A New Book on the History of Individual Political Terror During the Civil War in Russia

Abstract

This article analyses the modern historiography of individual political terror in Russia during the Civil War in 1918. The role and significance of the terrorist acts of the summer of 1918 for the formation of Soviet penal policy are emphasized. There is a long historiographical tradition concerning these topics, which is based, on the one hand, on the traditional Soviet version, originating in the famous 1922 trial of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and, on the other hand, on alternative interpretations that were, at some point, presented in émigré and foreign historical literature. The focus of attention is the work of the famous Russian historian, Honoured Professor of Kazan University A.L. Litvin, who studies the assassination attempts on Vladimir Lenin in 1918. In addition, the paper touches upon various aspects related to the assassinations of V. Volodarsky and M.S. Uritsky. The authors examine the works of historian K.N. Morozov devoted to various aspects of the 1918 assassination attempts and the role of B.V. Savinkov and F. Kaplan in them. The publications of I.S. Ratkovsky and A.V. Shubin are noted. It is concluded that modern historical literature contains various assessments of those events: the assassins had personal but no direct political motives (A.L. Litvin); B.V. Savinkov’s organization was linked to the terrorist acts against V.I. Lenin and M. Uritsky in 1918 (K.N. Morozov). In addition, the article studies sources that have recently been introduced into scholarly discourse; it is noted that the current level of knowledge is insufficient for scholars to make final conclusions and thus calls for further research.