The Red Terror was carried out in post-revolutionary Russia by
the Cheka headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky along with units of the
Red Army. The Red Terror started as a result of an attempt to
kill Vladimir Lenin by Fanni Kaplin in August 1918 and the
murder of the Cheka leader in St. Petersburg. This failed
assassination attempt on Lenin was used as a rationale for the
secret police and the army to round up and deal with anyone
suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. From his hospital
bed Lenin instructed the Cheka to “prepare for terror”. There
was no obvious government body that could hold back the work of
the Cheka. Dzerzhinsky could simply explain the organisation’s
work: for example the arrest and execution of 800 people in St.
Petersburg in 1918 was explained away as those executed were
‘enemies of the state’ or ‘enemies of the revolution’. Few were
brave enough to argue with such an accusation in case they
themselves were accused of the same crime. None of the 800 was
put on trial. They were arrested