Russia and the Cult of State Security: The Chekist Tradition, From Lenin to Putin

by Julie Fedor

This book explores the mythology woven around the Soviet secret police and the Russian cult of state security that has emerged from it. Tracing the history of this mythology from the Soviet period through to its revival in contemporary post-Soviet Russia, the volume argues that successive Russian regimes have sponsored a ‘cult’ of state security, whereby security organs are held up as something to be worshipped. The book approaches the history of this cult as an ongoing struggle to legitimise and sacralise the Russian state security apparatus, and to negotiate its violent and dramatic past. It explores the ways in which, during the Soviet period, this mythology sought to make the existence of the most radically intrusive and powerful secret police in history appear ‘natural’. It also documents the contemporary post-Soviet re-emergence of the cult of state security, examining the ways in which elements of the old Soviet mythology have been revised and reclaimed as the cornerstone of a new state ideology. The Russian cult of state security is of ongoing contemporary relevance, and is crucial for understanding not only the tragedies of Russia’s twentieth-century history, but also the ambiguities of Russia’s post-Soviet transition, and the current struggle to define Russia’s national identity and future development. The book examines the ways in which contemporary Russian life continues to be shaped by the legacy of Soviet attitudes to state-society relations, as expressed in the reconstituted cult of state security. It investigates the shadow which the figure of the secret policeman continues to cast over Russia today. The book will be of great interest to students of modern Russian history and politics, intelligence studies and security studies, as well as readers with an interest in the KGB and its successors.

Genres: Russia, History, Politics

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Raughley Nuzzi]

This is a pretty dense and intense book that approaches the issue of Chekist Culture in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia from a number of interesting angles. From the nigh canonization of Dzerzhinsky to the presence of KGB consultants on film sets to the readoption/cooption of Chekist symbolism by former Soviet republics, this book (almost) has it all!

I read a few chapters of this for a course I was enrolled in and was intrigued to find out more. What happened to the myth of the Chekist during de-Stalinization? What about during the re-Stalinizing period of Brezhnev? Some of these questions were answered, while others were sidelined, it felt.

I loved the two chapters on KGB oversight of the Soviet detective films in question. Two chapters, however, may have been a bit excessive for getting the point across. It could have served as an effective bridge into the Brezhnev/Interregnum/Gorbachev eras, but instead we jumped to the post-Soviet period. While I appreciated the chapter on the legacy of Andropov and the whitewashing of his legacy, it felt a bit unanchored without a deeper earlier dive into the 1970s and 80s.

All that said, Fedor's book provides a fascinating peek behind the curtain into the psychology of Russia's security state and mindset. It's easy for Westerners to read Soviet history and think that the Cheka, NKVD, and KGB represent an unambiguously "bad" series of organizations. That is not at all the case, from a Russian perspective, however, and this book effectively shines a light on that phenomenon.

[Dmitry]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Очень специфическая тема, которая будет интересна только профессионалам либо людям, особо интересующимся темой советского ЧК. Хотя мне и интересно читать про советские спецслужбы, однако как они изображались в советской культуре (в кино и литературе) меня не очень интересует. Это не значит что книга плохая, просто она не для каждого. И это при том, что книга читается легко.

This is a very specific topic that will be of interest only to professionals or people with a special interest in the Soviet Cheka. Although I am interested in reading about the Soviet security services, I am not very interested in how they were portrayed in Soviet culture (in movies and literature). That's not to say the book is bad; it's just not for everyone. This is despite the fact that the book is easy to read.

[Michael Gat]

This book is, and reads like, somebody's PhD thesis. As such it is exhaustive to the point of tiresomeness, making the same points over and over and over using different categories of evidence to prove the points. I found myself glossing over many of the details to get the general points.