enemies
- of
- the
- revolution
- is
- paralleled
- with
- British
- and
- American
- operations
- against
- the
- Soviets
- inside
- and
- outside
- of
- Russia.
- For
- the
- first
- time
- the
- creation
- of
- the
- Communist
- International
- (Comintern)
- is
- shown
- as
- an
- alternative
- Soviet
- espionage
- organization
- for
- wide-scale
- foreign
- propaganda
- and
- subversion
- operations
- based
- on
- the
- new
- revelations
- from
- the
- Soviet
- archives
- Here,
- the
- early
- Soviet
- intelligence
- operations
- in
- several
- countries
- are
- presented
- and
- analyzed
- for
- the
- first
- time,
- as
- are
- raids
- on
- the
- Soviet
- missions
- abroad.
- The
- Bolshevik
- smuggling
- of
- the
- Russian
- imperial
- treasures
- is
- shown
- based
- on
- the
- latest
- available
- archival
- sources
- with
- misinterpretations
- and
- sometimes
- false
- interpretations
- in
- existing
- literature
- revised.
- After
- the
- Bolshevik
- revolution,
- Mansfield
- Smith-Cumming,
- the
- first
- chief
- of
- SIS,
- undertook
- to
- set
- up
- ‘an
- entirely
- new
- Secret
- Service
- organization
- in
- Russia’.
- During
- those
- first
- ten
- years,
- events
- would
- develop
- as
- a
- non-stop
- struggle
- between
- British
- intelligence,
- within
- Russia
- and
- abroad,
- and
- the
- Cheka,
- later
- GPU/OGPU.
- Before
- several
- show
- ‘spy
- trials’
- in
- 1927,
- British
- intelligence
- networks
- successfully
- operated
- in
- Russia
- later
- moving
- to
- the
- Baltic
- capitals,
- Finland
- and
- Sweden
- while
- young
- Soviet
- intelligence
- officers
- moved
- to
- London,
- Paris,
- Berlin
- and
- Constantinople.
- Many
- of
- those
- operations,
- from
- both
- sides,
- are
- presented
- in
- the
- book
- for
- the
- first
- time
- in
- this
- ground-breaking
- study
- of
- the
- dark
- world
- of
- the KGB
