Cheka
Che Ka Breastplate
A well-known abbreviation of the full Russian name of the first Soviet state security agency, Chrezvychainaja komissija po bor’be s kontrrevolutsiei i sabotazhem (Emergency Commission for the Fight against Counterrevolution and Sabotage). Established in late December 1917, the Cheka was liquidated in February 1922, when its authority was transferred to a successor agency, the GPU of the NKVD for the RSFSR. The Cheka was positioned as an arm of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” in the fight against counterrevolution, and is associated with the so-called Red Terror unleashed in 1918. Operatives of the Cheka are commonly known as Chekisty.