The secret police that executed ordinary citizens in the early Soviet period were known as what?

The secret police that executed ordinary citizens in the early Soviet period were known as what?

• A. Cheka
• B. KGB
• C. Okhrana
• D. Stasi

Answer: (A)

At the start of Soviet power, the regime relied on a dedicated secret police to crush counterrevolution and silence dissent. This organization, known as the Cheka, was established in December 1917 and given sweeping powers to arrest, try, and execute suspects—often ordinary citizens—as part of the Red Terror. Its ruthless actions during those early years set the pattern for how the Bolsheviks maintained control. The Cheka later evolved into other security bodies (OGPU, NKVD, and eventually the KGB). In contrast, the KGB is the later Soviet-era agency, Okhrana was the tsarist secret police, and Stasi operated in East Germany, so they don’t fit the early Soviet context.

At the start of Soviet power, the regime relied on a dedicated secret police to crush counterrevolution and silence dissent. This organization, known as the Cheka, was established in December 1917 and given sweeping powers to arrest, try, and execute suspects—often ordinary citizens—as part of the Red Terror. Its ruthless actions during those early years set the pattern for how the Bolsheviks maintained control. The Cheka later evolved into other security bodies (OGPU, NKVD, and eventually the KGB). In contrast, the KGB is the later Soviet-era agency, Okhrana was the tsarist secret police, and Stasi operated in East Germany, so they don’t fit the early Soviet context.