Felix (also spelled Feliks) Dzerzhinsky, the son of a Polish landowner, was born in Vilno. He joined the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and helped to organize factory workers into trade unions.
Dzerzhinsky was arrested in 1897 but managed to escape from Siberia two years later. He went to Warsaw where he joined the Social Democratic Party of Poland that had been formed by Rosa Luxemburg and Leo Jogiches in 1893.
Dzerzhinsky was arrested again and spent another nine years in Siberia until being released as a result of the political amnesty that followed the February Revolution and played an active role in the October Revolution.
He was one of the leaders of the "second revolution" of 1917; following its successful completion, Dzerzhinsky was the organizer of the secret police, and was the first chairman of Cheka 1917-1926 (GPU after 1923; OGPU after 1924), the forerunner of the KGB.
In September, 1918, Dzerzhinsky instigated the Red Terror that followed the attempt by Dora Kaplan on the life of Lenin. He was also responsible for dealing with the sailors arrested during the Kronstadt Uprising. According to Victor Serge over 500 sailors were executed for their part in the rebellion.
From 1924 to 1926, he headed the Supreme Economic Council and was elected to the Politburo in 1926.
