clergy, and refractory peasants showed little disinclination a decade
later to purge the party of enemies.
In 1922, as part of the New Economic Policy(NEP), the Cheka
was folded into the new GPU(State Political Administration). The
GPU lost none of the power of the Cheka. Moreover, Dzerzhinsky
was rewarded for his work in building the security service by being
made chair of the Council of the National Economy. This appoint-
ment led to greater participation by the security service in the Soviet
economy, and the employment of thousands of prisoners in logging,
gold mining, and manufacturing. Dzerzhinsky died in 1926 following
a speech to a party meeting. He was remembered by security profes-
sionals as a knight of the revolution. His statue at the service head-
quarters at Lubyankawas torn down immediately following the
failed 1991 August putschbut recently has been placed back in its
position of honor.
Following Dzerzhinsky’s death, an admirer noted that his two most
striking qualities were fanaticism and mercilessness. Dzerzhinsky
was an aesthetic and workaholic who lived in his office the first year
he managed the Cheka, subsisting on the meager rations fed his
troops in the field. He sought to mold a service of revolutionary
priests, describing his Chekistcolleagues as having “clean hands and
warm hearts.” He was also a formidable manager who controlled a
security service with a staff of 250,000. He had little real interest in
foreign intelligence, and the foreign intelligence section was mainly
directed at the penetration of émigrémovements. Under Dzerzhin-
sky’s leadership, the Cheka organized the Trustoperation to lure
émigrés to return to the Soviet Union. By the time of his death, the
security service had eliminated the threat of émigré political action
against the infant Soviet state.- E –
EITINGON, LEONID ALEKSANDROVICH [NAUM ISAKO-
VICH] (1899–1981). Eitingon was an experienced illegalwho took
part in a number of political assassinations. He was also one of the
founders of Soviet Spetznaztroops and tactics, working in Spain dur-
ing the Spanish Civil Warto train republican partisans. In the lateEITINGON, LEONID ALEKSANDROVICH [NAUM ISAKOVICH] (1899–1981) •7506-313 A-G.qxd 7/27/06 7:55 AM Page 75