High-Impact Terrorism Proceedings of a Russian-American Workshop (2002) / Chapter Skim
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From the Experience of the Intelligence Services of the Russian Empire in Combating Terrorists
From the Experience of the Intelligence Services of the Russian Empire in Combating Terrorists
Pages 69-75
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From page 69... ...
Commonwealth of Independent States Antiterrorist Center The Latin word terror, meaning fear or horror, was known to residents of the Russian Empire as far back as the first half of the nineteenth century. But words arising from this root, such as terrorism and terrorists, have been applied differently in Russia in different historical eras.
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From page 70... ...
Party varied at different times, but during the revolutionary uprising of 1917, it counted up to 700,000 members.2 Adhering to the opinion common at that time in radical circles regarding the need for professionalism in revolutionary and military activities, the Central Committee of the SR Party in late 1901 organized a special detachment for carrying out terrorist acts. It was known as the Combat Organization.
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From page 71... ...
The SRs decided to carry out this act as revenge against the governor for the so-called Khodyn disaster, at which 1389 people were killed and 1300 injured during the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896, and for the mass arrests, antisemitism, and persecution of the progressive press. The leaders of the SR Party's Central Committee understood that random casualties resulting from a terrorist act involving the use of explosive devices would reduce its political effect.
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From page 72... ...
" On February 2, 1905, the SR militant Ivan Kalyuev was standing in front of the Bolshoi Theater and already had his bomb in hand and his arm raised, ready to make the fatal throw into the Grand Duke's carriage. However, seeing that the Grand Duke was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth and children Maria and Dmitry, he decided to postpone the terrorist act.
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From page 73... ...
The difficult situation in which the intelligence services of the time found themselves was occasioned by the fact that the imperial ruling circles were not always able to define their political goals or the means of achieving them, even under the intensifying crisis conditions. Therefore, the police and gendarmes often set priorities themselves, at times even at the risk of the lives of high-ranking government officials and members of the imperial family.
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From page 74... ...
Although their sentences were lighter, especially in cases involving women and minors, they too, at Stolypin's order, instituted harsher trial procedures. The intensity of the struggle against revolutionary terrorism may be judged from the following data: in 1908 and 1909 in Russia, 16,440 civilians and military personnel were convictedfor political crimes, including armed attacks, of whom 3682 were condemned to death and 4517 to hard labor.12 The scale of the revolutionary terror that gripped the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century may be judged by the following data from the Police Department.
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From page 75... ...
The exposure of the agent Azev was an especially strong blow to the SR Party, after which it in fact broke apart into separate uncoordinated groups. After this, some of the SRs took up mysticism, engaging in "Godseeking" or "God-building." In particular, this category included Azef's deputy in the Combat Organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, B
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