On November 10, Russia celebrates Police Day. Until recently, when the police were renamed into police, this significant date was called much more familiarly - the Day of the Police. Indeed, on November 10, 1917, exactly 98 years ago, the decree "On workers' militia" was adopted, which laid the foundation for the law enforcement system of Soviet Russia and the law enforcement agencies of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that formed on its basis.
February to October
Although the decree "On workers' militia" was adopted after the October Revolution, the prehistory of the creation of the militia goes back to the February Revolution of 1917. In the process of post-revolutionary transformations, the law enforcement system that existed before the February Revolution in the Russian Empire underwent cardinal changes. In accordance with the "Declaration of the Provisional Government on its composition and tasks" of March 3, 1917, it was decided to replace the police with the people's militia. It was assumed that the people's militia would be subordinate to local self-government bodies, and leadership positions would become elective. However, despite the fact that the commanding staff in the militia was supposed to be elected, the militia itself remained a regular unit with established posts. Thus, in fact, the renaming of the police into the militia was not associated with a fundamental change in the structure of the formation of a law enforcement agency. The militia did not become a "people's militia of law and order", in which all interested persons or specially delegated citizens could participate. It remained a professional body with policing functions, although the cadre underwent significant renewal in the course of revolutionary changes. On March 6, 1917, the Provisional Government issued a decree on the liquidation of the Separate Gendarme Corps, and on March 10, 1917, a decree on the dissolution of the Police Department. At the same time, massive attacks on police stations and institutions during the February Revolution, during which revolutionary-minded citizens beat and disarmed officers of the old tsarist police, became a serious problem. The interim government, in fact, failed to establish order in the field of law enforcement. Since the government in the country from March to October 1917 was in a state of crisis, there were constant changes in the composition of the government, including the ministers of the interior, the creation of new law enforcement agencies stalled. According to the memoirs of Lieutenant-General Anton Ivanovich Denikin, in the process of the February Revolution, “The Ministry of Internal Affairs, which once actually held autocratic power in its hands and caused universal hatred, went to the other extreme: it essentially abolished itself. The functions of the department were actually transferred in a dispersed form to local self-proclaimed organizations "(History of State and Law of Russia: Textbook for Universities / Ed. By SA Chibiryaev. - M., 1998). That is, in fact, the management of the police was decentralized and transferred to local Soviets. Law enforcement functions were carried out by armed units under local Soviets, which were called the police. However, their activity, for the most part, was limited only to the protection of the Soviets themselves. With regard to the fight against crime, it was actually minimized, which led to an unprecedented increase in crime. Moreover, taking into account that during the days of the February Revolution, not only political prisoners of the tsarist regime were released from Russian prisons, but also a mass of criminals, many of whom, with the aim of being released, pretended to be political prisoners. The rampant criminality on the streets of Russian cities and in the countryside forced the Provisional Government to seek an urgent way out of this situation. Shortly before the October Revolution, the Provisional Government tried to rectify the situation by involving army units in the protection of law and order, for which on October 11, 1917, an order was issued to send the best officers and soldiers to the militia, first of all, the Knights of St. George. But since the October Revolution took place two weeks later, the order of the Provisional Government was never implemented in practice.
Creation of the NKVD of the RSFSR and the workers' militia
The October Revolution liquidated the Provisional Government and local administrative structures subordinate to it, forming new bodies of power - the Soviets and the executive committees of the Soviets. On October 26 (November 8), 1917, the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted a decision to establish the Council of People's Commissars, an executive body. The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR was created within it. He was given two main tasks - ensuring the process of Soviet construction and protecting the revolutionary order. That is, the NKVD was responsible for the creation of the local structure of the Soviets and control over their formation and activities, and for ensuring the maintenance of order and the fight against crime. Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (1881-1938), an old Bolshevik with pre-revolutionary experience, released from exile in the Narym Territory after the February Revolution and elected deputy chairman of the Moscow Soviet of Workers 'Deputies, was appointed the first People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, then a member of the Presidium of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. However, Rykov stayed at the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR only for a short time. However, it was during the days of his leadership of the department that the decree of the NKVD "On the workers' militia" was issued. Since it was Rykov who signed the decree, he can rightfully be considered the de facto “founding father” of the Soviet militia. However, soon after being appointed to the post of People's Commissar, Rykov moved to work in the Moscow City Council. The new People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR was Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (1878-1958) - another prominent Bolshevik figure, also liberated by the February Revolution from the eternal settlement in Yakutia. In the inter-revolutionary months, Petrovsky led the Bolshevik organizations in the Donbass, and then, after the October Revolution, on November 17 (30), 1917, he headed the NKVD of the RSFSR and remained in the post of People's Commissar until March 30, 1919. That is, it was during the years of the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of Petrovsky that the direct formation of the initial organizational structure of the Soviet militia took place, its staff was recruited and the first victories were made on the fronts of the fight against crime.
Initially, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs covered a number of spheres of public activity that were not closely related to each other. So, in the competence of the NKVD of the RSFSR were: organization, selection of personnel and control over the activities of local Soviets; control over the execution of orders of the central government at the local level; protection of the "revolutionary order" and ensuring the safety of citizens; solving financial and economic issues of the police and fire brigade; management of communal services. The NKVD included: the secretariat of the People's Commissariat, the Collegium of the People's Commissariat (in addition to G. I. Petrovsky himself, F. E. Dzerzhinsky, M. Ya. Latsis, I. S. Unshlikht and M. S. Uritsky), local government department, central statistical department, control and auditing commission, medical unit management department, veterinary department, financial department, local economy department, refugee department, foreign department and press bureau. The leadership of the workers 'and peasants' militia, created on November 10, 1917, was carried out by the local government department. However, by the fall of 1918, the structure of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs had undergone major changes. So, the Main Police Department of the NKVD of the RSFSR was created, in the subordination of which from that time the entire militia of Soviet Russia was located. The creation of the Main Directorate was dictated by practical considerations and is associated with changes in the views of Soviet leaders on the specifics of the organization of the militia.
The police become regular
Before the October Revolution, the leadership of the Bolshevik Party saw no need to create a full-time, regular militia, since they adhered to the concept of replacing the regular armed forces and law enforcement agencies with an armed people. Therefore, the NKVD decree "On the workers' militia" did not talk about the regular structure of the militia. The Soviet leaders saw the militia as a volunteer workers' formation, and in the first months of Soviet power, the militia units were actually mass amateur organizations, devoid of a clear structure and developed responsibilities. But the tasks of combating crime could be solved by such formations with difficulty. Therefore, in the process of observing the experience of building a workers' militia, the Soviet leadership came to the conclusion that it was necessary to transfer law enforcement agencies to a regular basis. On May 10, 1918, at the Collegium of the NKVD, an order was adopted to form the militia as a full-time organization, performing clear duties, separated at the same time from the functions assigned to the Red Army. On May 15, 1918, the text of this order was sent throughout the country, and on June 5, 1918, a draft Regulation on the people's workers 'and peasants' guard (militia) was published. The revision of the project into a service instruction began after a corresponding order issued on August 21, 1918 by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR to the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the People's Commissariat of Justice. On October 21, 1918, the joint Instruction of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and the People's Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR "On the Organization of the Soviet Workers 'and Peasants' Militia" was approved. In accordance with this instruction, the leadership of the police was entrusted to the General Directorate of the Police. In his subordination were the territorial divisions of the GUM NKVD - provincial and district administrations. In large urban centers, their own police organizations were created. The lowest levels of the militia system were also created - precincts headed by the district chief, who were subordinate to senior militiamen and militiamen. In December 1918, several more instructions were approved - this time from the Main Directorate of the Militia. These were: General instructions for police officers, Instructions for senior officers and police officers on duty in the area, Instructions for district chiefs and their assistants, Instructions on the use of weapons. In accordance with the procedures of that time, the adopted instructions received the obligatory approval of the First All-Russian Congress of the heads of the provincial and city police departments. Gradually, the militia acquired the features of a rigidly structured formation with military discipline. The "militarization" of the NKVD of the RSFSR also manifested itself in the appointment of a new People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. In March 1919, instead of Petrovsky, he appointed the chairman of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926) - a politician who does not need an introduction. Under his leadership, the further organization of the service, political, educational activities of the Soviet militia took place.
On April 3, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR published a decree "On the Soviet Workers 'and Peasants' Militia", which introduced some corrections and changes in the activities of the country's militia. So, in accordance with this decree, police officers were exempted from conscription into the Red Army and were considered seconded employees of the departments of the executive committees of the Soviets. Thus, the state emphasized the importance of law enforcement even in the conditions of the Civil War, when every bayonet was dear to the fighting Red Army. For militiamen, military discipline and compulsory training in military affairs were introduced, and militia units operating in areas of hostilities could be transferred to the subordination of the commanders of the Red Army and carry out combat missions. During 1918-1919. further changes were introduced into the organizational structure of the militia. So, in addition to the general militia concentrated in the counties and provinces and performing the main functions of combating crime in the localities, special militias were created. Back in July 1918, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree "On the establishment of the river police", then - in February 1919 - a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR "On the organization of the railway police and the railway guard" was adopted. In April 1919, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a decree on the creation of a Soviet river workers 'and peasants' militia. In the fall of 1919, a decision was made to create an industrial militia to guard state enterprises and combat the theft of socialist property. If initially the railway and river police were formed and acted on a territorial principle, then they were transferred to a linear principle of operation and were created alongside railways and on waterways.
The difficult situation in the field of combating crime demanded the creation of detective units, conducting operational-search activities. This is how the Soviet criminal investigation department appeared, which required a corresponding delimitation of powers between the criminal investigation department of the police and the Cheka. Since the Chekists already had a wealth of experience in operational-search activities, the heads of the criminal-search departments were seconded from the ranks of the Cheka to the militia. In turn, the employees of the criminal investigation department working in the line police departments on the water and railways were transferred to the subordination of the Cheka bodies. Criminal Investigation Offices were opened in large cities of the country, and, if necessary, in small cities, if the operational situation required it. In 1919-1920. the employees of the criminal investigation department, in addition to the operational-search activity, were also engaged in the conduct of the inquiry and preliminary investigation. Despite the fact that the October Revolution proclaimed the complete overthrow of the previous order and, accordingly, the system of organizing law enforcement agencies, already two years after the revolution, the new government realized the need to use the experience of the tsarist law enforcement system. Without this experience, a full-fledged fight against crime and its prevention was not possible. In February 1919, the Collegium of the NKVD decided to create a forensic examination room, a registration bureau, a fingerprint bureau and a museum. By October 1920, the structure of the Main Militia Directorate of the NKVD of the RSFSR was also changed. The Main Directorate consisted of eight departments: 1) general militia (district-city), 2) industrial militia, 3) railway militia, 4) water militia, 5) investigative police, 6) inspection department, 7) supply department, 8) secretariat. The police were entrusted with the functions of maintaining order and tranquility in the country, monitoring the execution of decisions and orders of the central and local authorities; protection of civil institutions and structures of national and exceptional importance, which included the telegraph, telephone, post office, water supply, factories, factories and mines; protection of camps; maintaining order and tranquility on the RSFSR routes and escorting transported goods and valuables; assistance to the bodies of all departments in the performance of the tasks assigned to them.
The first three years of the existence of the Soviet militia had not only its formation as a new law enforcement agency, but also the most difficult and bloody fight against crime. In the conditions of the Civil War and the chaos of social and political life in a number of regions of Soviet Russia, the crime situation escalated, armed gangs arose that terrorized the local population. The number of gangs could reach several dozen, or even hundreds of people, so the militia involved military units and the forces of the Cheka in the fight against them. Crime was rampant in both rural and urban areas. It was difficult to cope with the gangs - firstly, because of their large numbers, secondly, the general weaponry was not worse than that of the militiamen, and thirdly, because of the low level of training and experience of the militiamen themselves, among whom most of were yesterday's civilians without special skills. Therefore, the losses in the ranks of the Soviet militia in the first years of its existence were very great.
The robbery of Lenin and the "matter of honor" of the Moscow police
The scale of the rampant crime in the first post-revolutionary years is also evidenced by such a well-known fact as the attack of Moscow bandits on the car of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin himself. On January 6, 1919, on Christmas Eve, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin finished his working day by 4 pm and decided to go to the Forestry School to congratulate the children on the holiday. At about half past four, he left the Kremlin Palace, accompanied by driver Stepan Gil, security guard Ivan Chabanov and sister Maria Ulyanova. At the Forestry School, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya was already waiting for him. The road lay in Sokolniki. Despite the unstable times and the Civil War, Lenin did not move with an escort, but limited himself to one car and one guard.
At that time, many gangs were operating in Moscow, consisting of both former criminals from the pre-revolutionary era, and deserters, declassed elements, former tsarist military personnel and police officers. One of these gangs was the group of a certain Yakov Koshelkov, who traded in robberies. Yakov Koshelkov himself is a hereditary criminal and thief-burglar, despite his young years (he was born in 1890), by 1917 he had ten convictions - even under the "old regime".
He continued his criminal path after the October Revolution, moving from burglaries to robberies. When the car with the leader of Soviet Russia was moving to the designated place, the bandits were just about to rob the passage on the Lubyanka. To do this, they needed a car, so it was decided to go outside and grab the first car they saw. In addition to the leader of the gang, Yakov Koshelkov, Vasily Zaitsev ("Hare"), Fedor Alekseev ("Frog"), Alexey Kirillov ("Lyonka the Shoemaker"), Ivan Volkov ("Little Horse") and Vasily Mikhailov went to attack the car. Unfortunately, it was at this unfortunate time and in the wrong place that Lenin himself was traveling. Vladimir Ilyich's driver Stepan Gil (by the way, a professional driver of high-ranking officials - he served before the revolution in the Imperial garage, and after Lenin's death he drove Mikoyan and Vyshinsky), seeing armed men on the road, asked the “chief” for further instructions. Lenin, thinking that he was dealing with a Red Guard patrol, ordered the driver to stop. The leader of the Koshelkov gang, in turn, demanded that Lenin and his companions leave the car. Vladimir Ilyich, having identified himself, showed a certificate, but the bandit, who heard not Lenin, but Levin, was not impressed by the words of the leader of the Bolsheviks. "You never know Nepmen go here" - thought Koshelkov, and his bandits took away from Lenin and his companions a car, pistols and a license. When Koshelkov drove off in a stolen car, he nevertheless looked at the seized certificate … and was dumbfounded, thinking about how much money the Soviet government could have paid for the release of Lenin. The bandit rushed back, trying to find the travelers, but it was too late - they left the scene. According to another version, Koshelkov was going to seize Lenin in order to exchange for the arrested accomplices who were in Butyrka. At least, it is unlikely that a seasoned criminal, who was only interested in material gain, would be guided by political motives.
However, the adventures of Lenin and his companions did not end there - the sentry, who guarded the premises of the Sokolniki District Council, refused to let them through, where the travelers who had lost their car and documents hurried to. The sentry did not recognize Lenin, as did the officer on duty at the district council. The chairman of the district council who approached the leader did not recognize Vladimir Ilyich and was talking with the leader in a very insolent tone. Only when Lenin and his companions managed to get to the phone and call Peters at the Cheka, the chairman of the district council changed his tone and stirred. Two cars with armed Red Guards and a spare car for Lenin urgently arrived from the Kremlin. By the way, despite the fact that that evening Lenin was by a hair's breadth from death, he did not refuse the plan of a trip to Sokolniki and nevertheless came to the children.
Naturally, the emergency with Lenin forced the Moscow police and the Cheka to intensify the fight against Moscow crime. Not knowing which of the gangs launched an attack on the Soviet leader, the Moscow police set about a large-scale "purge" of the capital's criminal world. In response, the bandits declared a real war on the police. On January 24, 1919, one of the gangs, led by a certain Safonov, nicknamed "Saban", drove around the capital in a car and shot police officers from the car. 16 policemen became victims of "Sabanovites". On the night of January 25, Koshelkov's people used a similar scenario. By car, they drove up to the police posts and blew a whistle, calling the guard. The latter went out, thinking that it was an inspector with an inspection who had arrived, and he was immediately shot. In one night, 22 police guards were killed in Moscow. The murder of almost four dozen militiamen during the day, the militia and chekist authorities could not get away with the Moscow bandits. The security officers were able to detain most of the bandits from the Koshelkov group in the shortest possible time. So, on February 3, they arrested a certain Pavlov - "Kozulya", who testified against other members of the gang. Five bandits were soon detained, including those involved in the attack on Lenin's car. They were shot on February 10. However, Koshelkov remained at large and committed further crimes. He killed the Chekist Vedernikov, then the Chekists Karavaev and Zuster, who were watching his apartment, and disappeared in the village of Novogireevo with his friend Klinkin, nicknamed "Yefimych". Klinkin was identified and arrested, but by this time Koshelkov had managed to leave his hideout. On May 1, he robbed participants of the May Day demonstration and shot three policemen, and on May 10 he started a shootout in a coffee shop, where he was identified by visitors and the security officers were summoned. On May 19, they tried to take him again in Konyushkovsky Lane. Three bandits were killed, but Koshelkov again managed to outwit the police and escape. It seemed that the Moscow police would be looking for Yakov Koshelkov for a very long time - this professional criminal turned out to be too lucky. But in the end, fortune stopped smiling at the twenty-nine-year-old robber.
On July 26, 1919, Koshelkov, together with the bandits Yemelyanov and Seryozha Barin, was ambushed on Bozhedomka Street. His companions were shot, and Koshelkov was mortally wounded from a carbine and died at the scene. They found the IDs of the killed Chekists and the Browning - the same one that the bandit took from Lenin during the robbery of his car. As for Safonov - "Saban", the militia also managed to destroy or capture most of his group. But the leader, like Koshelkov, managed to escape. He settled in his sister's house in the town of Lebedyan. Although the sister took in her brother, he killed her and the entire family of eight, after which he took a fight with the police officers who surrounded the house. Although Safonov fired back from two pistols and even threw several hand bombs at the policemen, they managed to take him alive. Residents of Lebedyan, for the reprisal against the family, demanded to shoot Safonov, which was done by representatives of the Soviet government. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin himself mentioned the incident that happened to him in his work “Childhood Illness of Leftism in Communism”: “Imagine that your car was stopped by armed bandits. You give them money, a passport, a revolver, a car. You get rid of the pleasant neighborhood with the bandits. The compromise is obvious. “Do ut des” (“I give” you money, weapons, a car, “so that you give” me the opportunity to leave, pick up, hello). But it is difficult to find a person who has not gone mad who would declare such a compromise “in principle unacceptable” … Our compromise with the bandits of German imperialism was like such a compromise.” The operation to defeat the Moscow gangs and destroy Koshelkov became a "matter of honor" for the Moscow police and security officers, which, as we see, they carried out with honor.
Fighting crime in the regions of Russia
During the Civil War, the Soviet militia waged an intense fight against crime throughout Russia. But not only were the first Soviet militiamen to fulfill their direct duties of finding and arresting criminals, protecting public order. Sometimes they also engaged in hostilities with the "whites", performing the functions of ordinary army units. In the spring of 1919, when the troops of General Yudenich were stationed near Petrograd, seven detachments with a total of 1,500 bayonets were formed from among the employees of the Petrograd militia. Soviet militiamen fought on the fronts of the Civil War in the Urals and the Volga region, in the North Caucasus, and in other regions of Russia. Thus, the Orenburg militia in full force took part in the battles with the "whites" in April-May 1919. The militia also carried out tasks to suppress anti-Soviet uprisings that arose throughout the country by peasants who were dissatisfied with the Soviet regime. Without going into the debate about whether the Bolsheviks' policy in the countryside was fair and justified, it should be noted that the police were simply fulfilling their task, which the Soviet government set for them, as for serving people. During the suppression of anti-Soviet uprisings, the militia suffered numerous losses, by no means in all cases it was possible to quickly restore its numbers, especially at the expense of trained personnel. The militiamen had no experience of service in law enforcement bodies before the revolution, therefore, they had to learn both operational-search activity and the maintenance of public order already in the process of serving. Not only the elimination of armed gangs, but also the protection of the lives and property of citizens in these troubled years for Russia became the main task of the new law enforcement structure. So, on April 4, 1918, Moscow bandits tried to rob citizens' apartments. Yesterday's workers entered the battle with them, and after the revolution, the policemen - Yegor Shvyrkov and Semyon Pekalov. The police managed to destroy several bandits, the rest fled. Policeman Shvyrkov was killed in a shootout, the second policeman Pekalov was mortally wounded. However, not a single apartment was robbed, and the civilians living in them remained safe and sound - at the cost of the lives of the killed policemen. One of the first heroes of the Soviet militia, Yegor Shvyrkov and Semyon Pekalov, were buried at the Kremlin wall.
- a detachment to combat the banditry of the Don Cheka
The Don militia had to act in very difficult conditions. In addition to local criminal gangs and the remnants of white and green detachments, the real problem for the Don militiamen was the attacks of gangs that came from the territory of neighboring Ukraine. So, in May - October 1921, gangs became more active, attacking the Don region. They burned carriages, robbed peasants, and killed the inhabitants of labor communes, including babies. In May 1921, a gang of up to two hundred robbers appeared in the region of the Ilyinsky and Glebovsky volosts of the Rostov district (now the territory of the Kushchevsky district of the Krasnodar Territory). The bandits felt so at ease that they were preparing an attack on the headquarters of the 8th district of the Rostov district militia, located in the village of Ilyinka. But the chief of militia K. Shevela found out in advance about the impending raid. The militiamen, together with the Red Army workers' battalion stationed in state farm No. 7, decided to meet the bandits and prevent them from attacking the village. Despite the fact that there were much more bandits, and they had better weapons, the courage and dedication of the police and Red Army did their job - they managed to detain the gang near the village. During this time, reinforcements from the Rostov district military registration and enlistment office arrived in time to help the fighting militiamen and Red Army men, after which the attacking gang was destroyed. In September 1921, a major clash with the gang took place in the area of the Nesvetaevskaya Volost of the Rostov District. There, 80 mounted bandits with two machine guns attacked a police reconnaissance group, and then, in the area of the General Volost, an anti-bandit squad. Eight militiamen were killed in the battle with the bandits, but the detachment managed to push the bandits out of the Don region. In October 1921, the village of Ilyinka was attacked by a large gang of up to five hundred people, commanded by a certain Dubina. The gang had fifty carts with machine guns, two cars and a bomb launcher. In the village of Ilyinka, bandits began robbing civilians and killing Soviet workers. Only after the approach of a detachment of the Rostov district militia and a cavalry regiment of a special brigade of the First Cavalry Army was it possible to surround and destroy Dubina's bandits. In addition to such large gangs, which acted not only on the basis of a desire for profit, but also on the basis of ideological rejection of the Soviet regime, smaller criminal groups operated in the Don region that hunted robberies, thefts, and hooligan attacks on defenseless people.
By the way, it was very difficult to resist the bandits of the Soviet militia in the first years of its existence. Sometimes the policemen did not even have firearms and edged weapons, but they had to go to the detention of dangerous criminals, armed with ordinary sticks. There were serious problems with uniforms and shoes, often policemen were given sandals and wooden boots. In addition, it was necessary to resolve issues with the training of personnel. Many police officers, especially from among the rural residents, were illiterate, so in 1921 educational courses were organized to teach police officers to read, write and count. Thanks to the courses, it was possible to eliminate illiteracy among the Soviet militiamen, and already in 1923 a decision was made to prohibit the recruitment of illiterate citizens to the militia. Only by learning to read and write, a citizen worthy by other indicators could count on being hired by the Soviet militia. After the end of the Civil War, the police were replenished with former Red Army soldiers. The arrival of people who had gone through the war and were distinguished by great personal courage and good military training to serve in the militia played a very positive role in strengthening the Soviet militia. First of all, the quality of service and combat training of police officers has improved, which immediately affected the effectiveness of the operations to search for and detain dangerous gangs. They were transferred to the police and the Chekists, who also passed the Civil War.
On the Don, the name of Ivan Nikitovich Khudozhnikov is remembered. A native of Luhansk, he was born in 1890 into a working class family, and after graduating from a four-grade school in 1905, he became an apprentice at a steam locomotive plant. It was there that Artists met the Bolsheviks. On May 1, 1917, a young man joined the ranks of the Bolshevik Party. Until 1919 he continued to work at the factory, and then went to the committees of the peasant poor. He served in the Cheka. After the release of Rostov, Khudozhnikov was offered to go to work in the police and head the criminal investigation subdivision of the Revolutionary Committee of Rostov and Nakhichevan. After a short time, Ivan Nikitovich headed the Rostov District Criminal Investigation Department. It is Khudozhnikov's merit that is not only inflicting a serious blow on the underworld, but also putting things in order in the criminal investigation department itself. Before Khudozhnikov came to the department, many of its employees got drunk, took bribes and in every possible way discredited the title of Soviet militiamen. Having asked the party organs to send several experienced communists to help, Khudozhnikov quickly freed the Don Criminal Investigation Department from dubious cadres and adjusted its work. Thanks to joint activities with the Chekists, the Criminal Investigation Department launched an active work to eliminate the bandits and criminals operating in the Rostov District. In most cases, Khudozhnikov personally supervised the arrests of the bandits. So, at the end of the winter of 1922, a dangerous gang appeared in Rostov-on-Don under the leadership of Vasily Govorov, “Vasya Kotelka,” as his accomplices called him. The bandits traded in robbery and murder, acting with amazing cruelty. So, "Kotelkovites" gouged out the eyes of their victims. They brutally killed two operatives who tracked down the gang. Finally, Khudozhnikov and his colleagues managed to track down the bandits. They were in a brothel in neighboring Novocherkassk. The assault on the "raspberry" lasted almost 12 hours. But, despite the desperate resistance of the bandits, who perfectly understood their fate in case of arrest, the operatives managed to take alive the leader of the gang - “Vasya Kotelka” himself, as well as six of his accomplices. All of them were sentenced to death and shot.
Almost a century has passed since the events described, but on Police Day, which almost everyone calls "Police Day" by habit, one cannot but remind modern law enforcement officers and young people who are only choosing the life path of a policeman about the exploits of their colleagues in the distant years Civil War. Then, "Born by the Revolution", although it faced numerous problems - financial, personnel, and organizational, but even in these difficult conditions managed to fulfill the main task - to significantly reduce the merciless rampant crime. There is no doubt that hundreds of thousands of people are serving in the modern Russian police and in other power structures, whose courage and sincerity make them worthy successors of their predecessors. It remains to wish the soldiers of law and order not to disappoint their fellow citizens, to fulfill their duties with honor and do without losses.
