Source: https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-2-the-cheka

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# The Cheka

History: AQA GCSE Russia, 1894-1945, topic 2.2.2

## The Removal of Opposition

Despite being reluctant to hold elections, the Bolsheviks knew that this was necessary in order to avoid the same criticisms which had undermined the Provisional Government so they started the Constituent Assembly. This was quickly shut down.

### 'Parliamentary democracy'

!['Parliamentary democracy'](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/42984608-d46f-4a8a-9827-d46cfa5824c3/shutterstock_634354253.jpg)

- Although the Bolsheviks never wanted to create a parliamentary democracy they held an election in November 1917 in which 41.7 million people voted. The Bolsheviks won 168 seats, compared to the SRs’ 370. 
- This meant that Lenin’s party had only secured 25% of the vote, and the various factions of the SRs received 40% of the vote. 
- More moderate parties, including the Mensheviks, Kadets, as well as anarchists, made up the rest of the Constituent Assembly.

### Shutting down the Constituent Assembly

![Shutting down the Constituent Assembly](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/6cf0c137-581a-47c1-928a-33b1698fccf7/shutterstock_248200438.jpg)

- After just one day of its first session in January 1918, the Bolsheviks and the Red Guards shut down the Constituent Assembly. 
- Without control of enough seats, they were unwilling to allow the assembly to continue. 
 - The Mensheviks were already speaking of a country “enveloped in the flames of civil war”.

### The Railway War and Sovnarkom

![The Railway War and Sovnarkom](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/873a7ce7-8cd7-49fe-8251-d735c8382283/shutterstock_171153017.jpg)

- The Bolsheviks set about consolidating their control over the country as a one-party state. As they controlled the railways, they used this network to reach and control the main cities. 
- This struggle is often referred to as the ‘Railway War’ by historians. 
- Lenin’s government was called the Sovnarkom (‘Council of People’s Commissars’). At first it included Left SRs as well as Bolsheviks, but broke down when the Left SRs refused to follow the Bolshevik decision to sign a peace treaty to take Russia out of the war.

### The tsar

![The tsar](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-04/bc11a6fe-de45-4592-a230-d4926a4dff0f/shutterstock_1040229169.jpg)

- The former tsar and his family were housed in Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. None of the tsar’s former allies would allow him and his family to move to their country. 
- Britain and France were embarrassed by the former tsar, who had continued to lead a backward and autocratic society whilst they were building and improving their own democracies.

### Civil war and execution of the tsar

![Civil war and execution of the tsar](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-07/53171b79-fdbf-4550-b049-b024ac2352a8/Hangman_Noose.jpg)

- Civil War had broken out by the spring of 1918. There was suspicion that ‘white’ (monarchist) armies in the Urals might try to release the tsar and his family. 
- Lenin ordered the entire family, as well as their doctor and remaining servants, to be executed on 17 July 1918.

## The Cheka

The Cheka was the first version of the secret police under the Soviets.

### Name

![Name](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2018-09/3c6cc906-9f95-4c2e-97d7-baef7f204d6a/riot-police-men-aggressive-.jpg)

- Full name: All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
- The Cheka was formed in December 1917.

### Role

![Role](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-07/ee73b3e7-c4ef-4b9b-95be-ea8784a9614a/russia-.png)

- The Bolsheviks used the Cheka to root out any enemies in Russia to the regime.
- The Cheka also ran the Gulags (concentration camps), forced labour camps and requisitioned food from peasants under war communism.

### Felix Dzerzhinsky

![Felix Dzerzhinsky](https://image-v2.cdn.app.senecalearning.com/2019-12/36d32ce5-d4d7-4688-80ae-9ee440908736/rich-dinner-table-.jpg)

- The first director of the Cheka was Felix Dzerzhinsky.
- He was an aristocrat who had become a communist. 
 - He had been imprisoned many times under the tsarist regime.

## Test yourself on The Cheka

- Which of the following are correct of the elections under the Bolsheviks?
- What was Lenin's government called?
- What was the role of the Cheka?
- When was the Cheka formed?
- Who was Felix Dzerzhinsky?

[Practise this topic for free](https://app.senecalearning.com/classroom/course/68cb5c28-b4d9-41f3-a315-2a7d3e63fc5e/section/d32a4ff1-a719-477d-8fc6-c1ed6afc21c0/session)

- Previous topic: [2.2.1 The End of the First World War](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-1-the-end-of-the-first-world-war.md)
- Next topic: [2.2.3 Red Terror & Centralisation](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-3-red-terror-and-centralisation.md)

## History: AQA GCSE Russia, 1894-1945 contents

### 1 The End of Tsardom
- 1.1 Russia's Economy & Society
  - [1.1.1 Industrialisation](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-1-1-industrialisation.md)
  - [1.1.2 Living & Working Conditions](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-1-2-living-and-working-conditions.md)
- 1.2 Nicholas II's Autocracy & the Court
  - [1.2.1 Growth of Revolutionary Opposition](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-2-1-growth-of-revolutionary-opposition.md)
  - [1.2.2 The 1905 Revolution & the October Manifesto](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-2-2-the-1905-revolution-and-the-october-manifesto.md)
  - [1.2.3 Reforming Russia Before 1914 - Stolypin](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-2-3-reforming-russia-before-1914-stolypin.md)
  - [1.2.4 The Duma & Political Stalemate](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-2-4-the-duma-and-political-stalemate.md)
- 1.3 The First World War
  - [1.3.1 The Impact of Military Defeats](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-3-1-the-impact-of-military-defeats.md)
  - [1.3.2 Social & Economic Effects of WW1](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-3-2-social-and-economic-effects-of-ww1.md)
  - [1.3.3 Romanov Unpopularity](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-3-3-romanov-unpopularity.md)
  - [1.3.4 The Tsar's Abdication](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-3-4-the-tsars-abdication.md)
  - [1.3.5 Top Grade AO2/3 - The End of Tsardom](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/1-3-5-top-grade-ao23-the-end-of-tsardom.md)

### 2 Lenin's New Society
- 2.1 The Provisional Government
  - [2.1.1 The Failure of the Government](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-1-the-failure-of-the-government.md)
  - [2.1.2 Social & Economic Problems](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-2-social-and-economic-problems.md)
  - [2.1.3 Lenin & Trotsky](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-3-lenin-and-trotsky.md)
  - [2.1.4 The Growth of the Bolsheviks](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-4-the-growth-of-the-bolsheviks.md)
  - [2.1.5 The October / November Revolution](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-5-the-october-november-revolution.md)
  - [2.1.6 Top Grade AO2/3 - The Provisional Government](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-1-6-top-grade-ao23-the-provisional-government.md)
- 2.2 The Impact of Lenin's Dictatorship
  - [2.2.1 The End of the First World War](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-1-the-end-of-the-first-world-war.md)
  - [2.2.2 The Cheka](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-2-the-cheka.md)
  - [2.2.3 Red Terror & Centralisation](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-3-red-terror-and-centralisation.md)
  - [2.2.4 The Civil War & The Red Army](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-4-the-civil-war-and-the-red-army.md)
  - [2.2.5 Propaganda](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-5-propaganda.md)
  - [2.2.6 Top Grade AO2/3 - Early Bolshevism & the Civil War](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-2-6-top-grade-ao23-early-bolshevism-and-the-civil-war.md)
- 2.3 Social & Economic Developments
  - [2.3.1 War Communism](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-3-1-war-communism.md)
  - [2.3.2 The Kronstadt Rising](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-3-2-the-kronstadt-rising.md)
  - [2.3.3 The New Economic Policy (NEP)](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-3-3-the-new-economic-policy-nep.md)
  - [2.3.4 The Achievements of Lenin & Trotsky](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-3-4-the-achievements-of-lenin-and-trotsky.md)
  - [2.3.5 Top Grade AO2/3 - Social & Economic Developments](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/2-3-5-top-grade-ao23-social-and-economic-developments.md)

### 3 Stalin's USSR
- 3.1 Stalin the Dictator
  - [3.1.1 The Power Struggle to Succeed Lenin](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-1-the-power-struggle-to-succeed-lenin.md)
  - [3.1.2 The Communist Party & Government](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-2-the-communist-party-and-government.md)
  - [3.1.3 The Terror & the Purges](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-3-the-terror-and-the-purges.md)
  - [3.1.4 The Secret Police](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-4-the-secret-police.md)
  - [3.1.5 Cult of Personality](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-5-cult-of-personality.md)
  - [3.1.6 Propaganda & Censorship under Stalin](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-6-propaganda-and-censorship-under-stalin.md)
  - [3.1.7 Top Grade AO2/3 - Stalin's Dictatorship](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-1-7-top-grade-ao23-stalins-dictatorship.md)
- 3.2 Stalin's Modernisation of the USSR
  - [3.2.1 Collectivisation](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-2-1-collectivisation.md)
  - [3.2.2 Five Year Plans](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-2-2-five-year-plans.md)
  - [3.2.3 Social & Economic Consequences](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-2-3-social-and-economic-consequences.md)
  - [3.2.4 Social & Economic Consequences 2](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-2-4-social-and-economic-consequences-2.md)
  - [3.2.5 The Extent of Modernisation](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-2-5-the-extent-of-modernisation.md)
- 3.3 Impact of the Second World War
  - [3.3.1 Stalin's Wartime Leadership](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-3-1-stalins-wartime-leadership.md)
  - [3.3.2 Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-3-2-political-economic-and-social-consequences-of-war.md)
  - [3.3.3 Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR](https://senecalearning.com/en-gb/revision-notes/gcse/history/aqa/3-3-3-top-grade-ao23-modernisation-of-the-ussr.md)