Created in December 1917, the Cheka - the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage - not only marked the beginning of the history of the Soviet intelligence services, but also became for many an ominous personification of the October Revolution. The book by the leading historian of the terror of the Civil War, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor at the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University I.S. Ratkovsky, based on a wide range of sources, covers the Red Terror of the Cheka in every detail, debunking established myths about the activities of the Chekists. What contribution did Lenin and Dzerzhinsky make to the construction of the Cheka? What role did assassinations on top officials of Soviet Russia play in the start of the terror and what was the main reason for the introduction Bolsheviks the death penalty? Was the Red Terror a response to the terror of the White movement and foreign interventionists, the harsh suppression of revolutions in Germany and Finland? How did the Cheka fight the counter-revolutionary underground, crime, opposition parties and movements? What was the personnel of the security officers and were they able to withstand all of them? test by power? What is the real scale of repression by the Soviet regime and what was the result of the policy of RED TERROR?