This is a rare cavalry M1927 shashka, issued to a Non-Commissioned Officer of the NKVD, the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs.
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh Del) was established after the revolution in 1917, the agency was originally tasked with conducting regular police work and overseeing the country's prisons and labour camps. In 1934, the operations of the Soviet secret police were transferred to the NKVD.
The NKVD became known for its role in political repression and for carrying out the “Great Purge” (1936-1938), the wide scale repression of the Soviet peoples and ethnic cleansing of minorities under Joseph Stalin. The NKVD undertook mass extrajudicial executions of untold numbers of citizens and established and administered the Gulag system of forced labour camps. Their agents were responsible for the repression of the wealthy and middle classes as well as the mass deportations of entire nationalities to uninhabited regions of the country such as Siberia. They oversaw and conducted internal and international espionage as well as political assassinations and enforced Soviet policy within the Soviet Union and in puppet governments elsewhere in the world.
The 810mm single-edged blade has a flat spine with an upper false edge and terminates in an asymmetric spear point. The blade has a broad single fuller on each side and is in good condition. There are some sharpening scratches and edge nicks consistent with use and the edge remains very sharp.
The ricasso is stamped with “ГК15КP” and a worn circular mark. The obverse ricasso bears the Zlatoust factory mark “ÐИД which stands for “ЗЛÐТОУСТОВСКИЙ ЗÐВОД FÁBRICA ZLATOUSTOVSKIY.” Below the factory mark is the date stamp, 36r, indicating that the sword was made in 1936.
Unlike regular military shashka with their brass hilt and scabbard furnishing, the NKVD shashka hilt and scabbard furniture is of plated steel. The plated grip ferrule is stamped with the serial number 0961 and the obverse is stamped with a К. The hardwood grip with diagonal grooves is in very good condition. The beaked and “eared,” plated steel pommel is in great condition and bears the C.C.C.P, double-headed eagle and starred hammer and sickle markings of the Soviet Union. The underside of the beaked pommel is stamped with a Cyrillic mark.
The shashka is complete with its scabbard with plated steel mounts and Model 1891 Mosin Nagant bayonet. The M1891 is one of the scarcer Mosin nagant carbine bayonets. The sword was worn in a scabbard suspended with the edge uppermost. The scabbard is in very good condition and the sword sheathes and draws smoothly and is held firmly within.
This is an excellent example of a rare Soviet Secret Police shashka that saw service during one of the darkest periods or Soviet history, the purges and atrocities committed by the NKVD under the Stalinist regime.
