Zagranichnaia Agentura : The Tsarist Political Police in Europe

Abstract

Anti-tsarist political emigration, of sufficient size to be a recognized problem, dates from the 1870s, when the struggle against the autocracy was being conducted by the Party of the People's Will (Narodnaia Volia) through an active campaign of terror against Russian officials. During the 1870s, however, political emigres were not given serious attention by the regime, and the Russian police operated abroad only to a very limited extent. Foreign operations were often in the hands of several people, each directly responsible to the Third Section of His Majesty's Personal Chancellery. Their work was generally carried out in secret and consisted mainly of surveillance. An important turning-point in the development of the Russian political police occurred in 1881, in the wake of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The police system was reorganized under a newly created Ministry of Internal Affairs, thus effectively centralizing both regular and political police under a single authority. Police functions were centred in the Department of Police in St Petersburg, and, following the tradition of foreign ministries in Europe, came to be known by its location at 17 Ulitsa Fontanka. In common police parlance, the Department of Police became simply 'Fontanka'. The political police were removed from the Tsar's Personal Chancellery and became known as the Political Section of the Police Department. Later, apparently in an attempt to obscure the role and importance of the political police, its name was changed to Osoby Otdel, or Special Section, but its function remained unchanged. The