The Cheka, also known as the All-Russian Extraordinary Committee for the Eradication of Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, was founded on December 20, 1917 by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky. It is the intelligence agency of the former Soviet Union, which is the predecessor of today's KGB.
When many people are "demonizing" or exaggerating the Cheka, in fact, we can see everything by returning to its essence, which is just an intelligence agency.
It is this intelligence agency, which not only has far-reaching influence abroad, but also has a special significance for China. It can be said that many of the early intelligence workers of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were inextricably linked to the Cheka.
It began with the assassination of Liao Zhongkai
Liao Zhongkai was born on April 23, 1877 in Yaoqian Village, Chenjiang Town, Guishan County, Guangdong Province. He was the pioneer of China's modern revolution, the leader of the Left Wing of the Kuomintang, and one of the most staunch friends of our Party.
As the most staunch friend of our Party and the staunchest comrade-in-arms of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Mr. Liao Zhongkai assisted Mr. Sun in implementing the three major policies of "uniting with Russia, uniting with the Communist Party, and supporting peasants and workers", and vigorously promoted the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation.
He was once the party representative of the Whampoa Military Academy and was known as the "loving mother of the Whampoa Military Academy". However, such a person who had made great contributions to the Chinese revolution was eventually assassinated at the gate of the Kuomintang party department.
August 20, 1925, was a sad day. This day was the last day of Mr. Liao Zhongkai's life, and as usual, he went to the Kuomintang party headquarters for a meeting, but he was killed at the mouth of the heavily guarded party department.
The reason why Liao Zhongkai was assassinated was because he touched the interests of the right wing of the Kuomintang and the imperialist forces behind them.
After the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Mr. Liao Zhongkai "did not forget his original intention", continued to implement the policies of Dr. Sun Yat-sen during his lifetime, and promoted the development of the National Revolution.
The first great revolutionary wave of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation made imperialism restless. They do not want to see the victory of the Chinese revolution, because once the Chinese revolution is victorious, imperialism will lose its interests in China.
It was not only these foreigners who were disturbed, but also the feudal warlords they supported and the right-wing forces of the Kuomintang. It is no exaggeration to say that it was these people who "lured wolves into the house" that greatly delayed the course of the Chinese revolution.
At this time, Mr. Liao Zhongkai has become a thorn in the eyes and a thorn in the flesh of these people, and they are bound to get rid of Mr. Liao Zhongkai and then quickly.
In order to crack down on Mr. Liao Zhongkai, Kuomintang rightists Lin Sen, Zou Lu, and others began to frequently spread rumors in an attempt to bring down Mr. Liao.
What is even more excessive is that a group of these so-called Kuomintang elders have also begun to collude with the warlord forces in the north. In this regard, Mr. Liao Zhongkai was indignant.
He published the article "Revolutionaries and Counter-Revolutionaries", which criticized the "counter-revolutionary" Kuomintang rightists. Liao Zhongkai wrote in the text:
Now all the counter-revolutionaries of our Party, who profess to be the old revolutionaries, put up the old sign of revolution, thinking that after being a revolutionary party, no matter how much they collude with the bureaucratic warlords and imperialists, and try their best to suppress the majority of the industrial circles in our country, they will immediately become counter-revolutionaries.
The writing of the article is spicy, and the reference is extremely clear, which directly stimulates the hearts of Zou Lu, Lin Zhimian and other Kuomintang rightists. Embarrassed, they decided to take revenge on Mr. Liao Zhongkai.
Under the conspiracy of Zhu Zhuowen, a rightist leader, the right wing of the Kuomintang attempted to carry out a large-scale assassination of the Left wing of the Kuomintang when Liao Zhongkai, Borodin, and others gathered at the Liao Mansion.
This matter was known in advance by Wu Tiecheng, then director of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, and although he was also closely related to the right wing of the Kuomintang, he knew very well how great the impact would be if this incident occurred, so he blocked the action of Zhu Zhuowen and others.
Mr. Liao Zhongkai was well aware of the rightist attempts to be unfavorable to him. But in the face of danger, Liao Zhongkai was not afraid, and he still insisted on attending various meetings and speeches, and even did not bring a bodyguard.
Liao Zhongkai's "frankness" gave the thief's immortal rightists a chance, and they continued to plot the assassination of Mr. Liao Zhongkai. In order to expand their influence, they even decided to choose the assassination site at the gate of the Kuomintang party headquarters.
On August 20, 1925, Liao Zhongkai was assassinated, less than half a year after the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Chen Geng was ordered to investigate
The assassination of Mr. Liao Zhongkai caused an uproar. The sudden killing of such an important figure was a major earthquake for the two parties that were still cooperating at that time.
As an old friend of Mr. Liao Zhongkai, Zhou Enlai, then director of the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, immediately decided to investigate the case. He sent Chen Geng, who was directly involved in the investigation of the case, and the later founding general.
Chen Geng, a first-term student of the Whampoa Military Academy, is a prominent figure at any time. Together with Jiang Xianyun and He Zhihan, he was known as the Three Masters of Huangpu, and he was definitely a leading figure in his life at the same time.
In 1925, Chen Geng was appointed as the commander of the 2nd enlisted cadet company of the Whampoa Military Academy and the deputy captain of the 3rd undergraduate group.
In the same year, he participated in the suppression of the Yang and Liu rebellions, fought against the invaders in the "Shaji Massacre", and participated in the training of workers' pickets in the "Provincial And Hong Kong Strike". At this time, Chen Geng was only 23 years old, and he had rich experience in fighting against the enemy.
But Chen Geng's main experience was concentrated in the army and training, and he was still a layman for investigating cases. But some people have a talent in a certain aspect, such as Chen Geng, who is talented in intelligence, so it is not difficult for him to investigate the case.
Chen Geng, who investigated the case for the first time, showed his talent, and after receiving the task, he led the team to the scene in the fastest time to start the investigation.
Attaching importance to the scene is a characteristic of Chen Geng in the investigation of the case, and this feature has continued until the work of special science. Chen Geng conducted a search around the scene and analyzed the killer's shooting points, weapons and equipment in the most primitive way.
Subsequently, Chen Geng began to visit the surrounding people, and through the visit, he judged the direction of the killer's escape and began to track it down. After some work, Chen Geng locked on to one of the main culprits this time, Lin Zhimian.
Chen Geng, who has always been known for his meticulousness, also showed this advantage of his own to the fullest this time. In addition to searching for the murderer, he did not forget to record the key points in the process of detection, and organized these into detailed materials and handed them to Zhou Enlai.
Looking at the materials that Chen Geng handed over to him, Zhou Enlai said to Chen Geng: "I see that you can become China's 'Cheka'." ”
The preparatory phase of intelligence work
With the investigation of Liao Zhongkai's assassination, many new problems have been placed in front of the party organization.
After investigating Liao Zhongkai's case, Chen Geng once exchanged a question with Zhou Enlai. At this time, the Kuomintang rightist forces were so unscrupulous that even Liao Zhongkai dared to assassinate them, so they would not have any scruples about others.
In this regard, Chen Geng put forward his own suggestions on whether the party organization should start to pay attention to its own security issues. And how do you do that? The question raised by Chen Geng is precisely the one that Zhou Enlai and the party organization are concerned about.
Although the target of Liao Zhongkai's assassination was not a Communist, it was enough to make the Communists wary. Communists, who had previously given little thought to their own safety, were alarmed by the Liao Zhongkai case.
The reason why the rightists were able to assassinate Liao Zhongkai was not only because of their unscrupulous means, but also because of Liao Zhongkai's own negligence in self-protection. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for an important leader of the Kuomintang to be assassinated in front of the gate of the party department.
In view of the assassination of Liao Zhongkai, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China also began to prepare its own defense organization.
It was at this time that the Comintern opened a training course in intelligence work for the National Revolutionary Army in Guangdong. A total of more than twenty people participated in this training class, among whom the Communists who graduated from this class were Tan Pingshan, Yang Yin, and Fu Lie.
As soon as Tan, Yang, and Fu graduated, they were sent by Chen Yannian to Guangzhou, Huangpu, Dongguan, Shilong, and other places to collect intelligence. The information obtained by the three men enabled our Party to grasp a certain degree of initiative in its struggle against the right wing of the Kuomintang.
In the same year, the CPC Central Committee also sent Tu Zuochao, Liu Ding, and others to Moscow University and the Frunze Correspondence School in Leningrad to study intelligence protection business.
After Tu Zuochao returned to China, he assisted Li Qiang in assembling radio equipment in the British Concession in Shanghai, and later Li Qiang infiltrated Kowloon with a radio station to communicate with Shanghai from Hong Kong. The CCP's first remote radio communication was realized.
After Liu Ding returned to China, he served as deputy section chief and section chief of the second section of the Security Bureau of the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee to engage in intelligence investigation work.
To say more here, After Liu Ding finished his studies at Moscow University, he went to the Soviet Air Force Mechanical School to study. There, Liu Ding systematically studied aviation knowledge such as "Aircraft Mechanics", "Aviation History", and "Airflow Science", and became the founder of the new Chinese military industry after liberation.
In 1926, the Party Central Committee once again sent people to the Soviet Union to study political defense work and make a talent reserve for the preparation of the party's political defense organization and intelligence work.
This time, Chen Geng, who had a prominent performance in the Liao Zhongkai case, was also sent to the Soviet Union, and lu Liuliang and others who came to the Soviet Union with him.
Chen Geng and his party first learned from the experience of political defense work and armed insurrection in the Red Army in the Far East of the Soviet Union. Later, he was sent to Vladivostok for further study, and during that time, Chen Geng mastered a number of professional abilities such as reconnaissance, interrogation, prison robbery, and blasting.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > conclusion</h1>
As Chairman Mao said, to defeat the enemy we must fight two kinds of wars, one is an open war and the other is a covert war. Covert wars have strategic offensives, sending people into the hearts of the enemy; they must also have strategic defenses to defend themselves.
The hidden front of the Chinese Communist Party has grown from scratch, from small to large, and their contribution to the Chinese revolution is irreplaceable.
However, if we trace back to the roots, the occurrence of Liao Zhongkai's assassination case is the beginning of our party's emphasis on intelligence work and defense work. It was the assassination of Liao Zhongkai that made our party begin to brew and organize the implementation of intelligence and defense work.