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 concerned with the Mensheviks, who carried out almost 90% of the agitation. They were less adept at dealing with groups that were unconnected to the main parties, such as small local cells, who combined, were an important contribution to revolution.
The Russians were Christians of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Church supported the Tsar, teaching that he was appointed by God and should be obeyed, and in fact the Headquarters of the Okrana were in the Ecclesiastical Academy in St Petersburg.
During the Russian Revolution, much like the French Revolution, the churches and clergy sided with the Tsars of Russia. This is because there was an established relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Tsars, much like there was a relationship between the Catholic Church and the French Crown prior to the French Revolution. Because of this, the church was opposing the revolution and working against the peasants and oppressed masses in their struggle to better their own condition.
The Russian Orthodox Church was very influential. The Tsar was head of the church as well as head of the country. The Church had great influence over the peasants in the villages. The 1905 Revolution was a turning point for the Russian Orthodox Church, as it was for Russian society and politics; it brought out both the clergy’s deeper aspirations and its internal divisions. Events of 1905 opened the floodgates for discussion about the role of the Church in society, which had implications for questions of internal church life and reform as well. The clergy of St. Petersburg met in January 1905 to discuss Bloody Sunday; a group of younger clergy, while condemning Gapon’s final actions, declared that the Church needed to recognize the people’s suffering and respond to it. The 1905 Revolution brought out tensions that were latent in the reform movement. Prior to the revolution, younger and older clergy in St. Petersburg alike could support the mission to the workers and some degree of social reform without directly addressing the issue of its political implications.