Revolutionary Terror in Russia in 1906—1907: Historical and Legal Aspect

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of legal technologies of counteraction to terrorism in Russia in 19061907. The complex of special organizational and legal measures taken by the Russian authorities at the beginning of the XX century in order to counter the terrorist threat is studied. Special attention is given to both law-making and law-enforcement activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which continued to carry out systematic work to suppress the activities of terrorist groups. An attempt is made to establish key legal obstacles and restrictions to build an effective mechanism to combat terrorist crimes. It is noted that by the beginning of 1906 the method of organizing terrorist activities of revolutionary organizations had undergone significant changes: terror in Russia had become decentralized, and the procedure for making a decision on the implementation of another terrorist act had changed. The political component of the Party’s activities faded into the background, as the mass nature of terrorist practices by revolutionaries was not actually analyzed in any way, and the terror itself became more opportunistic and consistent with the realities of the revolutionary time. During this period, Russia began to register the facts of terrorist acts against members of pro-government organizations and structures of patriotic orientation: cases of terrorist acts against representatives of “legalized” political societies (primarily Black-Hundred organizations) became more frequent, which could provoke the emergence of mass inter-party protests. At the same time, the analysis of the revolutionary situation in Russia at that time shows that the majority of the known revolutionary parties made attempts to organize a mass armed uprising. Attention is focused on the emergence in the terrorist environment of a new tactic of political struggle through terrorist attacks — the organization of guerrilla warfare. Particular attention is given to the study of the problem of effective management of the Secret Agency of the Police Department.