The activities of the Russian joint stock company «Manufacturing Company Singer» in Siberia on the eve and during the First World War: espionage or spy mania?

Abstract

Based on the analysis of previously unpublished sources, the article examines the actions of the military counterintelligence agencies, the Separate Corps of Gendarmes, and the justice authorities to uncover the espionage activities of the Singer joint-stock company on the eve and the period of the First World War in Siberia, the investigation materials are interpreted, and its results are summed up. The theoretical basis of the research is the principle of consistency and the comparative historical method. The author concludes that the nature of the information collected by the company could well have been of an intelligence orientation, but at that time the domestic special services failed to collect a convincing evidence base to accuse the Singer company of mass espionage.

Keywords

• the russian empire
• the first world war
• singer company
• espionage
• spy mania
• the ministry of justice
• separate corps of gendarmes
• intelligence department
• military counterintelligence
• domestic special services