Review: In the Clutches of the Tcheka
| Date | 01 April 1930 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3000300216 |
| Published date | 01 April 1930 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
318
THE
POLICE JOURNAL
The
instrument should be of considerable value when examining objects
in darkness (e.g. in a cellar).
The
illumination is good and the blued bulb
produces a light akin to daylight.
The
price of the instrument is
42S
., and the address of the London
Agent (the instrument is of German manufacture) is Richard Bock, Finsbury
Court, London, E.C.2.
REVIEWS
IN
THE
CLUTCHES
OF
THE
TCHEKA.
By
BORIS
CBDERHOLM.
1929.
ISS.
(Allen and Unwin.)
THERE
have been countless books written on the subject of internal conditions
in Soviet Russia, and these books have all been of varying degrees of merit.
In
dealing with a book on Russia of to-day the really important aspect is that
very controversial and difficult
one-authenticity
.
The
work under review
would seem to be above reproach in this respect, both on account of the
obvious sincerity of the writer and alsoin viewof the reproductions of genuine
documents which form the Appendix.
From the point of viewof the Special Branch police officerthe book is of
undoubted interest if not of real value, for it portrays, with an admirable
lack of melodrama, the methods of the Tcheka in particular and the machinery
of modern Russian justice in general. So many of the books of personal
experiences in Soviet Russia are mixtures of hysteria and political bias, and
it IS more than refreshing to find one which conveys horrors far too apalling
to be inventions, and yet which manages to carry out this task without ahint
of playing to the gallery, or a desire to perpetrate a mere piece of propaganda.
Presumably every police officer, be he a member of the Special Branch
or the C.LD., is anxious to study the police methods and criminal code of
other countries, and to those officers this book may safely be recommended.
In addit ion to the vivid picture of life in the Russian prisons and convict
settlements the author has given some very interesting and instructive details
on the subject of commercial procedure and industrial organization which will
not come amiss to any serious student of present-day problems.
When one realizes, on reading this book, the absolute and autocratic
power wielded by the Tcheka, one cannot help speculating as to what would
be the views of our own Communists at home if the British Police had one-
tenth of the authority with which the Russian Secret Police are invested.
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