| Agency Name: | State Political Directorate |
| Nativename: | (GPU pri NKVD RSFSR) |
| Preceding1: | Cheka |
| Superseding: | OGPU |
| Headquarters: | Lubyanka Square, Moscow |
| Chief1 Name: | Felix Dzerzhinsky |
| Agency Type: | Secret police |
| Parent Agency: | NKVD |
The State Political Directorate (Russian: Государственное политическое управление|r=Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye|p=|links=yes), abbreviated as GPU (Russian: ГПУ|p=), was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from February 1922 to November 1923. It was the immediate successor of the Cheka, and was replaced by the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU).
The official designation in line to the native reference is:
Formed from the Cheka, the original Russian state security organization, on February 6, 1922, it was initially known under the Russian abbreviation GPU—short for "State Political Directorate under the NKVD of the RSFSR" (Russian: Государственное политическое управление при НКВД РСФСР, Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie under the NKVD of the RSFSR"). Its first chief was the Cheka's former chairman, Felix Dzerzhinsky.
On paper, the new agency was supposed to act with more restraint than the Cheka. For example, unlike the Cheka, it did not have the right to shoot suspected "counter-revolutionaries" at will. All those suspected of political crimes had to be brought before a judge in normal circumstances.[1]
The 'Foreign Department' of the GPU was headed by a former Bolshevik and party member, Mikhail Trilisser.[2] The Foreign Department was placed in charge of intelligence activities overseas, including espionage and liquidation of 'enemies of the people'. Trilisser himself was later liquidated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge in 1940.
With the creation of the USSR in December 1922, a unified organization was required to exercise control over state security throughout the new union. Thus, on November 15, 1923, the GPU left the Russian NKVD and was reorganized as the all-union Joint State Political Directorate, also translated as "All-Union State Political Administration". Its official name was "Joint State Political Directorate under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR" (Russian: Obyedinyonnoye gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye under the SNK of the USSR, Объединённое государственное политическое управление при СНК СССР), or OGPU (ОГПУ).
| Badge | Political | Military | |
|---|---|---|---|
| none | Cотрудник Employee | Kрасноармеец Red Armyman | |
| Агент 3-го разряда Agent third category | Командир отделения Squad commander | ||
| Агент 2-го разряда Agent second category | Помощник командира взвода Assistant platoon commander | ||
| Агент 1-го разряда Agent first category | Старшина роты, батареи, батальона, дивизиона First Sergeant of company, battery, battalion | ||
| Сотрудник особых поручений Special assignment officer | Командир взвода Platoon commander | ||
| Нач. оперативного пункта Head of operative point | командир роты (полуэскадрона) Company commander (Commander of half-squadron) | ||
| Нач. отдела инспекции; Пом. нач. адм.-следственной части Leader of inspection department; Assistant head of investigative unit | командир батальона (эскадрона) Battalion commander (Squadron commander) | ||
| Пом. нач. отделения; Уполномоч. отдела предварительного дознания; Нач. адм.-следственной части Assistant departemental leader ; Plenipotentiary of preliminary investigation department; Head of investigative unit | командир полка Regimental commander | ||
| Военрук инспекции Military director of inspection | Командир бригады Brigade commander | ||
| Нач. отделения ГПУ Head of GPU branch | начальник и комиссар дивизии Chief and commissar of division | ||
| Зам. нач. отдела ГПУ Assistant head of GPU department | Командир корпуса; Зам. нач. штаба войск ГПУ Corps commander; Assistant chief of staff for GPU troops | ||
| Нач. отдела ГПУ Head of GPU department | Зам. Пред. ГПУ — Нач. штаба войск ГПУ Deputy chairman of GPU - Chief of staff of GPU troops |