what do you fear?

The Secret Police - USSR

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The USSR was created in 1922 after the revolution of 1917, therefore, replacing the totalitarian rule of the preceding tsars with what we know as communist Russia. After the revolution, Russia went into civil war. The war was between the Bolsheviks, later called the communist party, who beat the Menshoviks, the people that wanted a constitutional monarchy with the tsars. The first secret police was called the Cheka, established by the Bolsheviks and Lenon during the beginning of their regime. It was a force originally created in order to fight a counter-revolution and was disbanded by Lenin after the civil war. The secret police was later re-established in 1922 and renamed as the GPU which undergoes many different name changes. During the rule of Stalin, the secret police were ordered to "purge" those who oppossed to Stalin. This purge included the disappearance of about 1.5 million people in Russia. About half were executed while others were imprisoned in gulags (prison camps). This sent a wave of fear throughout the country. People would realize that one day their co-workers or friends would not be there the next day for unexplained reasons, thus, causing people to fear speaking out against the government.



http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/pages-5/Medvedev-begins-purge-after-pitiful-Olympics-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0861010.html
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/secr.html


Suppression in Italy

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Like in Russia, Italy's secret police was called the Blackshirts. The Blackshirts were composed of ex-soldiers (WWI Storm Troopers) under the command of Mussolini before the second world war and after the first world war. The secret police was created to destroy any opposition to Mussolini. More specifically, it was one of Mussolini's tools created to secure power in Italy. If any anti-facist thoughts were spoken, Benito Mussolini's Blackshirts were there to suppress them. Because of the terror caused by the Blackshirts, those who were not fascist were intimidated into becoming fascist. The Blackshirt's motto, "I don't give a damn", really says something about their approach to suppressing the people of Italy.



http://italianhistory.info/Mussolini.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/life_in_fascist_italy.htm