THE HERALDS OF POLITICAL TERROR: VALERIAN OSINSKY AND THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN SOCIAL-REVOLUTIONARY PARTY

Abstract

Th e transition of the Narodniks to the terrorist tactics is still a very debatable issue in Russian historiography. One of the pioneers of the terrorist direction was V.A. Ossinsky (1852–1879). Th e Executive Committee of the Rus-sian Social-Revolutionary Party (henceforth EC RSRP) was established on his initiative in the spring of 1878. Th e history of this revolutionary group, which was active throughout the South of Russia in 1878 and early 1879, has not yet been suffi ciently studied, although it heralded the transition of most of the revolution-ary Narodniks to political struggle, including terror. Th e purpose of this study is to reconstruct the previously little-known or completely unknown pages of the history of the EC RSRP, its structure and composition. Th e author examines politi-cal views of V.A. Ossinsky and his entourage, contacts of the members of the EC RSRP with other opposition movements in Little Russia, including liberals and representatives of the Gromada, the eff ectiveness of the EC RSRP and its infl u-ence on the administrative spheres of the South of Russia. He concludes that the transition of the part of Narodniks to political terror in the late 1870s occurred largely due to the lawless and repressive policy of the authorities and the radicals’ awareness of the futility of peaceful ways of struggle. Th e systematic use of terror-ism by the EC RCRP together with an active propaganda campaign and other acts of defi ance against the authorities (armed resistance during arrests, proclamation campaign, jailbreaks, organization of demonstrations and riots, etc.) made this organization truly dangerous in the eyes of the government. Th e actions of the EC RSRP and the very death of V.A. Ossinsky had a signifi cant impact on the future of the entire Russian revolutionary movement. Th e EC RSRP was in fact a forerun-ner of the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya, which subsequently car-ried out the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, and its activity undoubtedly infl uence the fate of the Russian monarchy.