Вісник Харківського національного університету внутрішніх справ (Jul 2021)

Counteraction to Political Terrorism in the Russian empire on the Example of Ukrainian provinces in Late ХІХ – Early ХХ Century

  • S. Yu. Ivanov,
  • R. Yu. Kazankov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.32631/v.2021.2.03
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 93, no. 2
pp. 39 – 48

Abstract

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The peculiarities of the fight against political terrorism in the Russian Empire on the example of Ukrainian provinces in this period have been studied. In particular, the authors have analyzed historical conditions for the formation and development of various political forces of terrorist orientation, have demonstrated the basic measures on the part of state authorities and specialized law enforcement agencies on counteracting political terrorism. The emphasis has been placed on the fact that such concepts as terror and terrorism are very often interchangeable, although there is currently no their established definition. Terrorism is an attempt to pursue political interests by violent means. Terror is usually used after revolutions in order to gain complete control over society. In general, the authors have demonstrated the conditions and circumstances under which there was the transition to political attempts on various representatives of public authorities, and their motivation. It has been determined that one of the dominant motives for the transition to political terror was revenge for the repressive actions of the authorities against the populist movement during 1877-1878. Particular attention has been paid to regulatory legal documents of various levels; the authors have clarified their impact on the further fight against terrorism in the Empire; have determined the role of emergency lawmaking, such as: “On measures to protect public order and public safety”, “On the formation of military courts”, “On special measures to maintain public safety”, “Regulations on the structure of the secret police in the Empire”, etc. The authors have demonstrated the activities of specialized law enforcement agencies, without the functioning of which the fight against terrorists has not been successful. Among them were: the palace guard, the police department, the palace agency, security departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the corps of gendarmes. Their work was regulated in accordance with such documents as “Temporary Rules on the Arrangement of the Police”, “Regulations on the Gendarmerie Corps” and others.

Keywords