The Union of Australian Women (UAW) is a left-wing women's organisation concerned with local and international issues regarding women's rights, international peace and equality.
The UAW was established in Sydney on 31 July 1950 in New South Wales. Branches in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania soon followed.  In 1956 a national UAW was set up, with  an executive committee based in Sydney and representatives from each state organisation.
The UAW's self-published magazine, Our Women, mixed mainstream content such as recipes with news from the trade union movement, tracts on women's equality and articles on Aboriginal rights. Although the UAW was never officially affiliated with any political party many of its founding members were in close contact with Communist Party of Australia. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) kept the organisation under surveillance during the 1950s and '60s.
The UAW campaigned for women's rights to work, with equal pay and conditions,  affordable childcare, Indigenous rights and the environment, and strongly protested against Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. The UAW vigorously protested against the South African apartheid movement.
International Women's Day was almost solely organised by the UAW in the early years after World War II and the UAW organised the first United Nations-sponsored international conferences for women in 1975, International Women's Year.
The UAW enjoyed success in the 1950s and 1960s with their combination of the conventional and subversive, being a "product of both mainstream and left culture" but were considered conservative by the post-Vietnam Women's Liberation movement.
By the late 1980s and 1990s, the UAW  began winding down. Currently the Victorian UAW continues, its website is at uaw.org.au .The UAW (Vic) is currently the National body as well as the Victorian body. The President is Anne Sgro: Secretary Cath Morrison. It publishes a monthly Newsletter.
History
The UAW was established in Sydney on 31 July 1950 as the successor to the New Housewives' Association (NHA), with the first branch formed in New South Wales, soon followed by Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The Northern Territory had a branch revived from the defunct Darwin Housewives' Association, but purportedly attracted few members due to concerns of Communist affiliation.[4]
In 1956, the national UAW organisation was formed, comprising an executive committee based in Sydney and representatives from each state organisation. While executive decisions on national/international issues and state issues were planned at the national and state levels respectively, the bulk of activities were carried out by suburban (and regional) sub-groups in each state (e.g. Sunshine and Mildura respectively in Victoria).[2]:28–30 Through this grassroots approach, the UAW was on one hand able to connect housewives and mothers in local communities to national or international issues beyond the home,[2]:4 and on the other, provide the organisational backing to campaign for improvements in their members' immediate surroundings—such as child-minding centres in Rockhampton.[5]
Maternalism
The UAW's name, as opposed to the NHA's, reflected their aim to attract "all women",[6]:07.3 recognising that those who stayed in the post-war workforce were no longer necessarily housewives and would want to identify otherwise.

Nevertheless, the domestic focus persevered, especially through the 1950s,[7] shaping what has come to be called UAW's "maternalist" approach.[6] The working-class mothers and housewives who comprised the bulk of earlier UAW membership[2]:3 did challenge traditional maternalism by recognising the necessity for women to work, and in Victoria overcame traditional maternalist policies by advocating local and subsidised childcare for all working women.[8] Nevertheless, they subscribed to the underlying notion that children were a woman's responsibility,[2]:34 which informed their stance on issues from living costs to environmental damage, and especially war.[6]:07.5 The UAW's significant peace activism stemmed from the perceived universal concern of mothers over the mental and physical well-being of children.[2]:34–35

Maternalism provided the ideological backdrop for domestic activities, such as apron-making and millinery demonstrations, to comfortably coexist alongside equally important discussions on serious political issues in local group meetings.[2]:29 Similarly, the UAW's self-published magazine, Our Women, juxtaposed mainstream content such as recipes, light-hearted chat and fashion tips against the latest workers' union news,[6]:07.2 tracts on women's equality and articles on Aboriginal rights.[2]:44
The UAW's discourse on the universality of motherhood followed a long tradition of uniting women across race, class, and even national divisions, providing an impetus for local women to agitate for change "from within, rather than from the fringes of, mainstream society".[6]:07.5
Political affiliation
Although the UAW was never officially affiliated with any political party,[6]:07.2 it was associated with the Communist movement from its inception. Many of its founding members were Communist women [9]:21 who kept in close contact with Communist Party of Australia,[2]:45–47 which, along with the NHA and other UAW-affiliated organisations,[2]:18 narrowly avoided dissolution by the defeated Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth).[6]:07.1 When, in 1954, the UAW collected individual signatures supporting a ban on hydrogen and atomic bombs and sent them to then-Federal Minister for Labour and National Service Harold Holt, Holt sent back each slip to its signatory, denouncing the UAW as "completely under the control of the Communist Party of Australia",[10] characterising their methods as "insidious" and "deceptive".[11]
Former CPA members later claimed the CPA had little direct involvement in the UAW's actions and that the UAW was "not a danger to the status quo".[2]:45 However, the circumstances surrounding the UAW's formation and individual members' actions in the politically hostile Cold War environment earned it the continued scrutiny of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation through the 1950s and 1960s.[2]:24, 54 Member Barbara Curthoys claimed that every state branch had "at least one ASIO agent" in a book launch of the UAW's official history.[12] Accordingly, the UAW did not keep a full record of members during that period.[2]:25
Despite initial condemnation by the New South Wales Australian Labor Party,[2]:15 the UAW also attracted ALP members such as Nola Barber after the party split in 1955 and relaxed its ban on members from joining Communist-linked organisations.[2]:27–28
At the local level, the UAW focused on the everyday lives of its members and sought to relate them to broader political issues, rather than dictate party policy.[6]:07.6
Women's issues
One of the UAW's key concerns was the well-being of women across the world. While the UAW located women within its broader campaigns (see sections below), it also focused on women's issues pertinent to its largely working-class membership of housewives and young mothers in the relatively anti-feminist[6]:07.2 early Cold War era. They campaigned for women's rights to work and receive equal treatment, hand-in-hand with affordable and universal childcare. With the rise of the Women's Liberation movement in the 1970s, reproductive rights and contraception became an additional focus, although the UAW's persistent maternalist and domestic approach struggled to keep up with the eventual trajectory of feminism.[6]:07.13

Women in the workplace
The UAW started off in an environment hostile to the notion of women joining the workforce, despite the availability of work, availability of time afforded by advances in domestic technology, and the necessity for working-class households to meet rising costs of living (another target of the UAW's efforts; see below).[2]:37 Initial protests and letter-writing campaigns for equal pay therefore received little support from the public and even from worker's unions, whose ideas of equal family wages rested mostly on men earning the bulk of income. Nevertheless, the UAW realised working with unions would be the most effective, petitioning and vocally advocating for the issue without letting it be ignored, even as many UAW members did not personally insist on being independent earners.[2]:37–39
By the late 1960s, the tide was inevitably turning as women continued to take up work; most UAW members were now employed, although regular participants necessarily accorded their own jobs a secondary role in order to participate in UAW activities. At this point the UAW voluntarily cooperated with the nascent Women's Liberation Movement organisation in Australia, actively distributing leaflets at rallies.[2]:68 The UAW's most noted contributions were submissions to the National Wage Cases: firstly in 1969, where 6-year UAW member and future Parliament member Joan Child acted as spokesman[2]:69 for the ACTU's test case; then in 1972 alongside the Women's Electoral Lobby with partial success,[13]
followed by 1974 and 1983.[14]:52
As the UAW saw their efforts come to fruition with the introduction of progressive legislation and encouraging results in the workforce, they remained persistent in supporting equal treatment at the workplace.[2]:139 In 1981, for example, NSW state secretary Lee Gorman pledged the UAW's support in pursuing the case of  four women appealing to the Anti-Discrimination Board for being stood down by the Urban Transit Authority for being pregnant.[15]
Childcare
Childcare was one of the UAW's earliest and most significant concerns.[9]:21 Their advocacy for working women was inextricably linked to their push for government-supported childcare accessible by all women. This was consistent with their position that mothers, not both parents, were responsible for children's welfare, and thus childcare was purely a women's issue. While this position fell out of favour with the feminism of women's groups from the 1970s onwards, it was once ahead of its time,[2]:73 challenging the traditional maternalist thinking dominant in the 1950s and 1960s, which dictated that women had to look after their children at home.[6]:07.2[8]:144, 149
The UAW's efforts were particularly vigorous in Victoria, where childcare (commonly referred to as child-minding) through the 1950s and 1960s was considered a last resort—a recourse only for single mothers, the destitute and otherwise "unfortunate". Married women who required childcare to work were urged to put their family first instead.[8]:144–146 Local authorities were slow in regulating the mushrooming private childcare institutions, and insistent that childcare/pre-school services not enable mothers to "park children".[8]:147 In response, the UAW, despite their relatively limited political influence, worked at local levels by making mothers aware of existing efforts, and collecting data to present to local authorities as evidence establishing the pressing need for quality, accessible childcare and preschool services.[8]:147–149 Crucially, this involved lobbying for local government funding as well as higher child endowments.[2]:70
Although the UAW met with limited success in the 1950s and early 1960s, it was ironically near the end of the 1960s, when they started losing members to the Women's Liberation movement,[6]:07.13[8]:149 that their efforts to lay the necessary groundwork paid off. Childcare became a mainstream concern,[2]:113 and prominent UAW members such as Alma Morton built on their experience to become leaders in the successful Victorian community childcare movement.[8]:151–152 Anne Sgro was active in her local area in establishing an early childcare centre.
Women's health and reproductive rights
The UAW initially took a broad approach towards women's health, organising public meetings and letter-writing campaigns on topics from cervical cancer to childbirth.[2]:76 On the issue of contraception and reproductive rights, members in the 1950s and 1960s generally tended to be ambivalent, particularly over the issue of abortion, with many preferring to place their faith in the medical profession for making individual decisions. Although the UAW was more assertive than the public on women's health, they were less progressive than most women's groups in the 1960s.[2]:77–78
By the 1970s, however, this hesitant position was untenable as birth control became a central topic of mainstream public discussion. The UAW's conservative approach quickly became more supportive, with members successfully lobbying with the Women's Liberation movement for the removal of tax on contraceptives in 1973. Victorian members worked against anti-abortionists taking over the directory boards of the Royal Women's and Queen Victoria hospitals between 1970 and 1975, and publicly countered their attempts to exclude abortion from the Medicare rebate scheme.[2]:117 1973 also saw the UAW officially incorporate a pro-choice policy.
National Issues
The UAW was also concerned with broader national issues that manifested in national, state, and local-level action. Chief among these issues were living standards, Indigenous rights and the environment.[2]
Living Standards campaigns
Purchasing power was a matter of great concern to the UAW's mostly working-class membership, who used the opportunity in the UAW to protest against price increases in the face of static wages. One of their first actions was a city rally, organised in 1950 in conjunction with the Trades Union Defence Committee.[2]:36 The Korean War saw the price of living in Australia rise by 21% in 1951, which spurred the UAW to heat up their campaign for an affordable decent standard of living.[2]:36 They would conduct surveys and draw up petitions on the cost of living, which would then be passed on to unions as evidence in wage cases.[2]:36–37 The UAW argued their own cases as well—for example, in a 1953 inquiry on milk prices in Sydney, where the UAW president spoke from the viewpoint of a mother responsible for her children's nutrition.[16]

In 1964, the UAW had a successful submission to the Milk Board on behalf of pensioners. This would be one of their limited victories in the area of campaigning for affordability.[2]:67
Despite these efforts, in 1970 The Herald reported that the "price of living had increased faster than the minimum wage".[2]:107 In response, the UAW joined about a dozen militant groups in a discussion of the cost of living and price control.[2]:107
As the women of the union aged, they continued to monitor and comment on wages and living costs, but their focus shifted to the needs and living standards of senior citizens and pensioners, whose static pensions were particularly affected by inflation.[2]:135–136
Indigenous rights activism
The UAW was an early, ardent and constant supporter of Indigenous rights, striving to promote racial equality consistent with their left-wing opposition to oppression.[2]:42 They were affiliated with Aboriginal groups such as the Aboriginal Advancement League (AAL) and the Council for Aboriginal Rights [2]:42 (CAR) with some members serving on their committees. UAW member Shirley Andrew was the first secretary for the CAR in Victoria in 1952,[2]:42 and prominent Aboriginal activist Pearl Gibbs served on the management committee of the UAW's NSW branch, acting as an important link between the Aboriginal and women's movements.[17]:430
As well as sending representatives to attend AAL and CAR meetings, the UAW encouraged Aboriginal members to join, such as Melva Walsh, who was the vice president of the Moe, Victoria UAW group in the 1960s and led an eventually successful campaign on land rights for Indigenous people  in the 1960s. The UAW also invited Kath Walker/Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Gladys O'Shane (mother of Pat O'Shane) to speak regularly at meetings, where they were widely welcomed.[2] Notably, the UAW also strived to depict Indigenous people in a positive light in their magazine Our Women, in stark contrast to mainstream media at the time.:81–82
The UAW's constant lobbying against racist laws in the 1950s and 1960s were finally vindicated by the 1967 Australian referendum, where over 90% of Australians voted to give Australian Aborigines citizenship as well as equal rights under federal jurisdiction.[2]:43,81
From this point, Indigenous organisations began to gain greater agency and were able to rely on their own voice. Nevertheless, the UAW continued to aid and support Indigenous people where possible. In 1970, the UAW were active in aiding the Roper River People's land rights claim and then in September 1971 they similarly aided the Gurindji people.[2]:119 Between 1971 and 1974, the UAW held fourteen meetings focusing on Indigenous issues and racism, as well as inviting Aboriginal women to speak at the 1972 and 1974 International Women's Day celebrations, and having members who shared their experience in northern and inland Australian Indigenous communities.[2]:118–9
Over the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Indigenous rights movement had come into its own, and eventually drifted away from the UAW. While the organisational relationships faded, the UAW nevertheless remained fully supportive of Indigenous causes and continued to contribute when possible, such as donating a third of a received bequest to the Oenpelli Community School.[2]:166
Environmental lobbying
The UAW was one of the first urban women's groups to act on environmental issues,[2]:81 starting in the 1960s after being inspired by ideas brought from America in books such as Silent Spring, and the controversy over Agent Orange. The establishment of the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1966 consolidated national interest in environmental concerns;[2]:79–81 however, the UAW did not officially affiliate with the ACF until 1976.[2]:118
The UAW's interest in the environment was most consistently maintained by country members; it was "ad hoc", shifting from topic to topic as suited the more influential members.[2]:118 Their focus in the 1960s was to petition local and state governments against the use of harmful pesticides such as dieldrin, which then shifted to the protection of bushland and promotion of recycling. Bringing it back to a domestic angle, the UAW placed particular emphasis on personal responsibility to reduce waste in the household.[2]:80, 118
The UAW also maintained a constant anti-nuclear stance that was mostly focused on the destructive potential of nuclear weapons, but also stemmed from their maternal concern over the long-term environmental consequences future generations would have to bear. They stood alongside environmental groups in firmly opposing uranium mining in Australia, particularly the Australian government's controversial decision to invest in uranium mining in 1977.[18]
One of the UAW's last major environmental acts was to petition the government to seek a heritage listing for Kakadu National Park in 1989, in consideration of its significance to the Aboriginal traditional owners, and the environmental threat posed by the nearby Ranger uranium mine.[2]:147
International issues
In addition to supporting local causes, the UAW was also vocal on international causes, particularly peace. Through personal correspondence and grassroots campaigns, they addressed conflicts related to issues of equality and freedom, and strongly protested against Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.
While the UAW likely had minimal impact on foreign affairs, organisation leaders were motivated by an "ideological commitment" and members gained the satisfaction of being part of an international movement.[2]:34 Decisions made at the executive level were often informed by their links to other Communist-related organisations, such as the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). As such, the shift of power during the Cold War had a noticeable influence on the UAW's international outlook.
Vietnam War
The UAW was fundamentally committed to peace, both from a general anti-violence perspective and a feminist/maternal one, which championed the nurturing, peaceful qualities of mothers. This rhetoric created an obligation to protest, by specifically highlighting the damage war had on children.[6]:07.8, 07.9
Consequently, the UAW staunchly opposed the most problematic war during their peak period of activity—the Vietnam War. UAW members participated in moratoriums and launched letter-writing campaigns that encouraged disarmament while objecting to conscription and the imprisonment of draft resisters. Some members, notably Nola Barber,[17]:58 banded with women from other organisations to form the successful[6]:07.10 Save Our Sons organisation in 1965. When five Save Our Sons members, later dubbed the Fairlea Five, were jailed in Fairlea for distributing anti-war pamphlets, the UAW publicly supported their release.[2]:96

Unfortunately, as the peace movement was inherently linked to Communism for much of the 1950s and 1960s,[6]:07.2 the UAW started out with little support.[2]:31–32 However, by the end of the 1960s, anti-Vietnam sentiment began mirroring the highly publicised American popular opinion, and the UAW went from being relatively radical to conservative.[2]:64
The UAW also kept close correspondence with the Vietnamese Women's Union, visiting North Vietnam as their guests even as Australia was still at war with the country.[19]
After the war's conclusion, the UAW sent support for the improvement of conditions in Hanoi.[2]:95–97
Nuclear testing
Central to the peace movement was a strong objection to the use of nuclear weapons. The UAW took a particularly maternalist interpretation of this, focusing on the universal plight of children during war, and particularly nuclear warfare, which could leave a mark for decades on children's lives.[6]:07.9 From the 1960s through to the 1980s, the UAW opposed French and Chinese atmospheric nuclear testing, stood alongside environmental groups in opposing uranium mining, spread petitions during the 1980s nuclear arms race, and were committed to supporting the 1983 Royal Commission into the United Kingdom's atomic testing on Australian sites.

However, while peace united many members earlier in the organisation's lifetime, it also proved to be a divisive sticking point later on. The UAW's executive committee was affected by a "pro-Soviet bias",[2]:135 choosing not to take specific action against the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Opinions over the Partial Test Ban Treaty also caused a split along ideological lines, eventually contributing to the UAW's gradual decline.
Anti-Apartheid
The UAW protested the South African apartheid movement since the 1950s, maintaining support for various anti-apartheid citizens and figures, including Elizabeth Mafekeng and Helen Joseph.[2]:33 In addition, they boycotted multiple avenues of African trade due to their stance on apartheid. Their long-standing support of the African National Congress was finally acknowledged by Nelson Mandela when he visited Sydney in 1990.[2]:166
International Women's Day/Year
After the war, International Women's Day was almost solely organized by the UAW for a few years, as many other organizations feared the communist associations of the event. For the UAW, it was a rare opportunity to interact with international guests and migrants, connecting local women with international movements.[2]:43
As the UAW continued supporting it, public attitudes turned from hostility and disapproval to indifference in the 1960s,[2]:83 and then finally to far greater support in the 1970s with the rise of Women's Liberation. In 1972, the UAW collaborated with other organizations to conduct a highly successful rally of 2–3000 people in Melbourne.[2]:103
The UAW's efforts culminated in their role in organizing the first United Nations-sponsored international conferences for women in 1975, which the United Nations declared International Women's Year. Prominent attendees included Elizabeth Anne Reid and Margaret Whitlam, as well as Joan Child who was now able to assist as a Member of Federal Parliament.[2]:104–106 In addition to appropriating and implementing the proposals established at these initial conferences, they continued to participate in several of the UN's "International Decade for Women" conferences worldwide.[2]:150–153
International guests and exchanges
The UAW's founding undercurrent of coupling Soviet-influenced internationalism with the "common female experience"[6]:07.10 promoted regular interaction with individuals and organisations from multiple countries, often women's unions that shared similar goals and philosophies. Among these, the most prominent and long-standing affiliation was with the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF), of which UAW national president Freda Brown went on to serve as president from 1975–1989. Traditional women's organisations shied away from associating with in the 1950s due to the WIDF's Communist reputation.,[6]:07.3 but the UAW proudly and frequently featured WIDF-produced content in their magazine Our Women, offering suburban housewives a connection to socialist women's movements across the world.[6]:07.3
Over the years, the UAW formally received foreign nationals from various countries. The UAW's tendency to invite women from socialist and communist countries would sometimes result in minor controversies during the Cold War. One example was when the UAW invited visitors from the People's Republic of China in 1962, when the Australian government did not officially recognise their citizens, causing an unnamed large firm to pull out of an exhibition they were to co-sponsor with the UAW.[2]:84 Even in 1980, one of the UAW's Russian guests attracted media attention for being completely unaware of the federal ban on Russian entry.[20]
Through international contacts, the UAW also concerned itself with individual plights of socio-political importance, such as the imprisonment of prominent civil rights activist Angela Davis.[2]:122–123
Legacy
The UAW enjoyed success in the 1950s and 1960s with their combination of the conventional and subversive, being a "product of both mainstream and left culture".[6]:07.2 However, this also proved to be their weak point, as the UAW's continued focus on peaceful motherhood started to seem outmoded and ineffective to a new generation of activists and campaigners in the vigorous post-Vietnam Women's Liberation movement.[9]:22 The Sydney branch in particular experienced several clashes with the Women's Liberation groups, and were accused of being "conservative" and "ladylike".[2]:98–100 While the UAW did attempt to keep up, reflected by the increasing seriousness of content in Our Women and records of continuous efforts through the 1970s, they struggled to identify with the concepts and approaches of this new wave of feminism, not only failing to attract many new members but losing others to more radical feminist groups.[6]:07.11 Furthermore, the mothers and housewives that comprised most of their membership began dedicating more time to work and less time to the UAW. Membership steadily declined; in Victoria, the UAW went from an estimated 5–600 members in the 1950s to 400 in 1960, 300 in 1964 and around 200 by the end of the 1970s, at which they stayed throughout the 1980s and 1990s.[2]:47,89,139,155,167 The small Western Australian and Tasmanian branches disbanded around this time as well.[1]
Another cause of the organisation's decline was the Sino-Soviet split that affected the CPA,[2]:89 resulting in the formation of the pro-Soviet Socialist Party of Australia (SPA). By then, the UAW had only a loose association with the CPA, but conflicts nevertheless arose between the CPA-aligned Victorian branch and the SPA-aligned New South Wales and national executive committees, especially over the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.[2]:56 Given that the UAW's local operations aimed to politicise the everyday and not necessarily along party lines,[6]:07.6 some members left in disappointment over the extent to which the Sino-Soviet split spilled over into the UAW; others left after questioning the executive-level support of controversial policies in Communist countries.[2]:86
Although by 1991, the CPA's closure had no effect on the UAW[2]:169 and the UAW's support for paternity leave in 1989[21] represents an interesting update of their maternalist foundation, they never quite recovered from the decrease in membership and effectiveness caused by the compromised leadership and ideological divides[6]:07.13 of the 1970s and 1980s.
By the late 1980s and 1990s, the organisation had shrunk considerably, with the gradual dissolution and amalgamation of local groups[22]:173 and the streamlining of the national committee in 1993.[2]:169 Political and organisational disagreements led to a lapse in relations with the WIDF in the 1980s, culminating in the end of a long-held affiliation in 1996.
As their members entered old age, some passing away, the UAW itself eventually began winding down, and the national organisation closed in 1995.[22] The NSW branch followed suit in 1996,[12] the Queensland branch in 1999.
Currently, only the Victorian UAW survives, headed by Anne Sgro. It remains active (2019) , with a recorded statement[23] from 2011 strongly denouncing the bombing of Afghanistan and the Australian government's treatment of asylum seekers, particularly in the Tampa affair.  Their website lists activities for February 2019
Affiliations
The UAW has, throughout its history, campaigned alongside other organisations across various fields. They often worked in conjunction with unions and women's groups to send out stronger messages and bring about social change. The joint intervention in the 1983 National Wage Case with the Women's Electoral Lobby and National Council of Women was an example.[14]
Some notable organisations the UAW stated affiliation with[22]:162 include:
Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (APHEDA)
UNIFEM
UNICEF
Waterside Workers' Federation and Seamen's Union of Australia Women's Committees[12]
Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL)
Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF)
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Selected publications
The UAW released a range of periodic publications during the height of their activity, the most representative being mixed-content magazine, Our Women, which ceased publication in 1971 owing to the changed circumstances of the UAW.[6]:11–12 They also released official histories of the national (More Than a Hat and Glove Brigade) and Queensland (Daring to Take a Stand) branches near their closures. A comprehensive history of the Victorian branch (Left-Wing Ladies[2]) was published in 2000 by non-members Suzanne Fabian and Morag Loh.
Publication information was compiled from indexes on the Australian Women's Register[1] and Trove.[24]
Books

Newsletters

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Records
Some of the UAW's correspondence, flyers, records and other papers have been archived at the following libraries:

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Notable members
Freda Brown, national secretary, then national president 1967–1975[6]:07.14
Audrey McDonald, National Secretary 1967–1969, 1972–1993
Flo Cluff, vice-president of NSW branch in the 1950s[17]:226
Lee Rhiannon, secretary of NSW branch 1980–1983[25]
Pearl Gibbs, NSW branch management committee[17]:430
Nola Barber[17]:58
Eva Bacon[3]
Oodgeroo Noonuccal[1]
Henrietta Greville[1]
Lily D'Ambrosio[1]

 ( on the NLA's PANDORA archive)
 Official website of UAW(Vic) current 2019

How can you join the Union of Australian Women


ESP may refer to:

General use
Eastern State Penitentiary, a museum in Philadelphia, former prison
Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability
Extra-solar planet, a planet located outside the Solar System
Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York, U.S.A
Empire State Pullers, a New York tractor pulling circuit
English for specific purposes, a subset of English language learning and teaching
Equally spaced polynomial in mathematics
Effective Sensory Projection, a term used in the Silva method
European Skeptics Podcast (TheESP), a weekly podcast representing several European skeptic organisations in Europe
Music
ESP, a collaboration between Space Tribe and other artists
ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars
E.S.P. (Miles Davis album), 1965 album by Miles Davis
E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion), 1983 album by soul singer Millie Jackson
E.S.P. (Bee Gees album), 1987 album by the Bee Gees
"E.S.P." (song), title track of the album
ESP-Disk, a 1960s free-jazz record label based in New York
The Electric Soft Parade, a British band formed in 2001
Eric Singer Project, side project founded in the 1990s by musician Eric Singer
E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, that produces cinematic style music
"E.S.P.", 1978 song by Buzzcocks from the album Love Bites
"E.S.P.", 1988 song by Cacophony from the album Go Off!
Television
"E.S.P." (UFO), a 1970 episode of UFO
E.S.P. (TV series), a horror Philippine drama by GMA Network
Technology
Computing
EFI system partition, a partition used by machines that adhere to the Extensible Firmware Interface
'Elder Scrolls plugin', the .ESP file-format used in computer games such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Email service provider (marketing), an organization offering e-mail services
Psychology of programming is sometimes referred to as 'empirical study of programming' or ESP
Encapsulating Security Payload, an encryption protocol within the IPsec suite
ESP game, an online human computation game
Event stream processing, technology that acts on data streams
ESP Cheat (video games), displaying contextual information such as the health, name and position of other participants, which would normally be hidden from the player.
Extended Stack Pointer register in Intel IA-32 (x86/32-bit) assembler
Other technologies
Electric submersible pump, an artificial lift system that electrically drives multiple centrifugal stage pumps to lift oil and water from wells
Electron spin trapping, a scientific technique
Electronic skip protection in portable CD players
Electro-selective pattern, Olympus-proprietary metering technology for digital cameras
Electrostatic precipitator, a device that removes particles from a flowing gas
Enhanced Smart Power, Scooter Matic engine technology from Honda
Electronic stability control, also known as Electronic Stability Program, a computer device used in cars to improve traction
Equalizing snoop probe, a high-speed digital signal probe by Agilent
External stowage platform, a type of cargo platform used on the International Space Station
Enterprise Simulation Platform, the Lockheed-Martin commercial version of the Microsoft Flight Simulator X franchise, now called Prepar3D.
Business
Email service provider, a specialist organisation that offers bulk email marketing services
Easy Software Products, a software-development company, originator of the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS)
Entertainment Software Publishing, a Japanese video-game publisher
Spain and Spanish
Spanish language (Español), non-ISO language code
ISO 3166-1, the 3-letter ISO code for Spain
Spanish peseta, the ISO 4217 code for the former currency of Spain
Literature
ESP, the acronym for "Edd Smith's People" and "Edd Smith Place" in "The Pirate's Chest" bookstore in the fictional work The Cat Who Went Bananas
Politics
Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi, a Turkish political party


Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two categories. The first is reconstructive surgery which includes craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. The other is cosmetic or aesthetic surgery.[1] While reconstructive surgery aims to reconstruct a part of the body or improve its functioning, cosmetic surgery aims at improving the appearance of it. Both of these techniques are used throughout the world.
Etymology
In the term "plastic surgery," the adjective plastic implies sculpting and/or reshaping, which is derived from the Greek πλαστική (τέχνη), plastikē (tekhnē), "the art of modelling" of malleable flesh.[2]  This meaning in English is seen as early as 1598.[3] The surgical definition of "plastic" first appeared in 1839, preceding the modern "engineering material made from petroleum" sense of plastic (coined by Leo Baekeland in 1909) by 70 years.[4]
The current semantic diversity of the word plastic has a long history of development. Essentially, there are two ways of using this term.[5] In its original sense plastic relates to formation or shaping of matter, i.e. to plastic art. Plastic can also be used figuratively in the meaning of formation of non-material things (e.g. writing a poem, creating a piece of music, and so on), i.e. in the meaning of the power to create. Both notions have been around for thousands of years. The origin of the dual history of the materialistic and philosophical use of plastic can be traced back to the ancient Greek craft of pottery and mythology, respectively. Wider textual use of the term plastic began with Pliny the Elder’s (23 – 79 AD) Plastice, a chapter in his Natural History. The semantic flourish of plastic started only at the end of the 18th century when Johann Gottfried Herder introduced the concept of “plastic sense” in his aesthetic essay Plastik (Sculpture) of 1778.[5]
History

Treatments for the plastic repair of a broken nose are first mentioned in the Edwin Smith Papyrus,[7] a transcription of an Ancient Egyptian medical text, one of the oldest known surgical treatises, dated to the Old Kingdom from 3000 to 2500 BC.[8] Reconstructive surgery techniques were being carried out in India by 800 BC.[9] Sushruta was a physician who made important contributions to the field of plastic and cataract surgery in 6th century BC.[10] The medical works of both Sushruta and Charaka, originally in Sanskrit, were translated into the Arabic language during the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 AD.[11] The Arabic translations made their way into Europe via intermediaries.[11] In Italy, the Branca family[12] of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) became familiar with the techniques of Sushruta.[11]

British physicians traveled to India to see rhinoplasties being performed by Indian methods.[13] Reports on Indian rhinoplasty performed by a Kumhar Vaidya were published in the Gentleman's Magazine by 1794.[13] Joseph Constantine Carpue spent 20 years in India studying local plastic surgery methods.[13] Carpue was able to perform the first major surgery in the Western world in the year of 1815.[14] Instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were further modified in the Western world.[14]

The Romans also performed plastic cosmetic surgery. The Romans were able to perform simple techniques, such as repairing damaged ears, from around the 1st century BC. For religious reasons, they did not dissect either human beings or animals, thus their knowledge was based in its entirety on the texts of their Greek predecessors. Notwithstanding, Aulus Cornelius Celsus left some surprisingly accurate anatomical descriptions,[15] some of which — for instance, his studies on the genitalia and the skeleton — are of special interest to plastic surgery.[16]
In 1465, Sabuncu's book, description, and classification of hypospadias was more informative and up to date. Localization of urethral meatus was described in detail. Sabuncuoglu also detailed the description and classification of ambiguous genitalia. In mid-15th-century Europe, Heinrich von Pfolspeundt described a process "to make a new nose for one who lacks it entirely, and the dogs have devoured it" by removing skin from the back of the arm and suturing it in place. However, because of the dangers associated with surgery in any form, especially that involving the head or face, it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that such surgery became common.
Up until the use of anesthesia became established, surgeries involving healthy tissues involved great pain. Infection from surgery was reduced by the introduction of sterile techniques and disinfectants. The invention and use of antibiotics, beginning with sulfonamide and penicillin, was another step in making elective surgery possible.
In 1793, François Chopart performed operative procedure on a lip using a flap from the neck. In 1814, Joseph Carpue successfully performed operative procedure on a British military officer who had lost his nose to the toxic effects of mercury treatments. In 1818, German surgeon Carl Ferdinand von Graefe published his major work entitled Rhinoplastik. Von Graefe modified the Italian method using a free skin graft from the arm instead of the original delayed pedicle flap.
The first American plastic surgeon was John Peter Mettauer, who, in 1827, performed the first cleft palate operation with instruments that he designed himself. In 1845, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach wrote a comprehensive text on rhinoplasty, titled Operative Chirurgie, and introduced the concept of reoperation to improve the cosmetic appearance of the reconstructed nose.
In 1891, American otorhinolaryngologist John Roe presented an example of his work: a young woman on whom he reduced a dorsal nasal hump for cosmetic indications. In 1892, Robert Weir experimented unsuccessfully with xenografts (duck sternum) in the reconstruction of sunken noses. In 1896, James Israel, a urological surgeon from Germany, and in 1889 George Monks of the United States each described the successful use of heterogeneous free-bone grafting to reconstruct saddle nose defects. In 1898, Jacques Joseph, the German orthopaedic-trained surgeon, published his first account of reduction rhinoplasty. In 1928, Jacques Joseph published Nasenplastik und Sonstige Gesichtsplastik.
Development of modern techniques

The father of modern plastic surgery is generally considered to have been Sir Harold Gillies. A New Zealand otolaryngologist working in London, he developed many of the techniques of modern facial surgery in caring for soldiers suffering from disfiguring facial injuries during the First World War.[17]
During World War I he worked as a medical minder with the Royal Army Medical Corps. After working with the renowned French oral and maxillofacial surgeon Hippolyte Morestin on skin graft, he persuaded the army's chief surgeon, Arbuthnot-Lane, to establish a facial injury ward at the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, later upgraded to a new hospital for facial repairs at Sidcup in 1917. There Gillies and his colleagues developed many techniques of plastic surgery; more than 11,000 operations were performed on more than 5,000 men (mostly soldiers with facial injuries, usually from gunshot wounds).After the war, Gillies developed a private practice with Rainsford Mowlem, including many famous patients, and travelled extensively to promote his advanced techniques worldwide.
In 1930, Gillies' cousin, Archibald McIndoe, joined the practice and became committed to plastic surgery. When World War II broke out, plastic surgery provision was largely divided between the different services of the armed forces, and Gillies and his team were split up. Gillies himself was sent to Rooksdown House near Basingstoke, which became the principal army plastic surgery unit; Tommy Kilner (who had worked with Gillies during the First World War, and who now has a surgical instrument named after him, the kilner cheek retractor), went to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, and Mowlem to St Albans. McIndoe, consultant to the RAF, moved to the recently rebuilt Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex, and founded a Centre for Plastic and Jaw Surgery. There, he treated very deep burn, and serious facial disfigurement, such as loss of eyelids, typical of those caused to aircrew by burning fuel.
McIndoe is often recognized for not only developing new techniques for treating badly burned faces and hands but also for recognising the importance of the rehabilitation of the casualties and particularly of social reintegration back into normal life. He disposed of the "convalescent uniforms" and let the patients use their service uniforms instead. With the help of two friends, Neville and Elaine Blond, he also convinced the locals to support the patients and invite them to their homes. McIndoe kept referring to them as "his boys" and the staff called him "The Boss" or "The Maestro."
His other important work included development of the walking-stalk skin graft, and the discovery that immersion in saline promoted healing as well as improving survival rates for victims with extensive burns — this was a serendipitous discovery drawn from observation of differential healing rates in pilots who had come down on land and in the sea. His radical, experimental treatments led to the formation of the Guinea Pig Club at Queen Victoria Hospital, Sussex. Among the better known members of his "club" were Richard Hillary, Bill Foxley and Jimmy Edwards.
Sub-specialties
Plastic surgery is a broad field, and may be subdivided further. In the United States, plastic surgeons are board certified by American Board of Plastic Surgery.[18] Subdisciplines of plastic surgery may include:
Aesthetic surgery
Aesthetic surgery is an essential component of plastic surgery and includes facial and body aesthetic surgery. Plastic surgeons use cosmetic surgical principles in all reconstructive surgical procedures as well as isolated operations to improve overall appearance.[19]
Burn surgery
Burn surgery generally takes place in two phases. Acute burn surgery is the treatment immediately after a burn. Reconstructive burn surgery takes place after the burn wounds have healed.
Craniofacial surgery
Craniofacial surgery is divided into pediatric and adult craniofacial surgery. Pediatric craniofacial surgery mostly revolves around the treatment of congenital anomalies of the craniofacial skeleton and soft tissues, such as cleft lip and palate, craniosynostosis, and pediatric fractures. Adult craniofacial surgery deals mostly with fractures and secondary surgeries (such as orbital reconstruction) along with orthognathic surgery. Craniofacial surgery is an important part of all plastic surgery training programs, further training and subspecialisation is obtained via a craniofacial fellowship. Craniofacial surgery is also practiced by Maxillo-Facial surgeons.
Hand surgery

Hand surgery is concerned with acute injuries and chronic diseases of the hand and wrist, correction of congenital malformations of the upper extremities, and peripheral nerve problems (such as brachial plexus injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome). Hand surgery is an important part of training in plastic surgery, as well as microsurgery, which is necessary to replant an amputated extremity. The hand surgery field is also practiced by orthopedic surgeons and general surgeons. Scar tissue formation after surgery can be problematic on the delicate hand, causing loss of dexterity and digit function if severe enough. There have been cases of surgery to women's hands in order to correct perceived flaws to create the perfect engagement ring photo.[20]
Microsurgery

Microsurgery is generally concerned with the reconstruction of missing tissues by transferring a piece of tissue to the reconstruction site and reconnecting blood vessels. Popular subspecialty areas are breast reconstruction, head and neck reconstruction, hand surgery/replantation, and brachial plexus surgery.
Pediatric plastic surgery

Children often face medical issues very different from the experiences of an adult patient. Many birth defects or syndromes present at birth are best treated in childhood, and pediatric plastic surgeons specialize in treating these conditions in children. Conditions commonly treated by pediatric plastic surgeons include craniofacial anomalies, Syndactyly[21] (webbing of the fingers and toes), Polydactyly (excess fingers and toes at birth), cleft lip and palate, and congenital hand deformities.
Techniques and procedures
In plastic surgery, the transfer of skin tissue (skin grafting) is a very common procedure. Skin grafts can be derived from the recipient or donors:
Autografts are taken from the recipient. If absent or deficient of natural tissue, alternatives can be cultured sheets of epithelial cells in vitro or synthetic compounds, such as integra, which consists of silicone and bovine tendon collagen with glycosaminoglycans.
Allografts are taken from a donor of the same species.
Xenografts are taken from a donor of a different species.
Usually, good results would be expected from plastic surgery that emphasize careful planning of incisions so that they fall within the line of natural skin folds or lines, appropriate choice of wound closure, use of best available suture materials, and early removal of exposed sutures so that the wound is held closed by buried sutures.
Reconstructive surgery

Reconstructive plastic surgery is performed to correct functional impairments caused by burns; traumatic injuries, such as facial bone fractures and breaks; congenital abnormalities, such as cleft palates or cleft lips; developmental abnormalities; infection and disease; and cancer or tumors. Reconstructive plastic surgery is usually performed to improve function, but it may be done to approximate a normal appearance.
The most common reconstructive procedures are tumor removal, laceration repair, scar repair, hand surgery, and breast reduction plasty. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of reconstructive breast reductions for women increased in 2007 by 2 percent from the year before. Breast reduction in men also increased in 2007 by 7 percent. In 2012, there were 68,416 performed.
Some other common reconstructive surgical procedures include breast reconstruction after a mastectomy for the treatment of cancer, cleft lip and palate surgery, contracture surgery for burn survivors, and creating a new outer ear when one is congenitally absent.
Plastic surgeons use microsurgery to transfer tissue for coverage of a defect when no local tissue is available. Free flaps of skin, muscle, bone, fat, or a combination may be removed from the body, moved to another site on the body, and reconnected to a blood supply by suturing arteries and veins as small as 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter.

Cosmetic surgery procedures

Cosmetic surgery is a voluntary or elective surgery that is performed on normal parts of the body with the only purpose of improving a person’s appearance and/or removing signs of aging. In 2014, nearly 16 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States alone.[22] The number of cosmetic procedures performed in the United States has almost doubled since the start of the century. 92% of cosmetic procedures were performed on women in 2014, up from 88% in 2001.[23] Nearly 12 million cosmetic procedures were performed in 2007, with the five most common surgeries being breast augmentation, liposuction, breast reduction, eyelid surgery and abdominoplasty. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery looks at the statistics for 34 different cosmetic procedures. Nineteen of the procedures are surgical, such as rhinoplasty or facelift. The nonsurgical procedures include Botox and laser hair removal. In 2010, their survey revealed that there were 9,336,814 total procedures in the United States. Of those, 1,622,290 procedures were surgical (p.5). They also found that a large majority, 81%, of the procedures were done on Caucasian people (p.12).[24]
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) estimates that more than 333,000 cosmetic procedures were performed on patients 18 years of age or younger in the US in 2005 compared to approx. 14,000 in 1996. This is significant because it encourages younger people to continue these procedures later in life.[25] The increased use of cosmetic procedures crosses racial and ethnic lines in the U.S., with increases seen among African-Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans as well as Caucasian Americans. In Europe, the second largest market for cosmetic procedures, cosmetic surgery is a $2.2 billion business.[26] Of 1191 UK newspaper articles, 89% used the term ‘plastic surgery’ in the context of cosmetic surgery. This is significant as it shows the frequency in which the western world portrays cosmetic surgery.[27] In Asia, cosmetic surgery has become more popular, and countries such as China and India have become Asia's biggest cosmetic surgery markets.[28] South Korea is also rising in popularity due to their expertise in facial bone surgeries. The first publication by a team of South Korean surgeons on facial bone contouring surgeries was published illustrating various surgery methods used for facial bone contouring surgeries.[29]
Plastic surgery is increasing slowly, rising 115% from 2000 to 2015. "According to the annual plastic surgery procedural statistics, there were 15.9 million surgical and minimally-invasive cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2015, a 2 percent increase over 2014."[30]
The most popular aesthetic/cosmetic procedures include:
Abdominoplasty ("tummy tuck"): reshaping and firming of the abdomen
Blepharoplasty ("eyelid surgery"): reshaping of upper/ lower eyelids including Asian blepharoplasty
Phalloplasty ("penile surgery"): construction (or reconstruction) of a penis or, sometimes, artificial modification of the penis by surgery, often for cosmetic purposes
Mammoplasty:
Breast augmentations ("breast implant" or "boob job"): augmentation of the breasts by means of fat grafting, saline, or silicone gel prosthetics, which was initially performed to women with micromastia
Reduction mammoplasty ("breast reduction"): removal of skin and glandular tissue, which is done to reduce back and shoulder pain in women with gigantomastia and for men with gynecomastia
Mastopexy ("breast lift"): Lifting or reshaping of breasts to make them less saggy, often after weight loss (after a pregnancy, for example). It involves removal of breast skin as opposed to glandular tissue
Buttock augmentation ("butt implant"): enhancement of the buttocks using silicone implants or fat grafting ("Brazilian butt lift") and transfer from other areas of the body
Buttock lift: lifting, and tightening of the buttocks by excision of excess skin
Cryolipolysis: refers to a medical device used to destroy fat cells. Its principle relies on controlled cooling for non-invasive local reduction of fat deposits to reshape body contours.
Cryoneuromodulation: Treatment of superficial and subcutaneous tissue structures using gaseous nitrous oxide, including temporary wrinkle reduction, temporary pain reduction, treatment of dermatologic conditions, and focal cryo-treatment of tissue
Calf Augmentation: done by silicone implants or fat transfer to add bulk to calf muscles
Labiaplasty: surgical reduction and reshaping of the labia
Lip enhancement: surgical improvement of lips' fullness through enlargement
Cheiloplasty: surgical reconstruction of the lip
Rhinoplasty ("nose job"): reshaping of the nose
Otoplasty ("ear surgery"/"ear pinning"): reshaping of the ear, most often done by pinning the protruding ear closer to the head.
Rhytidectomy ("face lift"): removal of wrinkles and signs of aging from the face
Neck lift: tightening of lax tissues in the neck. This procedure is often combined with a facelift for lower face rejuvenation.
Browplasty ("brow lift" or "forehead lift"): elevates eyebrows, smooths forehead skin
Midface lift ("cheek lift"): tightening of the cheeks
Genioplasty: augmentation of the chin with an individual's bones or with the use of an implant, usually silicone, by suture of the soft tissue [29]
Cheek augmentation ("cheek implant"): implants to the cheek
Orthognathic Surgery: altering the upper and lower jaw bones (through osteotomy) to correct jaw alignment issues and correct the teeth alignment
Fillers injections: collagen, fat, and other tissue filler injections, such as hyaluronic acid
Brachioplasty ("Arm lift"): reducing excess skin and fat between the underarm and the elbow[31]
Laser Skin Rejuvenation or laser resurfacing: the lessening of depth in pores of the face
Liposuction ("suction lipectomy"): removal of fat deposits by traditional suction technique or ultrasonic energy to aid fat removal
Zygoma reduction plasty: reducing the facial width by performing osteotomy and resecting part of the zygomatic bone and arch [29]
Jaw reduction: reduction of the mandible angle to smooth out an angular jaw and creating a slim jaw [29]
The most popular surgeries are Botox, liposuction, eyelid surgery, breast implants, nose jobs, and facelifts.[32]
Complications, risks and reversals
All surgery has risks. Common complications of cosmetic surgery includes hematoma, nerve damage, infection, scarring, implant failure and organ damage.[33][34][35] Breast implants can have many complications, including rupture. In 2011 FDA stated that one in five patients who received implants for breast augmentation will need them removed within 10 years of implantation.[36]
Psychological disorders
Though media and advertising do play a large role in influencing many people's lives, such as by making people believe plastic surgery to be an acceptable course to change our identities to our liking,[37] researchers believe that plastic surgery obsession is linked to psychological disorders like body dysmorphic disorder.[38] There exists a correlation between sufferers of BDD and the predilection toward cosmetic plastic surgery in order to correct a perceived defect in their appearance.[39]
BDD is a disorder resulting in the sufferer becoming "preoccupied with what they regard as defects in their bodies or faces." Alternatively, where there is a slight physical anomaly, then the person’s concern is markedly excessive.[39] While 2% of people suffer from body dysmorphic disorder in the United States, 15% of patients seeing a dermatologist and cosmetic surgeons have the disorder. Half of the patients with the disorder who have cosmetic surgery performed are not pleased with the aesthetic outcome. BDD can lead to suicide in some of its sufferers. While many with BDD seek cosmetic surgery, the procedures do not treat BDD, and can ultimately worsen the problem. The psychological root of the problem is usually unidentified; therefore causing the treatment to be even more difficult. Some say that the fixation or obsession with correction of the area could be a sub-disorder such as anorexia or muscle dysmorphia.[40]
In some cases, people whose physicians refuse to perform any further surgeries, have turned to "do it yourself" plastic surgery, injecting themselves and running extreme safety risks.[41]
See also
Biomaterial
Body modification
Ethnic plastic surgery
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Scalp reconstruction
List of plastic surgery flaps
Cosmetic surgery in Australia

Further reading

 Media related to Plastic surgery at Wikimedia Commons

What percentage of Americans got plastic surgery in 2017?


The KGB (Russian:Комите́т Госуда́рственной Безопа́сности (КГБ), tr.Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti,IPA:[kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪnːəj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ](listen)), translated in English as Committee for State Security, was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. As a direct successor of preceding agencies such as Cheka, NKGB, NKVD and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence and secret police. Similar agencies were constituted in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russia, and consisted of many ministries, state committees and state commissions.
The agency was a military service governed by army laws and regulations, in the same fashion as the Soviet Army or MVD Internal Troops. While most of the KGB archives remain classified, two online documentary sources are available.[1][2] Its main functions were foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, operative-investigatory activities, guarding the State Border of the USSR, guarding the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, organization and ensuring of government communications as well as combating nationalism, dissent, and anti-Soviet activities.
In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the KGB was split into the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.
After breaking away from Georgia in the early 1990s with Russian help, the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia established its own KGB (keeping this unreformed name).[3]
Mode of operation

A Time magazine article in 1983 reported that the KGB was the world's most effective information-gathering organization.[4] It operated legal and illegal espionage residencies in target countries where a legal resident gathered intelligence while based at the Soviet embassy or consulate, and, if caught, was protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity. At best, the compromised spy was either returned to the Soviet Union or was declared persona non grata and expelled by the government of the target country. The illegal resident spied, unprotected by diplomatic immunity, and worked independently of Soviet diplomatic and trade missions, (cf. the non-official cover CIA officer). In its early history, the KGB valued illegal spies more than legal spies, because illegal spies infiltrated their targets with greater ease. The KGB residency executed four types of espionage: (i) political, (ii) economic, (iii) military-strategic, and (iv) disinformation, effected with "active measures" (PR Line), counter-intelligence and security (KR Line), and scientific–technological intelligence (X Line); quotidian duties included SIGINT (RP Line) and illegal support (N Line).[5]
The KGB classified its spies as agents (intelligence providers) and controllers (intelligence relayers). The false-identity or legend assumed by a USSR-born illegal spy was elaborate, using the life of either a "live double" (participant to the fabrications) or a "dead double" (whose identity is tailored to the spy). The agent then substantiated his or her legend by living it in a foreign country, before emigrating to the target country, thus the sending of US-bound illegal residents via the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, Canada. Tradecraft included stealing and photographing documents, code-names, contacts, targets, and dead letter boxes, and working as a "friend of the cause" or as agents provocateurs, who would infiltrate the target group to sow dissension, influence policy, and arrange kidnappings and assassinations.[6]
History

Mindful of ambitious spy chiefs—and after deposing Premier Nikita Khrushchev—Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and the CPSU knew to manage the next over-ambitious KGB Chairman, Aleksandr Shelepin (1958–61), who facilitated Brezhnev's palace coup d'état against Khrushchev in 1964 (despite Shelepin not then being in the KGB). With political reassignments, Shelepin protégé Vladimir Semichastny (1961–67) was sacked as KGB Chairman, and Shelepin himself was demoted from chairman of the Committee of Party and State Control to Trade Union Council chairman.
In the 1980s, the glasnost liberalisation of Soviet society provoked KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov (1988–91) to lead the August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev. The thwarted coup d'état ended the KGB on 6 November 1991. The KGB's main successors are the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) and the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service).
In the US
Between the World Wars
The GRU (military intelligence) recruited the ideological agent Julian Wadleigh, who became a State Department diplomat in 1936. The NKVD's first US operation was establishing the legal residency of Boris Bazarov and the illegal residency of Iskhak Akhmerov in 1934.[7] Throughout, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and its General Secretary Earl Browder, helped NKVD recruit Americans, working in government, business, and industry.
Other important, low-level and high-level ideological agents were the diplomats Laurence Duggan and Michael Whitney Straight in the State Department, the statistician Harry Dexter White in the Treasury Department, the economist Lauchlin Currie (an FDR advisor), and the "Silvermaster Group", headed by statistician Greg Silvermaster, in the Farm Security Administration and the Board of Economic Warfare.[8] Moreover, when Whittaker Chambers, formerly Alger Hiss's courier, approached the Roosevelt Government—to identify the Soviet spies Duggan, White, and others—he was ignored. Hence, during the Second World War (1939–45)—at the Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945), and Potsdam (1945) conferences—Big Three Ally Joseph Stalin of the USSR, was better informed about the war affairs of his US and UK allies than they were about his.[9]
Soviet espionage was at its most successful in collecting scientific and technological intelligence about advances in jet propulsion, radar and encryption, which impressed Moscow, but stealing atomic secrets was the capstone of NKVD espionage against Anglo–American science and technology. To wit, British Manhattan Project team physicist Klaus Fuchs (GRU 1941) was the main agent of the Rosenberg spy ring.[10] In 1944, the New York City residency infiltrated top secret Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico by recruiting Theodore Hall, a 19-year-old Harvard physicist.[11][12]
During the Cold War
The KGB failed to rebuild most of its US illegal resident networks. The aftermath of the Second Red Scare (1947–57) and the crisis in the CPUSA hampered recruitment. The last major illegal resident, Rudolf Abel (Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher/"Willie" Vilyam Fisher), was betrayed by his assistant, Reino Häyhänen, in 1957.[13]
Recruitment then emphasised mercenary agents, an approach especially successful in scientific and technical espionage, since private industry practised lax internal security, unlike the US Government. One notable KGB success occurred in 1967,with the walk-in recruitment of US Navy Chief Warrant Officer John Anthony Walker. Over eighteen years, Walker enabled Soviet Intelligence to decipher some one million US Navy messages, and track the US Navy.[14]
In the late Cold War, the KGB was successful with intelligence coups in the cases of the mercenary walk-in recruits FBI counterspy Robert Hanssen (1979–2001) and CIA Soviet Division officer Aldrich Ames (1985–1994).[15]
In the Soviet Bloc
It was Cold War policy for the KGB of the Soviet Union and the secret services of the satellite states to extensively monitor public and private opinion, internal subversion and possible revolutionary plots in the Soviet Bloc. In supporting those Communist governments, the KGB was instrumental in crushing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and the Prague Spring of "Socialism with a Human Face", in 1968 Czechoslovakia.
During the Hungarian revolt, KGB chairman Ivan Serov personally supervised the post-invasion "normalization" of the country. In consequence, KGB monitored the satellite state populations for occurrences of "harmful attitudes" and "hostile acts;" yet, stopping the Prague Spring, deposing a nationalist Communist government, was its greatest achievement.
The KGB prepared the Red Army's route by infiltrating to Czechoslovakia many illegal residents disguised as Western tourists. They were to gain the trust of and spy upon the most outspoken proponents of Alexander Dubček's new government. They were to plant subversive evidence, justifying the USSR's invasion, that right-wing groups—aided by Western intelligence agencies—were going to depose the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. Finally, the KGB prepared hardline, pro-USSR members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC), such as Alois Indra and Vasiľ Škultéty, to assume power after the Red Army's invasion.[16]
The KGB's Czech success in the 1960s was matched with the failed suppression of the Solidarity labour movement in 1980s Poland. The KGB had forecast political instability consequent to the election of Archbishop of Kraków Karol Wojtyla as the first Polish Pope, John Paul II, whom they had categorised as "subversive" because of his anti-Communist sermons against the one-party PUWP régime. Despite its accurate forecast of crisis, the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP) hindered the KGB's destroying the nascent Solidarity-backed political movement, fearing explosive civil violence if they imposed the KGB-recommended martial law. Aided by their Polish counterpart, the Służba Bezpieczeństwa (SB), the KGB successfully infiltrated spies to Solidarity and the Catholic Church,[17] and in Operation X co-ordinated the declaration of martial law with Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Polish Communist Party;[18] however, the vacillating, conciliatory Polish approach blunted KGB effectiveness—and Solidarity then fatally weakened the Communist Polish government in 1989.
Suppressing internal dissent

During the Cold War, the KGB actively sought to combat "ideological subversion" – anti-communist political and religious ideas and the dissidents who promoted them – which was generally dealt with as a matter of national security in discouraging influence of hostile foreign powers. After denouncing Stalinism in his secret speech On the Personality Cult and its Consequences in 1956, head of state Nikita Khrushchev lessened suppression of "ideological subversion". As a result, critical literature re-emerged, including the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962), by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was code-named PAUK ("spider") by the KGB. After Khrushchev's deposition in 1964, Leonid Brezhnev reverted the State and KGB to actively harsh suppression; house searches to seize documents and the continual monitoring of dissidents became routine again. To wit, in 1965, such a search-and-seizure operation yielded Solzhenitsyn manuscripts of "slanderous fabrications", and the subversion trial of the novelists Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel; Sinyavsky (alias "Abram Tertz"), and Daniel (alias "Nikolai Arzhak"), were captured after a Moscow literary-world informant told KGB when to find them at home.[19]
In 1967, the campaign of this suppression increased under new KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov. After suppressing the Prague Spring, KGB Chairman Andropov established the Fifth Directorate to monitor dissension and eliminate dissenters. He was especially concerned with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov, "Public Enemy Number One".[20] Andropov failed to expel Solzhenitsyn before 1974; but did internally exile Sakharov to Gorky in 1980. The KGB failed to prevent Sakharov's collecting his Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, but did prevent Yuri Orlov collecting his Nobel Prize in 1978; Chairman Andropov supervised both operations.
KGB dissident-group infiltration featured agents provocateur pretending "sympathy to the cause", smear campaigns against prominent dissidents, and show trials; once imprisoned, the dissident endured KGB interrogators and sympathetic informant cell-mates. In the event, Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost policies lessened persecution of dissidents; he was effecting some of the policy changes they had been demanding since the 1970s.[21]
Notable operations
With the Trust Operation (1921–1926), the OGPU successfully deceived some leaders of the right-wing, counter-revolutionary White Guards back to the USSR for execution.
NKVD infiltrated and destroyed Trotskyist groups; in 1940, the Spanish agent Ramón Mercader assassinated Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.
KGB favoured active measures (e.g. disinformation), in discrediting the USSR's enemies.
For war-time, KGB had ready sabotage operations arms caches in target countries.
According to declassified documents, the KGB aggressively recruited former Nazi intelligence officers after the war.[22]  The KGB used them to penetrate the West German intelligence service.[22]
In the 1960s, acting upon the information of KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, the CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton believed KGB had moles in two key places—the counter-intelligence section of CIA and the FBI's counter-intelligence department—through whom they would know of, and control, US counter-espionage to protect the moles and hamper the detection and capture of other Communist spies. Moreover, KGB counter-intelligence vetted foreign intelligence sources, so that the moles might "officially" approve an anti-CIA double agent as trustworthy. In retrospect, the captures of the moles Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen proved that Angleton, though ignored as over-aggressive, was correct, despite the fact that it cost him his job at CIA, which he left in 1975.
In the mid-1970s, the KGB tried to secretly buy three banks in northern California to gain access to high-technology secrets. Their efforts were thwarted by the CIA. The banks were Peninsula National Bank in Burlingame, the First National Bank of Fresno, and the Tahoe National Bank in South Lake Tahoe. These banks had made numerous loans to advanced technology companies and had many of their officers and directors as clients. The KGB used the Moscow Narodny Bank Limited to finance the acquisition, and an intermediary, Singaporean businessman Amos Dawe, as the frontman.[23]
Bangladesh
On 2 February 1973, the Politburo, which was led by Yuri Andropov at the time, demanded that KGB members influence Bangladesh (which was then newly formed) where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was scheduled to win parliamentary elections. During that time, the Soviet secret service tried very hard to ensure support for his party and his allies and even predicted an easy victory for him. In June 1975, Mujib formed a new party called BAKSAL and created a one-party state. Three years later, the KGB in that region increased from 90 to 200, and by 1979 printed more than 100 newspaper articles. In these articles, the KGB officials accused Ziaur Rahman, popularly known as "Zia", and his regime of having ties with the United States.[24]
In August 1979, the KGB accused some officers who were arrested in Dhaka in an overthrow attempt, and by October, Andropov approved the fabrication of a letter in which he stated that Muhammad Ghulam Tawab, an Air Vice-Marshal at the time, was the main plotter,  which led the Bangladesh, Indian and Sri Lankan press to believe that he was an American spy. Under Andropov's command, Service A, a KGB division, falsified the information in a letter to Moudud Ahmed in which it said that he was supported by the American government and by 1981 even sent a letter accusing the Reagan administration of plotting to overthrow President Zia and his regime. The letter also mentioned that after Mujib was assassinated the United States contacted Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to replace him as a short-term President. When the election happened in the end of 1979, the KGB made sure that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party would win. The party received 207 out of 300 seats, but the Zia regime did not last long, falling on 29 May 1981 when after numerous escapes, Zia was assassinated in Chittagong.[24]
Afghanistan

The KGB started infiltrating Afghanistan as early as 27 April 1978. During that time, the Afghan Communist Party[25] was planning the overthrow of the imperially appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan. Under the leadership of Major General Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy and Muhammad Rafi–code named Mammad and Niruz respectively–the Soviet secret service learned of the imminent uprising. Two days after the uprising, Nur Muhammad Taraki, leader of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, issued a notice of concern to the Soviet ambassador Alexander Puzanov and the resident of Kabul-based KGB embassy Viliov Osadchy that they could have staged a coup three days earlier hence the warning. On that, both Puzanov and Osadchy dismissed Taraki's complaint and reported it to Moscow, which broke a 30-year contract with him soon after.[24][26]
The centre then realized that it was better for them to deal with a more competent agent, which at the time was Babrak Karmal, who later accused Nur Muhammad Taraki of taking bribes and even of having secretly contacted the United States embassy in Kabul. On that, the centre again refused to listen and instructed him to take a position in the Kabul residency by 1974. On 30 April 1978, Taraki, despite being cut off from any support, led the coup which later became known as Saur Revolution, and became the country's President, with Hafizullah Amin as Deputy-Prime Minister and Vice-President. On 5 December 1978, Taraki compared the April revolt to the Russian Revolution, which struck Vladimir Kryuchkov, the FCD chief of that time.[24][26]
On 27 March 1979, after losing the city of Herat, Amin became the next Prime Minister, and by 27 July became Minister of Defence as well. The centre though was concerned of his powers since the same month he issued them a complaint about lack of funds and demanded US$400,000,000. Furthermore, it was discovered that Amin had a master's degree from Columbia University, and that he preferred to communicate in English instead of Russian. Unfortunately for Moscow's intelligence services, Amin succeeded Taraki and by 16 September Radio Kabul announced that the PDPA received a fake request from Taraki concerning health issues among the party members. On that, the centre accused him of "terrorist" activities and expelled him from the Communist Party.[24][26]
The following day General Boris Ivanov, who was behind the mission in Kabul along with General Lev Gorelov and Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Pavlovsky, visited Amin to congratulate him on his election to power. On the same day the KGB decided to imprison Sayed Gulabzoy as well as Muhammad Watanjar and Asadullah Sarwari but while in captivity and under an investigation all three denied the allegation that the current Minister of Defence was an American secret agent. The denial of claims was passed on to Yuri Andropov and Leonid Brezhnev, who as the main chiefs of the KGB proposed operation Raduga to save the life of Gulabzoy and Watanjar and send them to Tashkent from Bagram airbase by giving them fake passports. With that and a sealed container in which an almost breathless Sarwari was laying, they came to Tashkent on 19 September.[24][26]
During the continued investigation in Tashkent, the three were put under surveillance in one of the rooms for as long as four weeks where they were investigated for the reliability of their claims by the KGB. Soon after, they were satisfied with the results and sent them to Bulgaria for a secret retreat. On 9 October, the Soviet secret service had a meeting in which Bogdanov, Gorelov, Pavlonsky and Puzanov were the main chiefs who were discussing what to do with Amin who was very harsh at the meeting. After the two-hour meeting they began to worry that Amin will establish an Islamic Republic in Afghanistan and decided to seek a way to put Karmal back in. They brought him and three other ministers secretly to Moscow during which time they discussed how to put him back in power. The decision was to fly him back to Bagram airbase by 13 December. Four days later, Amin's nephew, Asadullah, was taken to Moscow by the KGB for acute food poisoning treatment.[24][26]
On 19 November 1979, the KGB had a meeting on which they discussed Operation Cascade, which was launched earlier that year. The operation carried out bombings with the help of GRU and FCD.[26] On 27 December, the centre received news of the Darul Aman Palace, that KGB Special Forces Alpha and Zenith Group, supported by the 154th OSN GRU, also known as Muslim battalion and paratroopers from the 345th Guards Airborne Regiment stormed the Tajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and killed Afghan President Hafizullah Amin and his 100–150 personal guards.[27] His 11-year-old son died due to shrapnel wounds.[28] The Soviets installed Babrak Karmal as Amin's successor. Several other government buildings were seized during the operation, including the Ministry of Interior building, the Internal Security (KHAD) building, and the General Staff building (Darul Aman Palace). Out of the 54 KGB operators that assaulted the palace, 5 were killed in action, including Colonel Grigori Boyarinov, and 32 were wounded. Alpha Group veterans call this operation one of the most successful in the group's history. In June 1981, there were 370 members in the Afghan-controlled KGB intelligence service throughout the nation which were under the command of Ahmad Shah Paiya and had received all the training they need in the Soviet Union. By May 1982 the Ministry of Internal Affairs was set up in Afghanistan under the command of KHAD. In 1983 Boris Voskoboynikov became the next head of the KGB while Leonid Kostromin became his Deputy Minister.[26]
August 1991 coup

On 18 August 1991, Chairman of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov, along with seven other Soviet leaders, formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency and attempted to overthrow the government of the Soviet Union. The purpose of the attempted coup d'état was to preserve the integrity of the Soviet Union and the constitutional order. President Mikhail Gorbachev was arrested and ineffective attempts were made to seize power. Within two days, the attempted coup collapsed.[29]
The KGB was succeeded by the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) of Russia, which was succeeded by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).[30]
Organization
Republican affiliations

The republican affiliation offices almost completely duplicated the structural organization of the main KGB.
KGB of Belarusian SSR / KDB of Belarus (see State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus)
KGB of Ukraine / KDB of Ukraine (see Committee for State Security (Ukraine))
KGB of Moldovan SSR / CSS of Moldova
KGB of Estonian SSR / RJK of Estonia
KGB of Latvian SSR / LPSR Valsts drošības komiteja (VDK)
KGB of Lithuanian SSR / VSK of Lithuania
KGB of Georgian SSR / KSU of Georgia
KGB of Armenian SSR
KGB of Azerbaijan SSR / DTK of Azerbaijan
KGB of Kazakh SSR
KGB of Kyrgyz SSR
KGB of Uzbek SSR
KGB of Turkmen SSR
KGB of Tajik SSR
KGB of Russia (created in 1991) (see Federal Security Service)
Leadership
The Chairman of the KGB, First Deputy Chairmen (1–2), Deputy Chairmen (4–6). Its policy Collegium comprised a chairman, deputy chairmen, directorate chiefs, and republican KGB chairmen.
Directorates
First Chief Directorate (Foreign Operations) – foreign espionage. (now the Foreign Intelligence Service or SVR in Russian)
Second Chief Directorate – counter-intelligence, internal political control.
Third Chief Directorate (Armed Forces) – military counter-intelligence and armed forces political surveillance.
Fourth Directorate (Transportation security)
Fifth Chief Directorate – censorship and internal security against artistic, political, and religious dissension; renamed "Directorate Z", protecting the Constitutional order, in 1989.
Sixth Directorate (Economic Counter-intelligence, industrial security)
Seventh Directorate (Surveillance) – of Soviet nationals and foreigners.
Eighth Chief Directorate – monitored-managed national, foreign, and overseas communications, cryptologic equipment, and research and development.
Ninth Directorate (Guards and KGB Protection Service) – The 40,000-man uniformed bodyguard for the CPSU leaders and families, guarded critical government installations (nuclear weapons, etc.), operated the Moscow VIP subway, and secure Government–Party telephony. President Yeltsin transformed it to the Federal Protective Service (FPS).
Fifteenth Directorate (Security of Government Installations)
Sixteenth Directorate (SIGINT and communications interception) – operated the national and government telephone and telegraph systems.
Border Guards Directorate responsible for the USSR's border troops.
Operations and Technology Directorate – research laboratories for recording devices and Laboratory 12 for poisons and drugs.

Other units
KGB Personnel Department
Secretariat of the KGB
KGB Technical Support Staff
KGB Finance Department
KGB Archives
KGB Irregulars
Administration Department of the KGB, and
The CPSU Committee
KGB Spetsnaz (special operations) units such as:
Alpha Group
Vega Group
Zenith Group
Kremlin Guard Force for the Presidium, et al., then became the FSO
List of chairmen

Insignia

NKVD

 Komsomol KGB

See also

Active measures
Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies
CIA
Eastern Bloc politics
FBI
Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information
Federal Protective Service
Federal Security Service (KGB successor in Russia)
Foreign Intelligence Service
Security Service of Ukraine
State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus
History of Soviet espionage
Index of Soviet Union-related articles
ISI/FIA/IB
National Directorate of Security (KHAD successor in Afghanistan)
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Mitrokhin Archive
Mossad
Numbers station
RAW
SMERSH
Venona project
Department of Homeland Security
World Peace Council

Notes

Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000) ISBN0-14-028487-7; Basic Books (1999) ISBN0-465-00310-9; trade (2000) ISBN0-465-00312-5
Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books (2005) ISBN0-465-00311-7
John Barron, KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents, Reader's Digest Press (1974) ISBN0-88349-009-9
Amy Knight, The KGB: Police and Politics in the Soviet Union, Unwin Hyman (1990) ISBN0-04-445718-9
Richard C.S. Trahair and Robert Miller, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations, Enigma Books (2009) ISBN978-1-929631-75-9
Further reading
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Солженицын, А.И. (1990). Архипелаг ГУЛАГ: 1918 - 1956. Опыт художественного исследования. Т. 1 - 3. Москва: Центр "Новый мир". (in Russian)
Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia — Past, Present, and Future Farrar Straus Giroux (1994) ISBN0-374-52738-5.
John Barron, KGB: The Secret Works of Soviet Secret Agents Bantam Books (1981) ISBN0-553-23275-4
Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) ISBN0-8133-4280-5
John Dziak Chekisty: A History of the KGB, Lexington Books (1988) ISBN978-0-669-10258-1

(in Russian) Бережков, Василий Иванович (2004). Руководители Ленинградского управления КГБ: 1954-1991. Санкт-Петербург: Выбор, 2004. ISBN5-93518-035-9
Кротков, Юрий (1973). «КГБ в действии». Published in «Новый журнал» №111, 1973 (in Russian)
Рябчиков, С. В. (2004). Размышляя вместе с Василем Быковым // Открытый мiръ, № 49, с. 2-3. (in Russian)(ФСБ РФ препятствует установлению мемориальной доски на своем здании, в котором ВЧК - НКВД совершала массовые преступления против человечности. Там была установлена "мясорубка", при помощи которой трупы сбрасывались чекистами в городскую канализацию.)
Рябчиков, С. В. (2008). Великий химик Д. И. Рябчиков // Вiсник Мiжнародного дослiдного центру "Людина: мова, культура, пiзнання", т. 18(3), с. 148-153. (in Russian) (об организации КГБ СССР убийства великого русского ученого)
Рябчиков, С. В. (2011). Заметки по истории Кубани (материалы для хрестоматии) // Вiсник Мiжнародного дослiдного центру "Людина: мова, культура, пiзнання", 2011, т. 30(3), с. 25-45. (in Russian)

For Cold War KGB activity in the US, see Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks
 from the
 at GlobalSecurity.org (organization)
Viktor M. Chebrikov et al., eds. Istoriya sovetskikh organov gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti ("History of the Soviet Organs of State Security"). (1977),
(in Russian) , by Yuri Shchekochikhin


The Persian Empire (Persian: شاهنشاهی ایران, translit. Šâhanšâhiye Irân, lit. 'Imperial Iran') refers to any of a series of imperial dynasties that were centred in Persia/Iran from the 6th century BC Achaemenid Empire era to the 20th century AD in the Qajar dynasty era.
Achaemenids
The first dynasty of the Persian Empire was created by Achaemenids, established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires.[1] It covered much of the Ancient world when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Persepolis is the most famous historical site related to Persian Empire in the Achaemenid era and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
Parthians and Sasanians
From 247BC to 224AD, Persia was ruled by the Parthian Empire, which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, and then by the Sassanian Empire, which ruled up until the mid-7th century.[2]
The Persian Empire in the Sasanian era was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Persia in 651AD, establishing the even larger Islamic caliphate, and later by the Mongol invasion. The main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was slowly replaced by Islam which achieved a majority in the 10th century.
Safavids

The Safavid Empire was the first Persian Empire established after the Arab conquest of Persia by Shah Ismail I. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavid Persians established control over parts of Greater Persia/Iran and reasserted the Persian identity of the region, becoming the first native Persian dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Persian state.
Literature, art and architecture flourished in the Safavid era once again, and it is often cited as the "rebirth of the Persian Empire". Safavids also announced Shia Islam as the official religion in the empire versus the Sunni Islam in the neighbouring Ottoman Empire.
List of the dynasties described as a Persian Empire

Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC)
Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD)
Sasanian Empire (224–651 AD)
Safavid dynasty (1501–1736 AD)
Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796 AD)
Qajar dynasty (1785–1925 AD)

Extent of the first Persian Empire, the Achaemenid Empire
Extent of the Parthian Empire
Extent of the Sasanian Empire in 621
The maximum extent of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I
Extent of the Afsharid Empire under Nader Shah

See also
List of monarchs of Persia
Iranian monarchy
List of Iranian dynasties and countries
Persia
Iranian peoples
Persian people
List of tombs of Iranian people

 The dictionary definition of Persian Empire at Wiktionary
Persian Empire travel guide from Wikivoyage
 Media related to Persian Empire at Wikimedia Commons