How far did the role of the secret police change in the Soviet Union through the period 1953-
85?
When Khrushchev came into power in 1953, Russia had already experienced a sort of ‘secret
police’ even from the days of the Tsar, the Okhrana formed in 1881, was used to control the
population and deal with dissidents. This idea of a secret police developed further under Lenin’s
use of the Cheka and Stalin’s use of the NKVD, moreover from the 19th century Russia had seen
organizations utilized to control the population, remove threat such as ‘class enemies’ and
dissidents and monitor its people. However, the way in which this was done greatly differed
between leaders; the use of the secret police evolved from its large use of terror to action
against dissidents, to mass surveillance, to focus on social issues. Therefore, it is highly
debatable the extent to how the secret polices role changed between 1953-85.
After Stalin’s death in March 1953, it was imperative that the Politburo remove Beria and his
substantial power, through being the head of the NKVD from 1938, he controlled the secret
police and was in charge of purges, the gulag system, a network of spies, mass deportations and
executions. For instance, in 1944 Beria ordered the deportation of all 460,000 Chechens to
Siberia within seven days. Those unwilling to leave were locked in stables and barns and burnt
alive, the deportations resulted in around 170,000 deaths, and after the war Beria was tasked
with overseeing the efforts to build a nuclear bomb. Moreover, this example of great terror
used by the secret police under Beria exemplified the threat to Khrushchev, so 3 months after
Stalin’s death, Beria was arrested and executed for treason and terrorism. A symbolic end to
Stalin’s reign of terror and indication of the start of de-Stalinization, and in hand a change in the
secret police. Firstly, the KGB was established in 1954, placing the secret police back under
party control, limiting its power. Khrushchev brought an end to the gulag system and forced
labor, for example the Lubyanka building which had been an operational since 1920, was no
longer a prison. Due to Khrushchev’s campaign of de-Stalinization ultimately terror had to be
scaled back, this was evident through the 1960 criminal code which limited the power of the
KGB. Although there were major changes, Khrushchev continued to use force against
dissidents, those critical of Stalin were of course accepted, but writers such as Litvinov and
Dzyuba were arrested. This points to the conclusion, that a change in leader was the catalyst for
change in secret police’s methods and level of terror.
During the Brezhnev years, the secret police’s strength was greatly restored through increased
focus on dissidents, mass surveillance and use of state mental institutions. Significantly, this
was due to Yuri Andropov becoming the head of the KGB in 1967. Notably, the secret polices
role of dealing with international security, intelligence and espionage became highly
professional and effective, the secret police was no longer being perceived as a ‘group of
thugs’. Andropov’s main priority was the suppression of dissidents, aiming to keep them in
small groups and divided, in 1968 he issued KGB Order No. 0051 which set out increased
surveillance and action against dissidents. This was enabled through the use of article 70 (no
longer needing to prove intent of undermining or weakening Soviet power) this subverted the
