The Secret Police
The Soviet secret police, particularly the NKVD, were essential in helping the USSR maintain power through force and terror during the Cold War. Established after the Bolshevik Revolution, the NKVD conducted mass arrests, deportations, and executions to crush political opposition and dissent. They used tactics of intimidation, torture, and murder to identify and eliminate perceived threats, both domestically and abroad. The NKVD's brutality and omnipresent surveillance instilled a climate of fear, deterring challenges to the Communist Party's authority. This repressive apparatus was a key factor enabling the Soviet regime to consolidate and preserve its power for decades, despite internal and external pressures. [29]
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