All Necessary Measures

Everyone agreed that in normal circumstances the proper method of dealing with the dissent would be to hold a discussion with those who held the differing views and explain why they were wrong, but these weren’t normal circumstances.

Many on the losing side had refused to accept their loss and continued to oppose the march of history and the need to safeguard the people, therefore this was no time to pause for the education of the dissenters. The people were threatened and the highest purpose was to protect the people.

The high ideals they all had long declared would have to wait for peaceful times. The individuals would understand that they had to give way to the greater good.

These were extraordinary times and extraordinary measures were needed to deal with them.

Thus was born the “Extraordinary Commission”, formally known as the “Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage”. It was a temporary thing, everyone agreed, it probably wouldn’t have to exist for more than a few months, a couple of years, tops.

That’s not the way it worked out. The name changed, but the purpose didn’t. If you call it the Unified State Political Directorate, the Peoples’ Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the Ministry for Internal Affairs, the Committee for State Security, or the Federal Security Service, it is still the Extraordinary Commission.

The members since the beginning have the same name. If they served in the OGPU, NKVD, MVD, KGB, or FSB they are CheKists, just like those who served in the original CheKa.

ChK – Чрезвычайная Комиссия
OGPU – Объединённое Государственное Политическое Управление
NKVB – Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел
MVD – Министерство Внутренних Дел
KGB – Комитет Государственной Безопасности
FSB – Федеральная Служба Безопасности