Felix Dzerzhinsky, a revolutionary and Soviet statesman, was born on September 11, 1877.
Experts do not have a unified assessment of its role in the history of the USSR and Russia.
Some severely criticize him for participating in the implementation of the "Red Terror" policy, others note his huge role in the development of state security and solving the socio-economic problems of the Soviet Union after the end of the Civil War.
Underground and hard labor
Felix Dzerzhinsky was born into a small noble family of a teacher of physics and mathematics.
His father died of tuberculosis in 1882, when Felix was only five years old.
“Everything connected with childhood, youth and youth of Dzerzhinsky has been poorly studied.
There are many blank spots in his biography, ”said Alexander Krushelnitsky, associate professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University, in a conversation with RT.
It is known that for some time Dzerzhinsky was a zealous Catholic and was even going to join the Jesuit order.
But then his views changed dramatically.
He became interested in Marxist ideas and in 1896 became one of the organizers of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which merged into the RSDLP ten years later.
In the same 1896, Dzerzhinsky left the last class of the gymnasium in order to devote his life entirely to political activity.
He soon became involved in revolutionary propaganda in Kovno (modern Kaunas, Lithuania), publishing an underground newspaper there.
“Dzerzhinsky sincerely supported the ideas of freeing working people from the power of capital, providing peasants with land and eliminating autocracy,” said Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, in an interview with RT.
In 1897 Dzerzhinsky was arrested.
For his revolutionary activities he was exiled for three years to the Vyatka province.
However, after some time, Dzerzhinsky fled from there and began to restore the Social Democratic organization in Warsaw, which had been crushed by the authorities.
In 1900, Dzerzhinsky was again arrested and sent into exile, but he fled again and returned to Poland.
Dzerzhinsky took an active part in the revolutionary events of 1905, during which he again fell into the hands of law enforcement agencies and was imprisoned in the Warsaw (Alexander) citadel.
Model of the Alexander (Warsaw) citadel
© Wikimedia Commons
Released under an amnesty, Dzerzhinsky soon became a delegate to the Fourth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, became a member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP and personally met Vladimir Lenin.
Later, until 1917, Dzerzhinsky was repeatedly arrested.
In total, he spent about 11 years in prisons, hard labor and exile.
While in prison, he contracted tuberculosis.
During the February Revolution, Dzerzhinsky was released from the Butyrka prison and soon became a member of the Moscow Committee, and then the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b).
Chekist and business executive
According to Mikhail Myagkov, Dzerzhinsky was a staunch supporter of the Bolsheviks coming to power in Russia through an armed uprising.
During the October Revolution, he was a member of the Military Revolutionary Party Center and the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee.
It was he who in October 1917 commanded the capture of the main post office and telegraph, and then led the Red Guards guarding Smolny.
“Dzerzhinsky ensured the protection of the perimeter, compliance with the internal regime, the work of bodyguards,” Alexander Krushelnitsky explained.
After the October Revolution, Dzerzhinsky became a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and one of the organizers of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs.
At the end of 1917, the Bolshevik leadership raised the issue of the need to create in Soviet Russia its own special service - the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (VChK).
According to historians, Dzerzhinsky was considered an ideal candidate for the post of its chairman.
“Dzerzhinsky was an old revolutionary who had extreme views and had a reputation as a responsible worker,” said Alexander Arsentiev, a researcher at the Victory Museum, in an interview with RT.
On December 20, 1917, Dzerzhinsky officially headed the Cheka and led it, and then the State Political Administration created on its basis, with short breaks until 1926.
Felix Dzerzhinsky and Joseph Stalin
RIA News
The tasks of the Cheka included the fight against espionage, sabotage, counter-revolutionary actions, sabotage, conspiracies and rebellions.
In the future, this list was supplemented by the fight against speculation and malfeasance, the protection of transportation and the state border, as well as intelligence.
“Chekists were the “living bonds” of the Soviet statehood.
They were dedicated to the cause and did not spare themselves at all.
Now I am working on a book about the activities of the Chekists in the early years of the formation of Soviet power and I am simply amazed at how many of them died in their post, ”said Alexander Kolpakidi, a historian of the special services, in a conversation with RT.
According to him, Dzerzhinsky himself fully corresponded to his position.
“He was a man who did not rest, did not know peace, was constantly on the move.
He was not just listed in the positions that he occupied, but put his soul into them, ”Kolpakidi noted.
Certificate of awarding Dzerzhinsky the title of Honorary Chekist
© Wikimedia Commons
At the same time, Dzerzhinsky was a rather tough person.
He stated that "the liberal sense of pity and abstract justice does great harm to the cause of the fight against crime, does not correspond to the tasks of protecting the class interests of the working people."
Since Dzerzhinsky was one of the leaders in the implementation of the "Red Terror" policy, some historians subject him to the most severe criticism.
“He was a cruel, selfish and cold leader of the executioner type, and the Cheka was the most terrible organization.
The special services should be a scalpel, and they were an axe," Alexander Krushelnitsky said.
However, according to Mikhail Myagkov, it is incorrect to lay the responsibility for the "Red Terror" on Dzerzhinsky alone and draw conclusions about his personality from this.
“Responsibility for the “Red Terror” lies at once on the entire leadership of the Bolsheviks.
As for Dzerzhinsky personally, he was a person absolutely alien to corruption, who responsibly treated any issue entrusted to him and believed in his ideals, ”Myagkov emphasized.
Felix Dzerzhinsky
RIA News
According to experts, with the personal participation of Dzerzhinsky during the years of the Civil War and after its completion, a number of anti-Bolshevik organizations were liquidated, subversive actions of emigrant centers were thwarted, and the Tambov and Kronstadt uprisings were suppressed.
The leadership of the RSFSR (and then the USSR) gave Dzerzhinsky various government assignments, some of which were not directly related to his main activities.
He was People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, People's Commissar of Railways and Communications, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh) of the USSR.
Dzerzhinsky personally led the Moscow Defense Committee, the Military Council of the Internal Guard Troops of the Republic, and the Main Committee for Compulsory Labor Service.
Under his leadership, a struggle was waged against the movement of Nestor Makhno in Ukraine.
In addition, Dzerzhinsky was the initiator and first chairman of the Children's Commission of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which practically defeated homelessness in the USSR.
In the early 1920s, he led the liquidation of the fuel crisis in the Donbass, and then was a member of the Special Temporary Committee on Science under the Council of People's Commissars and chairman of the commission to combat bribery.
Felix Dzerzhinsky
RIA News
At the head of the Supreme Economic Council, Dzerzhinsky pursued an effective policy aimed at reducing industrial prices, restoring metallurgy and increasing labor productivity.
At the same time, he considered it necessary to "bring a scientific basis for production processes."
Dzerzhinsky supported the introduction of the New Economic Policy, cooperation and economic competition.
He defended the interests of the peasantry, seeking to reduce prices for industrial products needed by the village.
In party work, Dzerzhinsky adhered to conservative views and harshly criticized the activities of the opposition in the ranks of the Bolsheviks.
“If we evaluate the personal contribution of various people to the creation and formation of the USSR, then Dzerzhinsky will, in my opinion, be in third place after Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin,” said Alexander Kolpakidi.
On July 20, 1926, during a meeting of the Joint Plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in Moscow, Felix Dzerzhinsky died of a heart attack.
According to Alexander Arsentiev, there is a version about his poisoning, but objectively it has not been confirmed by anything.
“Dzerzhinsky is a knight of the revolution without fear or reproach.
He is credited with the words that the Chekist should have clean hands, a cold head and a warm heart, and he, being a fiery revolutionary, apparently, sincerely believed in this.
Today you can criticize him for many things from the height of our time, but we must not forget about the most difficult circumstances for the country he had to act in, ”summed up Mikhail Myagkov.