Autocracy under siege : security police and opposition in Russia, 1866-1905 / Jonathan W. Daly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daly, Jonathan W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Secret service--Russia.

Secret service.

Police--Russia.

Police.

Internal security--Russia.

Internal security.

Russia.

Physical Description:

xi, 260 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

DeKalb : Northern Illinois University Press, 1998.

Summary:

Imperial Russia's security police has long been popularly associated with administrative lawlessness, harsh repression, and throngs of spies. Shocking tales told by revolutionaries and tendentious Soviet accounts have perpetuated such views. Yet Russia's security service on the eve of the Revolution of 1905 was relatively small-scale, law-abiding, and humane, especially given the extent of social and political opposition the regime faced.

Autocracy under Siege examines the role of the security service in the titanic struggle between the regime and those dedicated to the defeat of monarchical absolutism. From the first terrorist attempt on the life of a Russian emperor in 1866 through the seismic upheaval of 1905, Daly traces the reaction, expansion, and evolution of the security police in the face of the increased antigovernment activity that threatened the continued survival of the regime.

Drawing upon a wealth of sources, including many recently declassified archival documents, Autocracy under Siege provides a detailed analysis of the personnel, institutions, and effectiveness of the Imperial Russian security police. Daly further explores the interplay of regime and opposition at the point where they confronted each other most directly in the years before the 1905 upheaval.

Through comparisons with western European police institutions, Daly ultimately reveals that, despite their infamous reputation, the Imperial Russian security police actually resembled European models, a belief previously rejected by other historians. The most probing analysis to date of how and why Russia's security police developed, this study will prove essential to historians of Russia and Europe and toreaders interested in the fields of politics, law, and revolution.

Contents:

1 The Origins of a Modern Security Police in Russia 12

2 The Security Police System: Personnel and Local Institutions 49

3 New Security Policing Methods 72

4 Combating Conspiratorial and Broad-Based Opposition, 1891-1902 98

5 Zubatov's Unfinished Reforms, 1902-1904 124

6 Police and Administration in the Revolution of 1905 154.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [187]-248) and index.

ISBN:

0875802435

OCLC:

39202216