Editing Felix Dzerzhinsky (section)

==Revolution==
Dzerzhinsky spent the next {{frac|4|1|2}} years in prisons, first at the notorious [[Tenth Pavilion]] of the Warsaw Citadel. When [[World War I]] began in 1914, all political prisoners were relocated from Warsaw into Russia proper. Dzerzhinsky was taken to [[Oryol Prison]]. He was very concerned about the fate of his wife and son, with whom he did not have any communication. Moreover, the Russian guards administered Dzerzhinsky frequent beatings, which caused permanent disfigurement of his jaw and mouth. In 1916, Dzerzhinsky was transferred to the [[Moscow]] [[Butyrka prison]], where he was soon hospitalized because the chains that he had been forced to wear were causing severe cramps in his legs. Despite the prospects of amputation, Dzerzhinsky recovered and was put to work sewing military uniforms.<ref>Blobaum 1984, pp. 213–217.</ref>

Dzerzhinsky was freed from Butyrka after the [[February Revolution]] of 1917. Soon after his release, Dzerzhinsky's goal was to organize Polish refugees in Russia, then return to Poland and fight for the revolution there. He wrote to his wife, "Together with these masses, we will return to Poland after the war and become one whole with the SDKPiL." He remained in Moscow where he joined the [[Bolshevik party]], writing to his comrades that "the Bolshevik party organization is the only Social Democratic organization of the proletariat, and if we were to stay outside of it, then we would find ourselves outside the proletarian revolutionary struggle." By April, he had entered the Moscow Committee of the Bolsheviks and soon thereafter was elected to the executive committee of the [[Mossoviet|Moscow Soviet]]. Dzerzhinsky endorsed [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s "[[April Theses]]", demanding uncompromising opposition to the new [[Russian Provisional Government]], the transfer of all political authority to the [[Soviet (council)|Soviets]], and the immediate withdrawal of Russia from the war. Dzerzhinsky's brother Stanisław was murdered on the Dzerzhinsky estate by deserting Russian soldiers that same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.124547!/fileManager/wp-iain-lauchlan-YoungFelix.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101192100/http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.124547!/fileManager/wp-iain-lauchlan-YoungFelix.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Dzerzhinsky/>

Subsequently, in late July, Dzerzhinsky was elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee at the Sixth Party Congress. He then relocated from Moscow to [[Petrograd]] to begin his new responsibilities. In Petrograd, Dzerzhinsky participated in the crucial session of the Central Committee in October, and he strongly endorsed Lenin's demands for the immediate preparation of a coup, after which Felix Dzerzhinsky had an active role with the [[Military Revolutionary Committee]] during the [[October Revolution]]. With the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, Dzerzhinsky eagerly assumed responsibility for making security arrangements at the [[Smolny Institute]] where the Bolsheviks had their headquarters.<ref>Blobaum 1984, pp. 213–222.</ref>