Editing Cheka (section)

== Repression ==
{{Repression in the Soviet Union}}

=== Number of victims ===
Estimates on Cheka executions vary widely. The lowest figures (''disputed below'') are provided by Dzerzhinsky's lieutenant [[Martin Latsis|Martyn Latsis]], limited to RSFSR over the period 1918–1920:

*For the period 1918 – July 1919, covering only twenty provinces of central Russia:
::In 1918: 6,300; in 1919 (up to July): 2,089; Total: 8,389

*For the whole period 1918–19:
::In 1918: 6,185; in 1919: 3,456; Total: 9,641

*For the whole period 1918–20:
::In January–June 1918: 22; in July–December 1918: more than 6,000; in 1918–20: 12,733.

Experts generally agree these semi-official figures are vastly understated.<ref>pp. 463–464, Leggett (1986).</ref> Pioneering historian of the [[Red Terror]] [[Sergei Melgunov]] claims that this was done deliberately in an attempt to demonstrate the government's humanity. For example, he refutes the claim made by Latsis that only 22 executions were carried out in the first six months of the Cheka's existence by providing evidence that the true number was 884 executions.<ref>[[Sergei Melgunov]], [http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/redterror.pdf "The Record of the Red Terror"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221170529/http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/redterror.pdf |date=2018-12-21 }}, paulbogdanor.com.</ref> W. H. Chamberlin claims, "It is simply impossible to believe that the Cheka only put to death 12,733 people in all of Russia up to the end of the civil war."<ref name="Chamberlin">pp. 74–75, Chamberlin (1935).</ref> [[Donald Rayfield]] concurs, noting that, "Plausible evidence reveals that the actual numbers …  vastly exceeded the official figures."<ref>[[Donald Rayfield]]. ''[[Stalin and His Hangmen]]: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him.'' [[Random House]], 2004. {{ISBN|0375506322}}, p. 1926: [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yi3ow3TU8-4C&pg=RA2-PA1915 GBYi].</ref> Chamberlin provides the "reasonable and probably moderate" estimate of 50,000,<ref name="Chamberlin" /> while others provide estimates ranging up to 500,000.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sK5CJFpb2DAC&dq=lethal+politics+cheka+executions+most+probably+about+500,000&pg=PA39 p. 39], Rummel (1990).</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2273462.stm |title=Statue plan stirs Russian row |publisher=BBC News |date=2002-09-21 |access-date=2011-07-27}}</ref> Several scholars put the number of executions at about 250,000.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9TWUAQ7Xof8C&pg=PA28 page 28], Andrew and Mitrokhin, ''The Sword and the Shield'', paperback edition, Basic books, 1999.</ref><ref>p. 180, Overy, ''The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia'', W. W. Norton & Company; 1st American Ed edition, 2004.</ref> Some believe it is possible more people were murdered by the Cheka than died in battle.<ref>p. 649, Figes (1996).</ref> Historian James Ryan gives a modest estimate of 28,000 executions per year from December 1917 to February 1922.<ref>Ryan, James (2012). ''[https://www.routledge.com/Lenins-Terror-The-Ideological-Origins-of-Early-Soviet-State-Violence/Ryan/p/book/9781138815681 Lenin's Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence].'' London: [[Routledge]]. p. 2. {{ISBN|978-1138815681}}</ref>

Lenin himself seemed unfazed by the killings. On 12 January 1920, while addressing trade union leaders, he said: "We did not hesitate to shoot thousands of people, and we shall not hesitate, and we shall save the {{nowrap|country."<ref>pp. 72 & 73, Volkogonov (1998).</ref>}} On 14 May 1921, the [[Politburo]], chaired by Lenin, passed a motion "broadening the rights of the [Cheka] in relation to the use of the [death penalty]."<ref>p. 238, Volkogonov (1994).</ref>

=== Scholarly estimates ===
There is no consensus among the Western historians on the number of deaths from the [[Red Terror]]. One source gives estimates of 28,000 executions per year from December 1917 to February 1922.{{sfnp|Ryan|2012|p=2}} Estimates for the number of people shot during the initial period of the Red Terror are at least 10,000.{{sfnp|Ryan|2012|p=114}} Estimates for the whole period go for a low of 50,000<ref name="anatomy">Stone, Bailey (2013). ''The Anatomy of Revolution Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of England, France, and Russia''. Cambridge University Press. p. 335.</ref> to highs of 140,000<ref name="anatomy"/><ref>Pipes, Richard (2011). ''The Russian Revolution''. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 838.</ref> and 200,000 executed.{{sfnp|Lowe|2002|p=151}} Most estimations for the number of executions in total put the number at about 100,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lincoln |first=W. Bruce |author-link=W. Bruce Lincoln |year=1989 |title=Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=384 |isbn=0671631667 |quote=... the best estimates set the probable number of executions at about a hundred thousand.}}</ref>

According to Vadim Erlikhman's investigation, the number of the Red Terror's victims is at least 1,200,000 people.<ref>{{Ill|Vadim Erlikhman|ru|Эрлихман, Вадим Викторович}}  ''Потери народонаселения в XX веке.: Справочник'' <abbr>М.</abbr>: Издательский дом «Русская панорама», 2004.  {{ISBN|5931651071}}</ref> According to [[Robert Conquest]], a total of 140,000 people were shot in 1917–1922.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Great Terror: A Reassessment, 40th Anniversary Edition|last=Conquest|first=Robert|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|pages=in Preface, p. xvi: "Exact numbers may never be known with complete certainty, but the total of deaths caused by the whole range of Soviet regime's terrors can hardly be lower than some fifteen million."}}</ref> Candidate of Historical Sciences Nikolay Zayats states that the number of people shot by the Cheka in 1918–1922 is about 37,300 people, shot in 1918–1921 by the verdicts of the tribunals – 14,200, i.e. about 50,000–55,000 people in total, although executions and atrocities were not limited to the Cheka, having been organized by the [[Red Army]] as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scepsis.net/library/id_3807.html|title=К вопросу о масштабах красного террора в годы Гражданской войны // Николай Заяц|website=scepsis.net|accessdate=December 7, 2024}}</ref>

According to anti-Bolshevik [[Socialist Revolutionary Party|Socialist Revolutionary]] [[Sergei Melgunov]] (1879–1956), at the end of 1919, the Special Investigation Commission to investigate the atrocities of the Bolsheviks estimated the number of deaths at 1,766,188 people in 1918–1919 only.<ref>Часть IV. На гражданской войнe. // ''[[Sergei Melgunov]]'' [http://lib.ru/POLITOLOG/MELGUNOW/terror.txt «Красный террор» в России 1918–1923.] – 2-ое изд., доп. – Берлин, 1924</ref>