The name of the agency was originally "The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage"(Russian: Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия по борьбе с контрреволюцией и саботажем; Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya po bor'bye s kontrrevolyutsiyei i sabotazhem), but was often shortened to "Cheka" or "VCheka". It surrounded villages and short peasants resisting the forced requisitions of grain, often leaving the peasants who remained alive without enough to eat. Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition: Cheka. [7], From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, "Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country Studies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Glossary", "A Stalin slip and Putin trick | Opinion", https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cheka&oldid=7295660, Articles containing Russian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. What does cheka mean? Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. Michael Kort. Cheka (ЧК – чрезвыча́йная коми́ссия chrezvychaynaya komissiya, Emergency Committee, Roushie pronunciation: ) wis the first o a succession o Soviet state security organisations. By 1919, the Cheka employed more than 100,000 people and was one of the largest and best-funded agencies of the Soviet state. Chekists operated as investigators, arresting authorities, interrogators, prosecutors, judges, juries and executioners. the secret police set up in 1917 by the Bolshevik government: reorganized in the Soviet Union in Dec 1922 as the GPU. For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use. At first, the Cheka was small and its operations were limited. This infuriated Dzerzhinsky, who queried how it was possible for him to “crush counter-revolution with legal niceties”. It hunted down speculators and hoarders, sometimes cordoning off entire neighbourhoods during its massive operations. Dzerzhinsky was loyal to the point of fanaticism and had been hardened by years of imprisonment. What is the meaning/definition of the acronym CHEKA? In Kiev, they affixed a cage with rats to the victim’s torso and heated it so that the enraged rats ate their way through the victim’s guts in an effort to escape. Copyright: The content on this page may not be republished without our express permission. Make sure you have a side on you, do not be shy to show it. What are synonyms for Cheka? Official figures have of course disappeared, but a conservative estimate states that between 1917 and 1923 at least 200,000 ‘dissidents’ were shot by the Cheka in labour camps, while another 300,000 died in the suppression of working-class movements, strikes and mutinies. This site is created and maintained by Alpha History. Playing next. He eventually joined Lenin’s Bolshevik faction in 1906. After 1922, Cheka groups underwent many reorganizations, as did the NKVD. In the Soviet Union, the state secret-police organization (1917–22), succeeded by the GPU. Cheka Definition. The first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations, created in 1917. Lenin preferred to leave the Cheka’s operational details and methods to the man he chose to lead it: Felix Dzerzhinksy. It was formed by Vladimir Lenin in a December 1917 decree and charged with identifying and dealing with potential counter-revolutionaries. Though Cheka agents had no standard uniform, many wore long leather coats and could be easily identified. The Cheka was the Bolshevik security force or secret police. Between 1918 and 1920, the Cheka ballooned from a couple of hundred investigators to a bureaucratic and paramilitary behemoth containing more than 100,000 agents. Russian Revolution memory quiz – events 1907-1916, Russian Revolution memory quiz – events 1917, Russian Revolution memory quiz – events 1918-1924, Russian Revolution memory quiz – revolutionaries, Russian Revolution memory quiz – tsarists, Russian Revolution memory quiz: concepts (I), Russian Revolution memory quiz: concepts (II), Russian Revolution memory quiz: events 1906 to 1913, Russian Revolution memory quiz: events 1914 to 1916, Russian Revolution memory quiz: events to 1905. Garb Slang. Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes that some Cheka victims were force-fed large amounts of salted fish – but were prevented from drinking water. 1. The full name of the Cheka in 1918 was (in Russian) the "All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption". 5. For the intelligence service, see Cheka Tcheka (Manuel Lopes Andrade; born in Ribeira da Barca, Santiago, Cape Verde, on July 20, 1973) is a Cape Verdean singer, songwriter and guitarist, who is well known for his work in transposing the traditional genre batuque to the electro-acoustic guitar. Russian history. [6] The term is still found in use in Russia today. As opposition to the Bolshevik regime grew through 1918, so did the size and power of the Cheka. Cheka M. Hier finden Sie Imformationen über die Bedeutung und den Ursprung des afrikanischen Baby-Namens Cheka. It even suppressed strikes by factory workers, the presumed rulers of the ‘workers’ state’.” A historian’s view: Many thousands of dissidents, deserters, or other people were arrested, tortured or executed by Cheka groups. Official government figures suggest that just over 12,000 people were killed by Chekists in 1918-20. It contains 179,175 words in 288 pages and was updated on October 10th 2020. 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