A new statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky nicknamed “Iron Felix”, a Soviet revolutionary who founded the Soviet secret police following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, rises above a public garden the day after an unveiling ceremony marking Dzerzhinsky’s birthday anniversary in Omsk, Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s main intelligence training academy to once again bear the name of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police and one of the most feared figures of the early communist era.
The move, announced through a Kremlin decree last week, directs that the academy of Russia’s Federal Security Service, commonly known as the FSB, will now officially be known as the FE Dzerzhinsky Academy of the Federal Security Service.
The decision marks the latest revival of Soviet-era state security symbolism under Putin, a former KGB officer who has frequently praised aspects of Russia’s intelligence legacy and sought to restore elements of Soviet prestige.
According to the decree, Putin said the academy was renamed in recognition of Dzerzhinsky’s “outstanding contribution to ensuring state security.”
Who Was Felix Dzerzhinsky?
Felix Dzerzhinsky, often known as “Iron Felix,” was a Polish-born aristocrat turned revolutionary who became one of the closest allies of Vladimir Lenin after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
He is best known as the founder of the Cheka, the first Soviet secret police agency established in December 1917.
The Cheka was tasked with crushing opposition to the new Bolshevik government and quickly became notorious for arbitrary arrests, executions, torture, and widespread repression during the Russian Civil War.
Dzerzhinsky led the security apparatus until his death in 1926 and helped establish the framework later expanded under Joseph Stalin into the vast Soviet system of surveillance, imprisonment, and political terror.
For critics of authoritarianism, Dzerzhinsky remains a symbol of state brutality and repression. For many within Russia’s security establishment, however, he is viewed as a founder of modern intelligence discipline and loyalty to the state.
Angry Soviet demonstrators using cranes pull down a statue of Felix Dzerzhinski, on 23rd August, 1991.
Symbolic Return Under Putin
The renaming of the academy reflects a broader trend in modern Russia, where Soviet-era figures once widely condemned after the fall of communism have gradually been rehabilitated in official narratives.
The FSB academy in southern Moscow is one of Russia’s most important institutions for intelligence training. It educates future officers in areas such as foreign languages, information security, counterintelligence, operational support, applied mathematics, and technical equipment.
The institution was historically known as the “FE Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB” from 1962 until 1993, according to Russian media.
Putin himself reportedly studied there in 1979 and the early 1980s during his service in the Soviet-era KGB.
The latest decision also follows a similar move in recent years to restore Dzerzhinsky’s name within Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, suggesting a deliberate state effort to reclaim intelligence traditions rooted in Soviet history.
A Divisive Figure
Dzerzhinsky’s name evokes sharply different reactions inside Russia and abroad.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, crowds in Warsaw tore down a statue of him, reflecting public anger toward communist rule and Soviet domination in Eastern Europe.
Two years later, during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, jubilant demonstrators in Moscow toppled his prominent monument outside the KGB headquarters on Lubyanka Square.
That dramatic image became one of the defining symbols of the end of Soviet authoritarianism.
Now, more than three decades later, Dzerzhinsky’s official return to Russia’s security institutions is viewed by some observers as a sign of the country’s growing authoritarian direction under Putin.
Critics say it reflects the abandonment of the democratic and pro-Western reforms briefly pursued after the Soviet collapse.
Return of the “Chekist” Identity
Dzerzhinsky’s legacy remains especially powerful inside Russia’s intelligence circles.
Some current and former security officials still refer to themselves as “Chekists,” a reference to the original Cheka organization he founded. Within that tradition, Dzerzhinsky is sometimes described as “Chekist Number One.”
His image and reputation have continued to influence security culture in Russia, where loyalty, secrecy, discipline, and state control are deeply embedded values.
Supporters argue that honouring Dzerzhinsky recognises a historical figure who defended the state during a period of revolution and civil war.
Opponents counter that celebrating him normalises political terror and whitewashes the suffering of thousands who were imprisoned or executed under his command.
Calls for Statue Restoration
The renaming of the academy has also renewed calls from pro-Kremlin voices for Dzerzhinsky’s statue to be restored to Lubyanka Square.
Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of Russia’s National Defence magazine, said many now expect the monument to return to what he described as its “rightful place.”
Such a move would likely provoke intense debate, both domestically and internationally, given Dzerzhinsky’s historical association with repression.
Political Message at a Time of War
The timing of the announcement is also significant. Russia remains engaged in its war with Ukraine, while internal dissent has been sharply curtailed.
Human rights groups say wartime Russia has seen increased censorship, arrests of critics, tighter surveillance, and broader powers for security agencies.
Against that backdrop, restoring the name of one of Soviet history’s most feared security chiefs is seen by many as more than a symbolic gesture it is a political statement about the role of state power in modern Russia.
For supporters of Putin, it signals continuity, strength, and patriotism.
For critics, it marks another step toward embracing the darkest chapters of Russia’s authoritarian past.
