Chekism

Chekism (russian: Чекизм; from ''Cheka'', a colloquial name of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission,), abbreviated in Russian as ЧК, ''Che-Ka''. the first Soviet secret police organization) is a term to describe the situation in the Soviet Union where the secret police strongly controlled all spheres of society. It is also used by critics of the current Kremlin authorities to describe the power enjoyed by law-enforcement agencies in contemporary Russia.

Soviet Union

Chekism is described as a product of the set of beliefs, practices, and assumptions in the security police introduced and developed for more than a decade by Felix Dzerzhinskii. The systems he had put in place led to the sacralization of the concept that legitimized and romanticized political terror. Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov put forward the idea of the secret political police as a backbone of Soviet society. Avtorkhanov wrote in his ''The Technology of Power'' (1959):

Others shared similar ideas, including journalist John Barron, retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin, and researcher on KGB subjects Evgenia Albats. Chekism evolved into some form of a cult that is based on the so-called virtues of the Cheka mentalite. According to Albats, most KGB leaders, including Lavrenty Beria, Yuri Andropov, and Vladimir Kryuchkov, have always struggled for power with the Communist Party and manipulated the ostensible communist leaders.Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia—Past, Present, and Future. 1994. . The sacralization of chekism allowed leaders such as Dzerzhinskii to forge special relationship with the secret police members while promoting the otherness of the party founders.

Commenting on the Soviet regime of the early 1980s, Yegor Gaidar writes: "The authority of the regime was based on an effective secret police." Along with that, "since 1968, before the death of Brezhnev, no weapons were used to suppress the dissent. The regime has learned to do without extreme forms of violence". According to the data provided by Gaidar, "In 1958–1966 people convicted for anti-Soviet agitation amounted to 3448. In 1967–1975, 1583 people were convicted. In 1971–1974, KGB "took care" of 63 thousand people. Potential dissidents must realize that their activities are known to the authorities and there's an alternative—to be jailed or to express loyalty to the authorities."

Contemporary Russia

According to former Russian Duma member Konstantin Borovoi, "Putin's appointment is the culmination of the KGB's crusade for power. This is its finale. Now the KGB runs the country."''The KGB Rises Again in Russia'' – by R.C. Paddock – Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2000
/ref> Olga Kryshtanovskaya, director of the Moscow-based Center for the Study of Elites, has found that up to 78% of 1,016 leading political figures in Russia have served previously in organizations affiliated with the KGB or FSB.
– by P. Finn – ''The Washington Post'', 2006 She said: "If in the Soviet period and the first post-Soviet period, the KGB and FSB people were mainly involved in security issues, now half are still involved in security but the other half are involved in business, political parties, NGOs, regional governments, even culture... They started to use all political institutions."

The KGB or FSB members usually remain in the " acting reserve" even if they formally leave the organization ("acting reserve" members receive a second FSB salary, follow FSB instructions, and remain "above the law" being protected by the organization, according to Kryshtanovskaya). As Vladimir Putin said, "There is no such thing as a former KGB man". Soon after becoming prime minister of Russia, Putin also perhaps somewhat jokingly claimed that "A group of FSB colleagues dispatched to work undercover in the government has successfully completed its first mission." Moreover, the FSB has formal membership, military discipline, and an extensive network of civilian informants, hardcore ideology, and support of population (60% of Russians trust FSB), which according to Yevgenia Albats