Department for the protection of public safety and order. From the history of the Security Departments of the Police Department of the Russian Empire

May 12th, 2015

The security department appeared in Russia in the 1860s, when the country was swept by a wave of political terror. Gradually, the tsarist secret police turned into a secret organization, whose employees, in addition to fighting the revolutionaries, solved their own private problems...

Special agents

One of critical roles the so-called special agents played in the tsarist secret police, whose inconspicuous work allowed the police to create effective system surveillance and prevention of opposition movements. These included spies - “surveillance agents” and informers - “auxiliary agents”.

On the eve of the First World War, there were 70,500 informers and about 1,000 spies. It is known that every day in both capitals from 50 to 100 surveillance agents went to work.

There was a fairly strict selection process for the filler position. The candidate had to be “honest, sober, courageous, dexterous, developed, quick-witted, enduring, patient, persistent, careful.” They usually took young people no older than 30 years old with an inconspicuous appearance.

Informers were hired for the most part from among doormen, janitors, clerks, and passport officers. Auxiliary agents were required to report all suspicious persons to the local supervisor working with them.

Unlike spies, informers were not full-time employees, and therefore did not receive a permanent salary. Usually, for information that turned out to be “substantial and useful” upon verification, they were given a reward from 1 to 15 rubles.

Sometimes they were paid with things. Thus, Major General Alexander Spiridovich recalled how he bought new galoshes for one of the informants. “And then he failed his comrades, failed with some kind of frenzy. That’s what the galoshes did,” the officer wrote.

Perlustrators

There were people in the detective police who performed a rather unseemly job - reading personal correspondence, called perlustration. This tradition was introduced by Baron Alexander Benkendorf even before the creation of the security department, calling it “a very useful thing.” The reading of personal correspondence became especially active after the assassination of Alexander II.

Some of the “black offices” had their own specifics. According to the newspaper " Russian word"for April 1917, if in St. Petersburg they specialized in illustrating letters from dignitaries, then in Kyiv they studied the correspondence of prominent emigrants - Gorky, Plekhanov, Savinkov.

It was quite a long and labor-intensive job. Sometimes letters had to be deciphered, copied, or exposed to acids or alkalis to reveal the hidden text. And only then were the suspicious letters forwarded to the investigative authorities.

Friends among strangers

For more efficient work security department The Police Department has created an extensive network of “internal agents” that penetrate into various parties and organizations and exercise control over their activities.

According to the instructions for recruiting secret agents, preference was given to “those suspected or already involved in political affairs, weak-willed revolutionaries who were disappointed or offended by the party.”

Payment for secret agents varied from 5 to 500 rubles per month, depending on their status and the benefits they brought. The Okhrana encouraged the advancement of its agents up the party ladder and even helped them in this matter by arresting party members of higher ranks.

Okhrana, (until 1903 it was called the “Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order”), local authority political investigation V pre-revolutionary Russia, subordinate to the Police Department. The main task of the security departments was to search for revolutionary organizations and individual revolutionaries. Security departments had an extensive special agency of both “external surveillance” - spies, and secret agents (passive informants and active participants in the activities of revolutionary organizations - provocateurs).

The police treated those who voluntarily expressed a desire to serve as security with great caution. public order, since there were many random people in their midst. As a Police Department circular shows, during 1912 the secret police refused the services of 70 people “as untrustworthy.”

For example, Feldman, an exiled settler recruited by the secret police, when asked about the reason for giving false information, answered that he was without any means of support and committed perjury for the sake of reward.

Provocateurs

According to CIA founder Allen Dulles, it was the Russians who raised provocation to the level of art. According to him, “this was the main means by which the tsarist secret police attacked the trail of revolutionaries and dissidents.” Dulles compared the sophistication of Russian agents provocateurs to the characters of Dostoevsky.

Yevno Fishelevich Azef is a Russian revolutionary provocateur, one of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and, at the same time, a Secret Officer of the Police Department.

The main Russian provocateur is called Yevno Azef, both a police agent and the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. It is not without reason that he is considered the organizer of the murders of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve. Azef was the highest paid secret agent in the empire, receiving 1000 rubles. per month.

In the end, with the assistance of the police, Malinovsky achieved his election to State Duma, and as a member of the Bolshevik faction.

Strange inaction

There were events associated with the activities of the secret police that left an ambiguous judgment about themselves. One of them was the assassination of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin.

September 1, 1911 in Kiev opera house anarchist and secret informant for the secret police Dmitry Bogrov, without any interference, mortally wounded Stolypin with two shots at point-blank range. Moreover, at that moment neither Nicholas II nor the members were nearby. royal family, who, according to the action plan, were supposed to be with the minister.

Some researchers, in particular Vladimir Zhukhrai, believe that Spiridovich and Kulyabko were directly involved in the murder of Stolypin. There are many facts that indicate this. First of all, it was suspiciously easy for experienced secret police officers to believe in Bogrov’s legend about a certain Socialist Revolutionary who was going to kill Stolypin, and moreover, they allowed him to enter the theater building with a weapon for the imaginary exposure of the alleged murderer.

The case of Stolypin's killer - secret agent of the Kyiv security department Dmitry Bogrov.

Zhukhrai claims that Spiridovich and Kulyabko not only knew that Bogrov was going to shoot Stolypin, but also contributed to this in every possible way. Stolypin apparently guessed that a conspiracy was brewing against him. Shortly before the murder, he dropped the following phrase: “I will be killed and killed by members of the security.”

Security abroad

In 1883, a foreign secret police was created in Paris to monitor Russian emigrant revolutionaries. And there was someone to keep an eye on: these were the leaders." People's Will» Lev Tikhomirov and Marina Polonskaya, and the publicist Pyotr Lavrov, and the anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin. It is interesting that the agents included not only visitors from Russia, but also civilian Frenchmen.

From 1884 to 1902, the foreign secret police was headed by Pyotr Rachkovsky - these were the heydays of its activities. In particular, under Rachkovsky, agents destroyed a large People's Will printing house in Switzerland. But Rachkovsky was also involved in suspicious connections - he was accused of collaborating with the French government.

Pyotr Ivanovich Rachkovsky - Russian police administrator, leader foreign intelligence, organizer of political investigation in Russia.

When the director of the Police Department, Plehve, received a report about Rachkovsky’s dubious contacts, he immediately sent General Silvestrov to Paris to check the activities of the head of the foreign secret police. Silvestrov was killed, and soon the agent who reported on Rachkovsky was found dead.

Moreover, Rachkovsky was suspected of involvement in the murder of Plehve himself. Despite the compromising materials, high patrons from the circle of Nicholas II were able to ensure the immunity of the secret agent.

Security department

Group photo of employees of the St. Petersburg security department. 1905.

Security department, (colloquial security common in Soviet historical literature) is the name of the structural bodies of the police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, which were in charge of political investigation. In system government controlled Russian Empire in late XIX- early 20th century they occupied one of the most important places.

Story

The first security department was created in 1866 at the office of the St. Petersburg mayor after the assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov on Emperor Alexander II, it was called “ Department for maintaining order and tranquility in the capital" On May 12, 1886, the staff of the St. Petersburg Security Department was approved, which from April 9, 1887 became known as “ Department for the protection of public safety and order in the city of St. Petersburg" The St. Petersburg Security Department, being an organ of the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was directly subordinate to the St. Petersburg mayor. The department included a general office, a security team, a Central Filing Detachment and a Registration Bureau. The general office consisted of eight desks.

The second security department was Moscow, created on November 1, 1880 by order of the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov. At first it existed as “ Secret-search department at the Office of the Moscow Chief of Police"In 1881 it was renamed " Department for the protection of public safety and order in the city of Moscow" The Moscow Security Department, also being an organ of the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was directly subordinate to the Moscow mayor. In a number of cases, the Moscow Security Department in its investigative activities went beyond the boundaries of Moscow and the Moscow province, fulfilling the role of an all-Russian center of political investigation. The direct executor of this task was the so-called “ Flying squad spies" or "Special detachment of observation agents", created in 1894 at the Moscow Security Department. The detachment was headed by E.P. Mednikov, whose immediate leader was the head of the Security Department, S.V. Zubatov. In 1902, the “Flying Detachment Detachment” under the Moscow Security Department was abolished; it was replaced by permanent search centers created at the provincial gendarmerie departments and the newly formed “Flying Detachment Detachment” under the Police Department from the most experienced spies of the Moscow Security Department.

Third Security Department, Department for the protection of public safety and order in the city of Warsaw, appeared in 1900.

Heads of the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order in Kholmsky District

Heads of the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order in Turkmenabat

Chiefs of the Public Safety and Order Division of the China Eastern Railway

De Livron, Pavel Rudolfovich

Heads of the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order in the Orenburg Province

Heads of the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order at the Petersburg Station

Special agents

One of the most important roles in the tsarist secret police was played by the so-called special agents, whose discreet work allowed the police to create an effective system of surveillance and prevention of opposition movements. These included spies - “surveillance agents” and informers - “auxiliary agents”.

On the eve of the First World War, there were 70,500 informers and about 1,000 spies. It is known that every day in both capitals from 50 to 100 surveillance agents went to work.

Informers were hired mostly from among doormen, janitors, clerks, and passport officers. Auxiliary agents were required to report all suspicious persons to the local supervisor working with them.
Unlike spies, informers were not full-time employees, and therefore did not receive a permanent salary. Usually, for information that turned out to be “substantial and useful” upon verification, they were given a reward from 1 to 15 rubles.

Perlustrators

“Black offices”, created under Catherine II, worked in many cities of Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkov, Tiflis. The secrecy was such that the employees of these offices did not know about the existence of offices in other cities.
Some of the “black offices” had their own specifics. According to the newspaper “Russkoe Slovo” for April 1917, if in St. Petersburg they specialized in illustrating letters from dignitaries, then in Kyiv they studied the correspondence of prominent emigrants - Gorky, Plekhanov, Savinkov.

According to data for 1913, 372 thousand letters were opened and 35 thousand extracts were made. Such labor productivity is amazing, considering that the staff of clarifiers was only 50 people, joined by 30 postal workers.
It was quite a long and labor-intensive job. Sometimes letters had to be deciphered, copied, or exposed to acids or alkalis to reveal the hidden text. And only then were the suspicious letters forwarded to the investigative authorities.

Friends among strangers

To make the security department work more efficiently, the Police Department created an extensive network of “internal agents” that penetrate into various parties and organizations and exercise control over their activities. According to the instructions for recruiting secret agents, preference was given to “those suspected or already involved in political affairs, weak-willed revolutionaries who were disappointed or offended by the party.”
Payment for secret agents varied from 5 to 500 rubles per month, depending on their status and the benefits they brought. The Okhrana encouraged the advancement of its agents up the party ladder and even helped them in this matter by arresting party members of higher ranks.

The police treated with great caution those who voluntarily expressed a desire to serve in protecting public order, since there were many random people in their midst. As a Police Department circular shows, during 1912 the secret police refused the services of 70 people “as untrustworthy.” For example, Feldman, an exiled settler recruited by the secret police, when asked about the reason for giving false information, answered that he was without any means of support and committed perjury for the sake of reward.

Provocateurs

The activities of recruited agents were not limited to espionage and transmitting information to the police; they often provoked actions for which members of an illegal organization could be arrested. The agents reported the place and time of the action, and it was no longer difficult for the trained police to detain the suspects. According to CIA founder Allen Dulles, it was the Russians who raised provocation to the level of art. According to him, “this was the main means by which the tsarist secret police attacked the trail of revolutionaries and dissidents.” Dulles compared the sophistication of Russian agents provocateurs to the characters of Dostoevsky.

Lenin’s “comrade-in-arms” Roman Malinovsky became a very successful provocateur. An secret police agent regularly helped the police identify the location of underground printing houses, reported on secret meetings and secret meetings, but Lenin still did not want to believe in his comrade’s betrayal. In the end, with the assistance of the police, Malinovsky achieved his election to the State Duma, and as a member of the Bolshevik faction.

Strange inaction

There were events associated with the activities of the secret police that left an ambiguous judgment about themselves. One of them was the assassination of Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. On September 1, 1911, at the Kiev Opera House, the anarchist and secret informant of the secret police Dmitry Bogrov, without any interference, fatally wounded Stolypin with two shots at point-blank range. Moreover, at that moment neither Nicholas II nor members of the royal family were nearby, who, according to the plan of events, were supposed to be with the minister
.

In connection with the murder, the head of the Palace Guard, Alexander Spiridovich, and the head of the Kyiv security department, Nikolai Kulyabko, were brought into the investigation. However, on instructions from Nicholas II, the investigation was unexpectedly terminated.
Some researchers, in particular Vladimir Zhukhrai, believe that Spiridovich and Kulyabko were directly involved in the murder of Stolypin. There are many facts that indicate this. First of all, it was suspiciously easy for experienced secret police officers to believe in Bogrov’s legend about a certain Socialist Revolutionary who was going to kill Stolypin, and moreover, they allowed him to enter the theater building with a weapon for the imaginary exposure of the alleged murderer.

Security abroad

In 1883, a foreign secret police was created in Paris to monitor Russian emigrant revolutionaries. And there was someone to keep an eye on: the leaders of Narodnaya Volya, Lev Tikhomirov and Marina Polonskaya, and the publicist Pyotr Lavrov, and the anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin. It is interesting that the agents included not only visitors from Russia, but also civilian Frenchmen.

The main role in the formation of security departments in the Russian Empire belongs to the Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Pleve and the head of the Moscow security department, Colonel S.V. Zubatov. It was according to the project of the head of the Moscow Security Department that the structure of the local gendarmerie was organized, the main task of which was reduced to intelligence and operational investigative work. Since 1826, such events have been carried out by gendarmerie branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw.

Benkendorf’s employees also carried out operations abroad, but in the provinces the gendarmerie performed the functions inherent in a unit of the current National Guard. Many officers in the province simply did not understand political situation in the empire, the situation urgently needed to be corrected. This reform was 20 years late; the first Marxist circles appeared in Nizhny Novgorod in the mid-80s of the 19th century, and in the 90s Lenin had already visited them several times.

The NGZHU management staff, consisting of 37 people located in Nizhny Novgorod, was physically unable to track political processes, occurring throughout the Nizhny Novgorod province, and yet the population at the beginning of the twentieth century was already 1.6 million people. In the office of the NGZHU, there were only two scribes, the document flow of the gendarmerie management was quite large, it is doubtful that two people would be able to process such a massive amount of documents in a timely manner with all the resulting consequences, especially for operational work.

The number of NGJU employees was not increased, even during the growth of revolutionary activity at the beginning of the twentieth century. As a result, to the beginning economic crisis In 1900, out of 11 districts of the province, 9 were outside the supervision of the NGZHU.

A special temporary department for maintaining order and security in Nizhny Novgorod appeared in November 1894 and existed until November 1, 1896. The reason for the appearance of a gendarmerie branch in our city was the All-Russian Art and industrial exhibition 1896 and a visit to coincide with it Nizhny Novgorod Nicholas II. This gendarmerie institution has proven itself very well. Here, for example, is how Nizhny Novgorod revolutionary A.I. Piskunov recalled the great pogrom in 1896. Thanks to numerous arrests and expulsions, the social democratic work that had been carried out until now was completely undermined, and proper organization couldn't get better. We had to put in a lot of work to establish connections with the workers until we found the threads through which we established contact with the Kurbatovsky plant, and by the spring of 1900 we had a circle of young people from this plant. Subsequently, he was the main core of the village organization. – d. in the city.

In view of the heavy political situation with socialist circles in Nizhny Novgorod, on October 2, 1902, a search department was formed, and since 1903, the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Law and Order of the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire. This reform was 20 years late - the first Marxist circles appeared in Nizhny Novgorod in the mid-80s of the 19th century, and in the 90s they were already visited several times by Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin).

The structure of the department consisted of an office, an external surveillance department and an agent department of internal surveillance. The head of the department was Captain Zasypkin, the office had a clerk and three scribes, and the first clerk was M.I. Rozhdestvensky, who had previously served as a police supervisor in the Moscow Security Department. During business trips, thanks to his experience, he replaced the head of the department, and in 1903 he was appointed head of external surveillance. At the beginning of work, the department had 18 lower ranks, several night watchmen and policemen to guard the building. Secret office work was carried out alphabetically on cards different colors. For example, social democrats were listed on blue cards, Socialist Revolutionaries were on red cards, anarchists were on green cards, students were on yellow cards, and soldiers were on gray cards. White cards were issued to cadets and all other citizens who showed interest in politics, that is, almost the entire intelligentsia in the city was “under the hood.”

The external surveillance department had a staff of 11 spies, since 1908 15, recruited from former non-commissioned officers, the gradation went from junior spy, spy to senior spy. On August 10, 1907, Comrade Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Makarov sent letter No. 132539 to the Nizhny Novgorod Governor with a request to enlist the NOO surveillance agents as police guards to increase their meager allowance. On December 17 and 18, 1907, the governor’s office assigned only three spies as guards. In 1908, the position of head of external surveillance appeared; before that, senior spy Semyonov was considered the unofficial boss of the department, and from 1903 to 1908 Rozhdestvensky, senior spy Mochalov became the official head with a salary of 100 rubles. And on July 25, 1909, a peasant woman from the village of Yuryevsky district, Vladimir province, Matryona Antonovna Semenova, was hired as a police officer, with a salary of 30 rubles per month. But already on December 1, 1909, the filler filed a resignation letter, the work was both hard and yet dangerous.

It was forbidden to use spies for infiltration, since they were quickly exposed. This was facilitated by the fact that the spies received the same civilian clothes, purchased with government money. The monthly salary of these employees was 25-40 rubles. A nickname was chosen for the object of observation - for example, Yakov Sverdlov was given the nickname “Baby”, and Genrikh Yagoda was given the nickname “Owl”. From June 7, 1904, spies could be brought in as witnesses, but this practice led more to the falsification of facts.

The intelligence department of internal surveillance consisted of the head of the department, his assistant and the secret employees themselves. The head of the department himself was responsible for recruiting agents and working with them. For meetings with agents, there were two safe houses and hotel rooms were rented. The most valuable agent during revolutionary events In 1905, a woman appeared under the pseudonym “Preobrazhenskaya”; her name could not be figured out until today. In April 1912, due to a shortage personnel Clerk Rozhdestvensky and head of external surveillance Mochalov were allowed to work with the agents. If the agent failed, the outcome could be fatal. So, in 1903, agent Pyatnitsky was killed by members of the RSDLP, and in 1906, agent Tatarov was eliminated by militants of the Social Revolutionary Party.

In addition to political agents, auxiliary agents were also recruited. These agents consisted of tavern owners and their regulars, volost and village clerks, and servants of persons under surveillance. Agents - “pieces” or “candid” - were a special agency that demanded a reward for every information obtained. But they caused more irritation than benefit. So, for example, in 1912, in the security department in the city itself there were 8 secret agents, 4 auxiliary, and 1 “outspoken”. The agent's salary was 20 rubles, valuable agents paid 50-100 rubles. According to Captain Greshner, the first head of the department, Zasypkin, had a predatory attitude towards agents, attracting agents as witnesses to trials. The recruitment of agents in the province was carried out by the Nizhny Novgorod Gendarmerie Directorate, but due to not the most warm relations with the security department, in 1906, with the sanction of Colonel Levitsky, a repentant revolutionary, a resident of the city, who came to the gendarmerie department, was recruited, and captain Tereshchenkov demanded that the Police Department transfer the agent to the security department. By the way, when taking over the detachment from the acting captain of the murdered Greshner, captain Zaglukhinsky, only one secret agent was transferred to captain Tereshchenko. This aroused strong suspicion among the new chief of Zaglukhinsky’s waste of agents during the month of his duties as head of the department.

The Nizhny Novgorod gendarmerie was also involved in the illustration of postal correspondence. The inspection station itself appeared in Nizhny Novgorod back in 1894. By the way, these actions required the permission of the district court by law, but there was not enough time for such trifles, and violation of the law became commonplace. At the post office, two auxiliary agents were recruited, who did titanic work for only 10-15 rubles a month. The results turned out to be very effective, the gendarmerie identified deeply hidden revolutionaries, often on the wanted list, and revolutionary and party “turnouts” were revealed. For example, the revolutionaries coded Ulyanov as “Ilyin”, Krupskaya as “Katenka”. Pseudonyms for organizations were also simple - the Mensheviks were called “Mishas”, and the Bolsheviks “Boris”. Many revolutionaries called their passports “boots.” In 1902, the Iskra newspaper was discovered in a letter coming from abroad, and in 1903, the identified recipients of the newspaper, the owners of the underground printing house and distributors were arrested.

The gendarmerie also had to check anonymous letters, but, as always, most of them only distracted from work. A lot of information was obtained during interrogations, but no evidence of beatings of those under investigation could be found; the fight remained the prerogative of the police. By the way, it is precisely because of the talkativeness of the police officials involved in joint events, there was an information leak. But, for a reason strained relations With the provincial gendarmerie department, the security department often had to involve police officials in all sorts of operations.

The main task for the newly arrived department head, Captain Greshner, was to search for secret agents. Since he took on this work competently, the result was the discovery and closure of two printing houses by December 1904 and the arrest of active revolutionaries. Information from Moscow colleagues also helped. The village of Sormovo, where 15,000 workers lived, caused particular tension. Workers gathered gatherings of several hundred people in forested areas, placing armed guards around the perimeter. From 1903 to 1904 alone, in Sormovo, police officers came under fire from worker militants seven times; during searches, pistols and revolvers were increasingly confiscated from workers. But, thanks to arrests among agitators from among the Nizhny Novgorod intelligentsia, strikes since August 1904 had only economic requirements. Leaflets were now printed only on a hectograph, which also reduced propaganda work.

Sormovo plan in 1905

The first Russian revolution in Nizhny Novgorod began on January 14, 1905 with a strike by women workers at the Molitov factory. By the end of January - beginning of February, strikes covered not only the workers of most factories in the province, but also employees, city clerks and pharmacy employees, and printing house employees went on strike. Initially, the demands were of an economic nature, the gendarmerie carried out active arrests among agitators calling for the overthrow of the autocracy, and army units were introduced into Sormovo. In March, the strikes began to wane, but on April 28, by order of the Socialist Revolutionary Party Committee, Captain Greshner was killed. Right at the entrance to the security department, while pursuing a terrorist, guard Kuritsyn was mortally wounded. The killer was caught up and detained; he turned out to be a nobleman of the Penza province Nikiforov. On August 12, 1905, the terrorist was hanged by court verdict. Interestingly, connections from Nikiforov led to Moscow dairy millionaire Chichkin. During a search of the millionaire, they found revolutionary literature, incriminating correspondence and two revolvers. True, the moneybag was quickly released from custody on substantial sureties.

For about a month, the duties of head of the department were performed by Captain Zaglukhinsky, and Captain Treshchenkov took over from him. At this time, a difficult situation developed in the village of Sormovo; up to a thousand workers gathered every day and listened to the speeches of speakers who directly called for the overthrow of the autocracy. Most of all, Captain Treshchenkov was outraged by the position of the governor, since he did not take any serious measures to disperse anti-government gatherings. At the beginning of July, the Nizhny Novgorod Committee of the RSDLP held a meeting with the Socialist Revolutionaries and local Mensheviks. General solution A strike was planned for July 9 with political demands. Through common efforts Cossacks and police groups of demonstrators were scattered in different parts cities. On July 10, the crowd gathered around 6 p.m. and headed to Ostrozhnaya Square, shouting anti-government slogans. But on the square the demonstrators were stopped by Cossacks and police. On the other side of the square, a crowd of loyal subjects of the sovereign gathered and rushed at the demonstrators with their fists. The pharmacist Heinze took out a weapon and shot at the pro-government townspeople, wounding the cab driver Klochiev. The crowd tore the aspiring revolutionary to death, and other fighters for the people's happiness suffered greatly from the people themselves. On July 11, the workers of the Sormovo plant incited the hook workers to go on strike, but they got into a fight, and the strikers began to shoot at the hook men, killing six people, including the river police supervisor Tumanov. The newspaper Proletary colorfully described these events as clashes between revolutionaries and “vile Black Hundreds” on July 9, 10 and 11.

The Security Department responded to these events on July 12 by seizing the printing house of the RSDLP and arresting most of the members of the party’s “technical group.” On September 8, 1905, another printing house was liquidated; two party members from the “technical group” were found at work. The action was very successful, since active revolutionaries complained about the lack of propaganda literature. In addition, searches of members of the RSDLP helped reveal aspects of the creation of the fighting squad in Sormovo; literature on the production of explosives and the charter of the fighting group were discovered. At the same time, the gendarmerie administration liquidated the “Peasant Group” of the Socialist Revolutionaries, who had united with the Social Democrats. These actions normalized the situation until September, but already on the 1st of this month strikes began, which were joined by seminarians, pupils and students by October.

Drawing of the bombs that the combat squad was equipped with

Worker Parikov’s homemade cannon, which stood in a house near the main barricade in Sormovo

Homemade Macedonian bomb, made in Sormovo

Despite the manifesto of Nicholas II on the granting of freedoms, the operational situation in the city worsened. At the rallies held, there was agitation for revolution and the creation of armed squads with the goal of overthrowing the autocracy. But on October 21, a patriotic party was formed in the city, and already on the 23rd, a demonstration of the pro-government party took place, on which white flags appeared. The largest Black Hundred association in the empire began to be called the “White Banner”.

In November, the situation sharply worsened in Sormovo. The workers created their own militia, subjecting the police and gendarmes to fire when the latter appeared on the streets of Sormovo. The RSDLP now has city and Kanavinskaya fighting squads. At the beginning of December, the systematic arming of revolutionary militants was underway. It all ended with a shootout in Sormovo between the police and the workers, but the very next day, December 13, the workers built barricades and began skirmishing with the troops. The troops had no losses.

In Kanavin, on December 14, guards at a revolutionary meeting near the station opened fire on the attacking Black Hundreds, resulting in the death of two attackers. After this, the revolutionaries barricaded themselves in the station building. But already on the morning of the 15th, army artillerymen, after several hits on the station building, forced them to surrender.

In response to the speeches of the revolutionaries, Governor Fredericks forms a “patriotic squad” and arms it. Armed uprising managed to suppress it quickly enough. The use of artillery in urban environments has proven itself well. The Security Department, together with the Gendarmerie Directorate and the police, begins general searches of identified persons involved in revolutionary and terrorist activities. Already during the first searches in mid-December, encrypted lists of military squads were found at the prominent revolutionary Zhdanovsky, and two bomb-making laboratories were discovered. On December 17, according to intelligence information, two terrorists who tried to blow up the Makaryevsk police station were detained. At the same time, searches were carried out at the militants of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, only 50 revolvers were seized. The most important thing was that by the end of December the activities of the strike committee, which coordinated revolutionary events, were suppressed. At the beginning of 1906, active measures were taken against members of the RSDLP. On February 16, the party printing house was liquidated. In addition to the usual propaganda literature, many were found with weapons and explosive devices.

The remaining members of the RSDLP decided to direct their efforts to agitating the peasants, but due to small Money and due to the lack of literature, this activity was not particularly successful. By August 1906, thanks to good intelligence work, the remaining group of members of the RSDLP was identified. On August 8, the activities of the underground printing house were suppressed and mass arrests were made. The Socialist Revolutionaries, together with the anarchists, began to carry out “exes” to conduct their activities, that is, they engaged in banal robbery. Thanks to intelligence information, many expropriators were detained. On August 2, the remaining at large was liquidated battle group Socialist Revolutionary Party (hereinafter referred to as AKP). Also, thanks to the agents, a raid on the State Bank involving Moscow AKP militants was prevented. From April to October 1906 alone, 3 mimeographs, 2 printing presses, 2 hectographs, false passports, 21 revolvers, 3 guns, 3 bombs and propaganda literature were seized. In September, at the direction of Stolypin, the department compiled lists of civil servants who were members of revolutionary organizations or sympathized with them for further dismissal. Attacks on the Black Hundreds by revolutionaries became quite frequent; on the other hand, the gendarmes themselves had to keep an eye on the “Black Hundreds” so that they did not carry out pogroms. By the end of the year, the Nizhny Novgorod security department entered the central search area with subordination to the Moscow security department; the reform was carried out on the initiative of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs P. A. Stolypin according to Trusevich’s project.

From the beginning of 1907, anarchists began to make themselves known loudly. Particularly mentally unbalanced revolutionaries, often prone to sadism, became anarchists, which increased their danger to ordinary townspeople inclusive. Already on March 10, anarchists robbed the factory office, stealing 1,165 rubles. At the same time, a group of anarchist-communists was formed, who broke away from the AKP; it was they who committed this robbery, but thanks to intelligence information, almost all of them were soon detained. In August, the remaining anarcho-communists attacked the Surovatikha station, shooting two gendarmes, then robbed Kamenskoye Postal office. 12 people were detained in the case.

At the beginning of 1907, the jurisdiction of the Nizhny Novgorod Security Department was expanded to the backwater in view of active revolutionary propaganda among river workers and ship repairers. Already in August, department employees liquidated the central bureau of the AKP Shipping Organization. As a result of the arrests this case During the search, an underground printing house of the Social Revolutionaries was discovered. The gendarmes did not forget about the RSDLP. In July, party members had different apartments Several false passports, 58 seals of various institutions, and revolutionary literature were confiscated. This discovery helped expose a number of revolutionaries and their appearances. Since May, the security department had to actively deal with the Teachers' Union, in which a large number of citizens were members of the RSDLP. On October 8, after a search of Kasatkin, 28 different items of revolutionary pamphlets alone were confiscated. In August 1907, members of the AKP encouraged the printing workers of Mashistov to go on strike, but the demands were only of an economic nature, and after negotiations with the owner of the printing house, the strike ended, despite threats to the workers from members of the AKP.

The beginning of 1908 was marked by a worsening of class relations in the village, which was associated with Stolypin's reform and the reluctance of peasants to leave the community. This forced the allocation of additional forces. On February 19, 1908, Captain Treshchenkov was replaced by Captain Erandakov. Since the anarcho-communists were under surveillance, the new head of the department was in for a surprise. During the robbery of the Malinovsky monastery, a member of the anarchist party was detained, who agreed to secret cooperation. Thanks to his information, members of the expropriation group were detained, an arms warehouse in Sormovo was liquidated, and a secret printing house of the AKP was liquidated there. In April, intelligence sources learned of a group of anarchists, numbering 13 militants, who were preparing to kill the director of the Sormovo plant, Moskvin. To prevent crime, the members of the group were searched. As a result, 2 revolvers and 92 brochures were seized revolutionary content, various poisons. On April 28, an arrest and search of the tradesman Andreev took place; the police carried it out on the personal orders of the governor. Without coordinating their actions, as expected, with the Nizhny Novgorod Security Department, the police harmed the operational development of the gendarmes.

On March 4, 1908, a temporary military district court sentenced peasant Pyotr Yegorovich Shtine to death penalty by hanging. Stine committed the murder of a theater worker and resisted the police during his arrest. On the same day, in the courtyard of the 1st building of the Nizhny Novgorod prison, the following criminals were hanged at night: Kuznetsov, Potarakin and Khlebopashtsev, famous expropriators and murderers with revolutionary romance.

For the first time, the security department was faced with cases of betrayal of its employees. In the Nizhny Novgorod prison, bombs, revolvers and bladed weapons were found in the cells of the revolutionaries. A search was conducted at the suspect's place of carrying prohibited items, and as a result, 3 letters were found from a senior spy in the security department, who was immediately fired due to compromising circumstances. Another shameful incident involves the betrayal of a night watchman who worked for AKP militants and gave descriptions of spies and agents.

In May, the Sormovo AKP organization, which had regained its strength, having received information about impending layoffs, decided to carry out a series of assassination attempts on employees of the plant administration in order to attract workers to its side. Based on intelligence information, searches were carried out, but as a result only prohibited literature was discovered. Unfortunately, the main punishment for terrorists was deportation to remote provinces of the empire. The Nizhny Novgorod security department dealt the next blow to the provincial organization of the AKP. On June 8, according to information from agent “Fiftieth”, it was liquidated technical group AKP, which published the newspaper “Socialist” in a legal printing house. In July, delegates to the party conference in Ryazan were arrested. In November, “Fiftieth” identified two Moscow AKP emissaries. On March 22, 1909, thanks to the same agent, the secret printing house of the AKP was liquidated. Also in 1908, agents in military units The Nizhny Novgorod garrison provided information about both the agitators who worked with the soldiers and the soldiers who sympathized with them.

At the beginning of 1909, to active actions The anarcho-communists decided to switch; they were led by 17-year-old Genrikh Yagoda. It was the future People's Commissar of Internal Affairs who advised visiting party members on the subject of robbing local banks and planned to receive weapons from Finland. But there was an agent among the anarchists, and all the terrorists’ endeavors failed. Another group of anarchists extorted 50,000 rubles from the Kamensky merchants; to demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions, two explosions were carried out on the Kamensky ships. The insolent terrorist called the owner of the ship from his hotel room. Captain Erandakov, who was expecting such a development of events, prepared in advance. He introduced himself as the owner’s brother and began to delay negotiations, and at that time the gendarmes were already bursting into the room.

On March 22, 1909, thanks to the same agent, the secret printing house of the AKP was liquidated. Moreover, the Volgar newspaper described how the Vlasov father and son, working on the typesetting of the Black Hundred newspaper “Minin” in the printing house, simultaneously printed out the proclamations of the Socialist Revolutionary Party on the Boston typewriter.

Also, at the beginning of the year, AKP activists decided to kill the governor, fortunately he was driving around at night with his mistresses completely without security. However, for some reason they did not commit a terrorist attack. In general, after the March searches and arrests and the seizure of the secret printing house on May 25, the party members regained their strength. The gendarmes did not forget about the RSDLP. On August 11, arrests were made, a mimeograph and 300 brochures of a criminal nature were seized, and most importantly, correspondence containing important information. On December 6, according to intelligence information, the party library of the RSDLP was confiscated; only 807 books and brochures of a criminal nature were confiscated. On December 13, mass arrests of members of the RSDLP took place. On August 21, a congress of the AKP Muslim Union was to be held in Nizhny Novgorod. Members of the State Duma Gireev, Tukaev and the St. Petersburg mullah Iskhakov were to take part in the work of the congress. By personal order of the governor, the delegates to the congress were searched, but nothing prohibited was found.

The year 1910 was marked by work within party organizations and various societies. For example, the Red Cross Society not only helped the families of arrested and exiled revolutionaries, but many of its members carried out Socialist Revolutionary propaganda. True, we also had to keep an eye on pro-government organizations. On August 1, Captain Erandakov transferred his affairs to Lieutenant Colonel Karaulov; 11 secret agents alone were transferred. But already on September 1, Lieutenant Colonel Karaulov handed over the cases to Lieutenant Colonel Strekalovsky. He immediately began by getting acquainted with the agents, and quite quickly the gendarme lieutenant colonel identified a deceitful agent nicknamed “Rul” and began to acquire new agents. At the same time, a circular came about involving security departments in counterintelligence activities. Two more circulars demanded that close attention be paid to Islamic and Jewish societies and organizations. And all this without increasing the staff of the departments. After the auditor’s visit to the Nizhny Novgorod security department, Lieutenant Colonel Strekalovsky received his first reprimand for playing cards in a public club, but even a year later, having received a similar remark, the brave lieutenant colonel was still playing. Since the revolutionary organizations were under relative intelligence “cap,” the new boss decided to closely study all kinds of societies. A total of 104 societies and organizations were inspected.

The year 1911 began with the liquidation of a group of Sormovo anarcho-communists. On February 2, activists of this group were arrested, after which serious groups of this kind did not appear until 1917. True, in August, the three activists who remained at large organized a robbery of the merchant Sotnikov, and then sent him a letter threatening to kill him, demanding 1,000 rubles. But soon they all left the city without visiting the merchant. And on September 23, the bomber Shamanin, who remained in the city, was searched, and revolvers and revolutionary literature were confiscated. Also on April 30, searches were carried out at the homes of active members of the RSDLP, but only prohibited literature was confiscated.

Anarchists' verdict to their comrade. GKU GOPANO f.1866 op.1 d.143 l.1

On August 15, 1907, the newspaper Nizhny Novgorod Leaflet reported that in the 1st building of the Nizhny Novgorod prison, the corpse of Dmitriev, nicknamed “Burzhuychik,” was found in a punishment cell. Suspicion fell on cellmates: Kuznetsov, Sokolov and Potarakin. Patarakin was detained with a bomb on Blagoveshchenskaya Square, and Sokolov, Kuznetsov and Dmitriev were members of the Sormovo gang of expropriators "Anarchist Terrorists" led by a certain Spiridonov.

Leaflet "White Banner". GKU GOPANO f.1866 op.1 d.167 l.167

There were 7 strikes at the Sormovsky plant in 1912; economic demands were the main ones, but the last one, in November, was purely political in nature. The work of the department became more difficult large group newly arrived workers employed in expanding production. Also, many workers did not register at their new place of residence. On April 14, following an intelligence tip, members of the RSDLP who had gathered to discuss the organization of elections to the State Duma were arrested. In August, Social Democrat Kondratyev was detained for propaganda among soldiers, but a search did not yield any incriminating materials. In November, a strike of Sormovo workers began, directed against the execution of Sevastopol sailors. This forced the Security Department to closely focus on the Sormovo group of the RSDLP, which had obviously strengthened by this time.

1913 came last year work of the Nizhny Novgorod security department. Half of the remaining employees were transferred in June to the Nizhny Novgorod provincial gendarmerie department to work in the search center. From the very beginning of the year, preparations began for the visit of Nicholas II to Nizhny Novgorod. From all over the empire, tips came from revolutionaries who, according to intelligence information, were preparing an assassination attempt on the Tsar. A plan of measures to protect the sovereign was developed. But, in addition, on January 24, a report was sent to the Police Department against Governor Khvostov, who, during the elections to the State Duma, legally removed the prominent cadet Savelyev from the lists, which sharply undermined the position of the right-wing forces in the city. But in view of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the arrival of the Tsar, this all faded into the background. Started from the beginning of the year painstaking work to check the documents of everyone entering the city. The crew of the Tsar's steamship was selected and tested. The entire city was divided into 14 districts, and passes were introduced in the places where the august person was located. There were 255 spies working in the city. On May 15 and 16, mass searches took place at the homes of unreliable individuals. Since the coordination between the newly arrived gendarmerie and police officers was excellent, as well as the entire preliminary work, the Security Department completed its last important task successfully. It should be noted that the fight against terrorism was hampered not only by overly liberal legislation, but also by Nicholas II himself’s lack of understanding of many processes within the country.

Sources
1. GKU TsANO funds: 179; 915; 916; 918; 919.
2. GKU TsANO fund 2 inventory 7 file 430
3. From the history of Nizhny Novgorod special services. Volume 1. Nizhny Novgorod, 2003.
4. Revolutionary movement in Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod province. Gorky, 1971.
5. V.I. Lenin and the Nizhny Novgorod revolutionary workers. Gorky, 1986.
6. GKU GOPANO fund 1866 op 2 case 67.
7. Newspaper "Volgar" for March 24, 1909.
8. Simple, really. Memories of Nizhny Novgorod residents about V.I. Lenin. Gorky 1988.
9. Ryzhakov Denis Germanovich “Political investigation bodies in the fight against the RSDLP and the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1902-1917.” Abstract of the dissertation for the competition scientific degree candidate historical sciences. Nizhny Novgorod, 2009.

Special agents

On the eve of the First World War, there were 70,500 informers and about 1,000 spies. It is known that every day in both capitals from 50 to 100 surveillance agents went to work.