Lenin made many enemies during 1917 and 1918, and in fact in 1918 he was shot three times but a socialist revolutionary agent. in December 1917 he set up a secret police force called The Cheka, who would spy on his own friends and the people to crush opposition. The tsar had used a group known as the Okhrana who had been brutal. The Cheka's job was to root out enemies of the state, and they were supposed to follow a code. in reality they were brutal. Anyone suspected of being against the bolsheviks was arrested and either exhiled or executed. They played a key part in the Red Terror and the ordinary citizens of russia feared being arrested by them.