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State Political Directorate

Soviet national security agency (1922–1923)

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The State Political Directorate (Russian: Государственное политическое управление, romanized: Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye), abbreviated as GPU (Russian: ГПУ), was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from February 1922 to November 1923. It was the immediate successor of the Cheka, and was replaced by the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU).

Name[edit]

The official designation in line to the native reference is:

• Русский: = Государственное политическое управление (ГПУ) при Народном комиссариaте внутренних дел (НКВД) РСФСР
• tr =Gosudarstvennoe politicheskoe upravlenie (GPU) pri narodnom komissariate vnutrennikh del (NKVD) RSFSR – (GPU pri NKVD RSFSR)
• English: = State Political Directorate (also State Political Administration) under the People's Commissariat of interior affairs of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR)

Establishment[edit]

Formed from the Cheka, the original Russian state security organization, on February 6, 1922, it was initially known under the Russian abbreviation GPU—short for "State Political Directorate under the NKVD of the RSFSR" (Russian: Государственное политическое управление при НКВД РСФСР, Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie under the NKVD of the RSFSR"). Its first chief was the Cheka's former chairman, Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Mission[edit]

Chronology of Soviet security agencies
1917–22	Cheka of the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission)
1922–23	GPU of the NKVD of the RSFSR (State Political Directorate)
1923–34	OGPU of the Sovnarkom of the USSR (Joint State Political Directorate)
1934–41 1941–43	NKVD of the USSR (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR (Main Directorate of State Security)
1941 1943–46	NKGB of the USSR (People's Commissariat for State Security)
1946–53	MGB of the USSR (Ministry of State Security)
1953–54	MVD of the USSR (Ministry of Internal Affairs)
1954–91	KGB of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Committee for State Security)
v t e

Internal security[edit]

On paper, the new agency was supposed to act with more restraint than the Cheka. For example, unlike the Cheka, it did not have the right to shoot suspected "counter-revolutionaries" at will. All those suspected of political crimes had to be brought before a judge in normal circumstances.^[1]

Foreign intelligence[edit]

The 'Foreign Department' of the GPU was headed by a former Bolshevik and party member, Mikhail Trilisser.^[2] The Foreign Department was placed in charge of intelligence activities overseas, including espionage and liquidation of 'enemies of the people'. Trilisser himself was later liquidated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge in 1940.

Disestablishment[edit]

With the creation of the USSR in December 1922, a unified organization was required to exercise control over state security throughout the new union. Thus, on November 15, 1923, the GPU left the Russian NKVD and was reorganized as the all-union Joint State Political Directorate, also translated as "All-Union State Political Administration". Its official name was "Joint State Political Directorate under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR" (Russian: Obyedinyonnoye gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye under the SNK of the USSR, Объединённое государственное политическое управление при СНК СССР), or OGPU (ОГПУ).

Personnel[edit]

Badge	Political	Military
none	Cотрудник Employee	Kрасноармеец Red Armyman
	Агент 3-го разряда Agent third category	Командир отделения Squad commander
	Агент 2-го разряда Agent second category	Помощник командира взвода Assistant platoon commander
	Агент 1-го разряда Agent first category	Старшина роты, батареи, батальона, дивизиона First Sergeant of company, battery, battalion
	Сотрудник особых поручений Special assignment officer	Командир взвода Platoon commander
	Нач. оперативного пункта Head of operative point	командир роты (полуэскадрона) Company commander (Commander of half-squadron)
	Нач. отдела инспекции; Пом. нач. адм.-следственной части Leader of inspection department; Assistant head of investigative unit	командир батальона (эскадрона) Battalion commander (Squadron commander)
	Пом. нач. отделения; Уполномоч. отдела предварительного дознания; Нач. адм.-следственной части Assistant departemental leader ; Plenipotentiary of preliminary investigation department; Head of investigative unit	командир полка Regimental commander
	Военрук инспекции Military director of inspection	Командир бригады Brigade commander
	Нач. отделения ГПУ Head of GPU branch	начальник и комиссар дивизии Chief and commissar of division
	Зам. нач. отдела ГПУ Assistant head of GPU department	Командир корпуса; Зам. нач. штаба войск ГПУ Corps commander; Assistant chief of staff for GPU troops
	Нач. отдела ГПУ Head of GPU department	Зам. Пред. ГПУ — Нач. штаба войск ГПУ Deputy chairman of GPU - Chief of staff of GPU troops

See also[edit]

• Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War § Violence and terror
• Commanders of the border troops USSR and RF
• Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies
• Eastern Bloc politics

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Gerson, L. D. (1985). The Secret Police in Lenin"s Russia. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
• Nation, R. C. (2018). Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1991. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Ryan, James. (2012). Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence. London: Routledge.

External links[edit]

• History of the MVD of Russia: 1917–1931 (in Russian)

History