Evening star., 1926-06-13
RUSSIAN IRON GRIP
OF SECRET POLICE
Dzjershinsky, Head of Force,
l Is Combination of Kind
H. ness and Cruelty.
BYF. A. MACKENZIE.


BY F. A. MACKENZIE.
Daily News.
LENINGRAD, May IA hundred
years hence students will be analyz-
ing the character OF DZjershinsky as
today they analyze the character of
Rohespierre. Monster or patriot"
they will ask themselves.
A strange combination, this great
Communist: \ man sincere. disinter-
ested. kindly in private life, but re-
lentless and merciless in public az
fairs. Dzjershinsky. the private in
dividual, would pick a fallen child
from the gutter anu laugh away It's
tears. Dzjershinsky. minister of state,
is the creator, the director and master
mind of the Srea test instrument of
terror the world has ever known, yes
terday named the cheka, today known
as the G. II. L.
Dziershinslly is by birth a Pole. He
early came to prominence as one OF
the active plotterS agains cZarlStn.
Time after time he was arrested.
Time after time he escaped, until at
last they took such special care and
watch over him that even DZiers-
hinsky could not get away. and they
kept him in chains till the revolution
set him free.
Quick 10 Start Fight.
Even in prison this tall hlue.eyed,
long faced revolutionary obtained
reputation all his own. He was
dreamer II man whose mind was OBJ
sessed by the vision of a new era.
He was from the point of view of
his iaiers n difficult prisoner, quick
To resent wrongs. quick to organize
his fellow political prisoners. ready to
take any punishment. eager to do the
most unpleasant tasks to save his
comrades from them.
Idealist. fanatic, visionary.
When the great revolution came in
November. 1917, and Lenin ruled
petrosrad, it soon became necessary
to create "A defensive police against
counter-revolutionist DZjershinsky
was given the task of rganiZing this
body
He started out with no specially
harsh ideas. Many of the Communists
were in favor Of aholishins the death
penalty. and they actually issued a
decree TO that effect But Lenin
laughed at them. How can you
make a revolution without killing?"
he asked scornfully.
For some months Dzjershnsky and
his men had rather to try to stop the
amateur killers than to encourage
them. All the great cities were over
run by brigandS, mostly starving re-
turned soldiers. You could not drive
at night for 10 minutes through the
dark streets of Moscow or Petrograd
without running the risk of being
held up and stripped of all. Dzjershin-
sky'S first task was to restore order
1t was Il long job and the only way
to Go II was to shoot every robber as
soon as he WAS found. Today YOU can
walk through the streets of any city
in Russia at any hour of the day or
night in safety.
Terror Is Organized.
Then came the attempt by Dora
Eaplain on the life of Lenin. The
anti-Communsts We're plotting TO de.
etroy Communism by assassinating
individually the Communist leaders.
The Communists returned With the
red terror and the foremost organ.
izers of the red terror we're the cheka
and Dzjershinsky
The full story of how Dzjershinsky's
men broke the heart of the white op.
position can never be told in full In
every city they took a large house.
headquarters. The rooms were often
packed with men and women arrested
on the whim of some minor official
and herded together until death by
disease or bullet or StarVa ton
cleared them out. People were ar
rested by the score of thousa nds and
forgotten. left for months. unknown,
untried, almost unfed.
DZjerShinsky the idealist. DZier-
shinSky the fanatic sat in his room
in the old Insurance Building in Mos
COW. Loubianlla ., calmly directing
affairs. Loubiank itself was full
of prisoners enduring untold misery.
To Dziershinsky they We're not in
dividuals. they were pawns in the
game. The whole nation was starry
ing, why should not the old aristo-
cratic classes who once had plenty
starve. too
The elaborate secret police system
developed by Dziershinsky soon per-
vaded all Russia 1t was said that
there We're only two men in the Com
munist state who were not watched
by the cheka-Lenin and Trotsky.
Later on Trotsky was watched, too.
Tried to Check Him.
The cheka arrested men, tried them
In secret condemned them and killed
them at its pleasure. AT last a. very
high official in the foreign office, next
I'm rank TO Tchitcherin himself. was
secretly arrested and lay for months
In the cells of Louhia nka. Other Com
munist leaders got together. what
is there to prevent DZiershinsky from
arresting any of us, II he wants to?"
they asked. a campaign began in the
ranks of the party and for few
months Dzjershinsky's power was
curbed.
But for a few months only. For
quietly and unostentatiously he re.
covered it all again.
Dziershinsky's political police are
now a great army. Many of the finest
brains of Russia are in their serv-
ice. They have their own troops and
they control many departments of
state. That they do much useful work
I'm maintaining order no one who
knows Russia would deny. But that
they are contrary TO every idea Of
popular liberty every one knows
DZjershinsky blossomed out in other
departments of state. lie IL a master
organizer. with the necessary ruthless
ness or Il master organizer. He took
over the railways when they We're a
ruin and transformed them. For u
time he had control Of the supreme
council of national economy, and his
agents went through it like a devastat-
ing storm. In the great battle be-
tween Zinoviev and Trotsky it was he
who stepped in at the vital moment
and stayed Zinoviev's hands.
AN amazing. almost incredible char
1.-The u-ith tho Cn1Iep