The foundation of a “military-police-bureaucratic system” to confront the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century is considered. The leading role of Police Department
and Security Departments in the fight against terror is noted. Mail cover check (i.e. secret acquaintance with
letters without the knowledge of addressers and addressees) is analyzed efficiency-wise, as a method of the
revolutionaries’ observation and struggle with them by obtaining information about the revolutionary underworld, and legalistically.
Keywords: political police; revolutionary terror; revolutionary underworld; mail cover check.
References and Sources
References
- Galvazin S. N. Okhrannye struktury Rossiiskoi imperii: formirovanie apparata, analiz operativnoi praktiki (Russian Empire’s Security Structures: Establishment Formation, Fieldwork Analysis), M., Sovershenno sekretno, 2001, 192 p.
- Eroshkin N. P. Samoderzhavie nakanune krakha (Autocracy on the Eve of Crash), M., Prosveshchenie, 1975, 160 p., il.
- Lur’e F. M. Politicheskii sysk v Rossii. 1649—1917 (Political Investigation in Russia. 1649—1917), M., Tsentrpoligraf, 2006, 400 p.
Sources
4. Bakai M. E. Iz vospominanii (From Memoirs), Byloe, 1908, No.7, p. 119.
5. Zavarzin P. P. Rabota tainoi politsii (Security Police’s Work), Parizh, 1924, 170 p.
6. GARF. F. 63. Op. 13. Ed. khr. 427—428. L. 116.