The Most HATED Man in Soviet Russia...

Nicknamed the most hated man in Soviet Russia he stood at the head of the Cheka: the feared secret police of the Bolsheviks. He was nicknamed Iron Felix. Felix Dzerzhinsky wasn’t a rugged worker, but a Polish nobleman's son with a satanic pointed beard, permanent scars from Tsarist shackles, and a heart forged in the fires of Siberian exile. He was grimly fanatical, entirely incorruptible, and lacked even a single ray of humor. For him, the Revolution was deeply personal. In a ramshackle office, with fewer than forty staff and all his files kept in a single briefcase, Dzerzhinsky pinned a notice to the wall: “Death to the Bourgeoisie.” Under his nose, the Cheka quickly became a den of corruption, with agents looting valuables under the guise of state duty. But Iron Felix didn't care about common crime. He was hunting a bigger prey. At the Cheka's founding, he made his terrifying mission clear: “I do not seek justice. We are not in need of justice. It is war now - a fight to the finish. Life or death.” And thus, the Soviet terror machine was born. Click on the link below to learn more on the Cheka and the Red Terror.