THE EX-TSAR'S SPIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 5, 1 October 1917, Page 6

THE EX-TSAR'S SPIES

SECRET LEGIONARIES OF THE

AUTOCRACY

THE SYSTEM DESCRIBED

Thirty-three long lists of spies, informers, and agents provocateurs in the exTsar Nicholas's pay have been published by the Commission for Securing, the News System of Government appointed by the Provisional Government immediately 'after the revolution.. The total number of these secret legidnaries of autocracy is expected to reach 80,000. Those whose guilt is beyond doilbt have been nut in gaol; but it is not yet settled whether they will be tried and punished or merely kept in gaol until all peril of a reactionary counter-revolution has passed. The Commission's report depicts precisely the same system of espionago and State provocation to crime as flourished in Turkey under Abdul Hamid 11. The distinction is that Abdul' Hamid ran his spy and provocation system directly from the Yildiz Kiosk, whereas Nicholas entrusted his system to the notorious "Okhrannoe Otdielenie'' or Security Department, which ■ occupied a big building ill the Basil Ostrov district.

Tho first act of the triumphant revolutionaries was to seize the Security Department's secret papers. . Many of these were burned in bonfires outside the building. The more precious documents, especially those relating to the State organisation of crime, had been kept in safes, and they escaped destruction. The revolutionaries also seized tens of thousands of secret records in the Department's provincial offices, and from these, backed by confessions of imprisoned spies, are being compiled the lists. The list's will be followed by a five-volume official "History of Espionago Under Nicholas II."

Spies Poorly Paid... . As revealed by these 'inquiries, autocracy's spies and informers were much less picturesque and romantic than they appear in the typical "Nihilist novel." iLost belonged to the more intelligent working class or to tlio minor bourgeoisie. They were ooorly paid, 'tile average wage for crime or betraying accomplices being -C 5 a month. 'Ihe spies were usually instructed to become members of secvet revolutionary or terrorist organisations, among theso being the Social Democratic Party, the Social ltevolutionaries with their "Fighting Committee," the Populist Socialists, and the Maximalists. On nearly every newspaper was at ,leust ono spy.. Tho spies took part in committee meetings, incited to breach of tho political repression, laws or to actual crime, and kept the Society Department wolh informed. . Every spy had- a "klitchka or nickname by which he was known tho police. The Department's records briSj tie with such nicknames as "I'atty,| "Longnose," "Sunday Boy," "Elephant, and "Arsenic." The 6py had also two or three faked surnames,' and ho often changed his town and name when lie fell undor. the revolutionaries' suspicion. Many spies and informers (like the famous Father Gapon, whose treachery on Bloody Sunday, 1905, led to his being hanged by a revolutionist engineer) were at one time genuine revolutionaries, and became later, betrayers and informers. Some seem to have served both sids honestly, and earned tho approval of both, and< some do not seem to have known which side they sympathised with. A notable case is ; 'Trukhanoft'"—real name Nikitin,'nickname "Perky"—wlio aroused the suspicion of his Terrorist comrades, was threatened by them with execution, and to" rehabilitate himself was obliged to kill the gendarme officer with whom he collaborated. The murder of Grand Duke Sergius in Moscow in February, 1905, was due to the same motive. Organisation of Crime. The organisation • of crime, with Ihe aim of discrediting non-Tenorist political associations and frightening Nicholas into repression, was carred out on a great scale..' For blood monoy of 150 dollars a mechanic was hired by the Department to fire at General Djunkowslci, Governor of Moscow, but he was, instructed to bo sure to miss. He executed his instructions precisely, but through carelessness killed a passer-by. In violation of the Nihilist novel tradition, very few women wore employedas spies or informers, but a few noted cases have been exposed. ' In Moscow three sisters named Palitsin betrayed scores of workmen, after getting confessions from them by m;ans of simulating love. , The Commission's lists show that the Department was a hard taskmaster. In addition' to paying its spies badly, it spied on them. Every Security Department record contains a note of therapy's history. Some are described '«s 'mod; erately good," others as indifferent, others as having 'Tjetrayed many revolutionaries," others as "energetic but linTeliable," and others as "doubtful, should be wSlched." ■