Pride and prejudice and “okhranka”. Political police in contemporary Russian historiography
Abstract
The article analyzes ideological assessments of the place for political police in the system of public relations and state institutions in the Russian Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the incorrect use of the term “provocation” as a symptom pointing to an uncritical selection of sources in the current historiography. The use of this term is analyzed through the example of the gendarme lieutenant colonel A.D. Zavaritsky’s case, presented in the article of DA. Butyrin, as well as the IP. Kalyayev’s case in the works by RS. Zakirov. Special attention is paid to the specific understanding of the practice of police provocation by V.F. Dzhunkovskii the Independent Corps of Gendarmes commander and the reflection of that concept in the article by DA. Gutnov. The article also presents other consequences of uncritical analysis of the sources of the epoch, such as: unconfirmed statements about the systematic physical coercion practiced by gendarmerie officers on suspects during interrogations, on the one hand, and idealization of the career of gendarme memoirists , on the other. The article make the assumption of the collective portrait of the ultimate beneficiary of the unjustified use of the term “provocation” as applied to the practices of Russian special services in the early 20th century, as well as it names the reasons for the spread of this phenomenon today.
About the Author
Anna M. Lavryonova
State Archive of the Russian Federation, Moscow
Russian Federation
postgraduate student
Russian Federation
postgraduate student
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Review
For citations:
Lavryonova A.M. Pride and prejudice and “okhranka”. Political police in contemporary Russian historiography. History and Archives. 2019;(1):30-47. (In Russ.)
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