#21 - RW 11-12-04 - RW Home
Context (Moscow Times)
November 12-18, 2004
The Idea of Violence
Russia's acquaintance with terrorism began more than a century ago.
By Nabi Abdullaev

Some things never change. A century ago, as now, terrorism constituted one of Russia's greatest threats, with revolutionaries using homemade bombs to shatter the public's sense of domestic security.

Hundreds of people had died in the preceding three decades, from Emperor Alexander II and dozens of Cabinet and Duma members, to governors, police captains and local prosecutors. In 1905 alone, there were 51 terrorist attacks. The following year, the number rose to 78. These figures are taken from the 1914 edition of "The Handbook of a Social Revolutionary," published by the party that claimed responsibility for the lion's share of the bombings.

The handbook is one of the dozens of unique displays at a new exhibition covering terrorism in Russia and abroad from the late 19th century until World War I.

Time-worn, handwritten diaries of early Russian terrorists, faded death warrants issued by underground revolutionary cells, voluminous transcripts of terrorists' trials and many other artifacts have been pulled from the State Social-Political Library's storerooms for public display, many for the first time ever.

Among them is a manifesto issued by the People's Will party in October 1881, denouncing the recent assassination of U.S. President James Garfield by Charles Guiteau as an affront to a government promoting liberty. An ironic gesture, given that less than eight months before the manifesto was issued, People's Will leader Andrei Zhelyabov had killed Alexander II.

One of the differences between terrorism a century ago and terrorism now is that the earlier kind was never indiscriminate. Instead, said Maya Dvorkina, a library researcher and organizer of the exhibition, terrorists like Zhelyabov always made sure to target certain persons.

"Some of the documents show how attacks were called off when the targeted officials showed up with family members, or when the life of a stray passerby might be endangered in the attack," she said.

A third of the exhibition demonstrates how police gendarmes and the fearful Third Section -- the most hated secret service task force -- strove to cope with the deadly threat. Top officials filled volumes with analyses of extremist political parties and terrorist psychology, just as terrorism researchers do today at the RAND Corporation and in universities.

Indeed, the material on display is only a tiny portion of the library's holdings, which include vast databases on terrorists, extremists, their relatives and friends. According to Dvorkina, present-day intelligence officials visiting the exhibit have voiced their respect for the meticulousness and clarity of the century-old police records.

Other exhibits might leave the opposite impression, including a police card that describes Pavel Akselrod, a member of the People's Will and subsequent Social Democrat, as a "typical Jew with a black beard."

On the next stand, a three-page manual for officers issuing residence registrations advises them to examine stamps closely, check previous addresses and compare applicants' handwriting with that in their passports, in case they had forged the documents themselves.

In 1908, Russian terrorism took a sudden dive, registering only three attacks over the course of the year. It never expired totally, though. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin was gunned down in 1911, and the Revolution later propelled terror to new heights.

Scholars searching for the roots of the mass terror that decimated the Soviet Union in the years that followed would do well to visit this exhibit, where a quote from Vladimir Lenin is highlighted in his writings:

"We always refrained from individual terror, but we always expressed our admiration for the personal courage of terrorists and their readiness for sacrifice."

"From the History of Terrorism in Russia and Abroad" (Iz Istorii Terrorizma v Rossii i za Rubezhom) runs to Nov. 30 in the reading room of the State Social-Political Library, located at 4 Ulitsa Vilgelma Pika, Bldg. 2. Tel. 187-9566. Identification is required to enter.