Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution - Softcover

Geifman, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0842026517 ISBN 13: 9780842026512

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

In the winter of 1909, a political bombshell exploded in tsarist Russia. Scandal swept not only the empire but the entire world with the exposure of the secret life of one man. Newspaper headlines introduced him as a "twentieth-century Judas," and since his initiation to the most notorious villains' club, his name, Evno Filipovich Azef, has remained in the Russian tradition as a synonym for scandalous duplicity, unscrupulous perfidy, and criminal provocation. His story is inseparable from the history of the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary party (PSR) and the terrorism that plagued the tsarist regime in the first decade of the twentieth century. More than 17,000 people were killed or wounded throughout the empire between 1905 and 1910 as a result of political assassination attempts alone. The use of undercover police spies to infiltrate oppositionist groups was a primary means of combatting terrorist activity.

Enter Evno Azef, a man who, before being reviled by Socialist-Revolutionary party leaders as a traitorous double agent, would spend fifteen years inside the PSR, the largest terrorist organization in Russia. A man who would rise to a position of prominence in the party's Central Committee, and become one of the most trusted leaders of its famous terrorist arm, the SR Combat Organization: Evno Azef, Russian master spy. A thorough investigation based on all available documentary resources-available for the first time due to the Soviet government's demise-Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution sorts out the facts of the case from rumors and legends. Entangled in Terror explores the background and history of the radical SR party and its Combat Organization, the course of Azef's career, his role within the party, and the extent and frequency of his contacts with the secret police. The book evaluates the consequences of the Azef affair for the party, for the Russian revolutionary movement, and for terrorism in Russia. Finally, Entangled in Terror examines

About this title

About the Author

Anna Geifman is associate professor of history at Boston University.

Review

Anna Geifman gives us a riveting portrait of Evno Azef, the most important and elusive police spy in the history of the Russian Revolutionary Movement. Geifman's research is impeccable and her argument convincing. Azef was neither a double agent nor a provocateur. As one of the premier historians of Russian terrorism, Geifman also explores the psychological realm of Azef's treachery, providing important insights into his motivations and career. (Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University)

A revisionist work in the best sense of the word. It strives, on the basis of newly opened archival materials, to reevaluate the personality and career of tsarist Russia's notorious master 'spy.' Azef, who worked for the security police while heading the revolutionary terrorist organization, is here depicted, for the first time, as a complex person, less duplicitous than usually thought of but no less critical in discrediting the wave of terror that swept Russia in the early years of this century. (Richard Pipes, Harvard University)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0842026517
• ISBN 13: 9780842026512
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239