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→Former Soviet Politburo: Technically, the KGB did not exist until Khrushchev so listing the NKVD and Cheka and their KGB-esque role during Stalin and Lenin's time, respectively.
==Former Soviet Politburo==
==Former Soviet Politburo==
In the former Soviet Union, there were three competing centers of power: the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] ([[CPSU]]), the Committee for State Security or [[KGB]], and the Soviet Military. The people of the [[Soviet Union]] were excluded from participation in the political process and without political [[rights]].
In the former Soviet Union, there were three competing centers of power: the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] ([[CPSU]]), the Committee for State Security or [[KGB]] (as well as its predecessor organizations the NKVD under Stalin and the Cheka under Lenin), and the Soviet Military. The people of the [[Soviet Union]] were excluded from participation in the political process and without political [[rights]].
The CPSU dominated political control, yet could not govern alone. The KGB, described as "the sword and shield of the Party" controlled the apparatus of the state security [[Police state|police]] and its Corrective Labor Camps, or [[Gulag]]s, for dissenters and other persons who may have had some difficulty cooperating with the Soviet regime. The Soviet Military, a large force in numbers though not ideologically driven as Party members were, represented the only real threat to Communist domination and control of the Soviet system. Thus KGB also functioned as a counterbalance to keep the Soviet Military in check. And the mass of Soviet people were excluded from any meaningful role in political affairs.
The CPSU dominated political control, yet could not govern alone. The KGB, described as "the sword and shield of the Party" controlled the apparatus of the state security [[Police state|police]] and its Corrective Labor Camps, or [[Gulag]]s, for dissenters and other persons who may have had some difficulty cooperating with the Soviet regime. The Soviet Military, a large force in numbers though not ideologically driven as Party members were, represented the only real threat to Communist domination and control of the Soviet system. Thus KGB also functioned as a counterbalance to keep the Soviet Military in check. And the mass of Soviet people were excluded from any meaningful role in political affairs.