Cheka
(ˈtʃɛkə, ˈtʃeɪkə)
Also Chay-ka, Tcheka.
[a. Russ. cheká, f. the names (che, ka) of the initials of Chrezvȳcháĭnaya Kom{iacu}ssiya, Extraordinary Commission (for combating Counter-revolution, Sabotage, and Speculation).]
An organization set up in 1917 under the Soviet régime in Russia for the investigation of counter-revolutionary activities (superseded in 1922 by the G.P.U. or Ogpu). Also transf. Hence ˈChekist [a. Russ. chek{iacu}st], n. and a.
| 1921 Glasgow Herald 14 Oct. 9 The Che-ka..rallied round itself not only Communists, but criminals, both Russian and Internationalists. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 725/2 A nurse..gained a reprieve through consenting to act as spy for the Chay-Ka. 1922 Glasgow Herald 10 Mar. 5 This Government announces the trial before the Special Revolutionary Tribunal, that is to say, the Tcheka, of a number of our old comrades of the Central Committee of our party for fictitious charges of attempts upon the lives of the Bolshevist leaders. 1925 Popoff Tcheka 230 On..December 21, 1917, the first meeting of the first Tcheka Council took place in the Smolny building. Ibid., Of the first Tchekists only a small number were Communists. 1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 77 The most lynx-eared of the fashionable cheka who are the self-appointed arbiters of vogue. 1938 Times 1 Jan. 11/5 A wide application of Chekist methods. 1941 [see apparatchik 1]. 1949 I. Deutscher Stalin 191 The Cheka (the Extraordinary Commission), the forerunner of the O.G.P.U. 1953 J. Cary Except the Lord 216 Autocracy with a sword is followed by democracy with a cheka. |