Back المديرية السياسية المشتركة للدولة Arabic Birləşmiş Dövlət Siyasi İdarəsi Azerbaijani СССР Халыҡ комиссарҙары Советы ҡарамағындағы Берләшкән дәүләт сәйәси идаралығы Bashkir АДПУ пры СНК СССР Byelorussian OGPU Catalan OGPU Spanish NSV Liidu Rahvakomissaride Nõukogu juures asuv Ühendatud Riiklik Poliitvalitsus Estonian או.ג.פ.או. HE Direktorat Politik Gabungan Negara ID გაერთიანებული სახელმწიფო პოლიტიკური სამმართველო Georgian
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| Объединённое государственное политическое управление при СНК СССР | |
 Badge commemorating 15 years of the Cheka–OGPU, issued in 1932 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 15 November 1923 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Dissolved | 10 July 1934 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Type | Secret police |
| Headquarters | 11-13 ulitsa Bol. Lubyanka, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency | Council of People's Commissars |
The Joint State Political Directorate (Russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление, IPA: [ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪje]), abbreviated as OGPU (Russian: ОГПУ), was the secret police of the Soviet Union from November 1923 to July 1934, succeeding the State Political Directorate (GPU). Responsible to the Council of People's Commissars, the OGPU was headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky until 1926, then by Vyacheslav Menzhinsky until replaced by the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) within the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).
The OGPU played an important role in the Soviet Union's forced collectivization of agriculture under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, crushing resistance and deporting millions of peasants to the growing network of Gulag forced labor camps. The OGPU operated both inside and outside the country, persecuting political criminals and opponents of the Bolsheviks such as White émigrés, Soviet dissidents, and anti-communists.