The Russian Okhrana

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The Okhrana were from, the feared secret police of Tsarist Russia. They were founded by Alexander III, as part of a generally reactionary domestic policy, after his rise to the throne and the assassination of his father, Alexander II, by revolutionaries. Their main task was the suppression of political and labour dissent, and they were probably responsible for around 26,000 deaths, both in Russia and abroad.

The Okhrana's favourite method of operating was through co-opting people. They controlled a vast network of informers, double agents and front groups, operating out of St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as foreign cities with large Russian populations, particularly Paris and London.

The main enemies they were commissioned to fight were communist, socialist and anarchist groups, as well as trade unions. For the most part they were tremendously successful, in that they managed to put infiltrators in place at every level of these groups, including a huge percentage of their leadership. Their reputation was even more fearsome, and they probably accomplished almost as much from the constant terror that their name and reputation caused across all of Europe as their actual actions.

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Okhrana agents were everywhere – Evno Azef, a leading Social revolutionary, and Roman Malinovsky, a high ranking member of the Bolsheviks, were both Okhrana double-agents, (and the Russian Prime Minister Stolypin was assassinated by an Okhrana double agent.)

In opposing revolution, the Okhrana was a main obstacle. It focused mainly on tracking down radicals and political opponents, especially those involved in assassination attempts. When opposition parties supporting open revolution were formed, the Okrana began a new tactic of infiltration, putting its own agents within the parties. The Okhrana actually feared the Bolsheviks less than other revolutionary groups, and were more ...

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