The first security department, which was engaged in the protection of order and tranquility in the city on the Neva, was opened in 1866 in connection with the increasing attempts on the life of Tsar Alexander II. This institution did not yet have independence, since the St. Petersburg mayor was involved in its creation, and it was opened under his office. The second security department was not needed so soon, it appeared in Moscow in 1880 under the auspices of the Moscow police chief. But this idea belonged to the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov. The third security department was opened in Warsaw in 1900 (at that time Poland was part of the Russian Empire).
Activities
The revolutionary movement was growing in Russia, because the field of activity was wide, and the work of the very first security departments was more than successful. Terrorism was gaining momentum, assassination attempts on prominent figures in the country became more frequent, and from time to time they were also successful. In the provinces, the gendarmerie departments worked poorly, and the authorities were increasinglythought about how to improve the political investigation, make it flexible and organized. In all major cities, unwanted demonstrations of student youth, workers, and peasant riots occurred quite often.
Therefore, the number of so-called search points increased, each big city had its own security department. The Russian Empire needed a lot of them. Already in 1902, detective agencies began to work in Yekaterinoslav, Vilna, Kyiv, Kazan, Saratov, Odessa, Kharkov, Tiflis, Simferopol, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod. It was they who carried out political investigation, conducted surveillance, led secret agents and recruited new agents. The Minister of Internal Affairs V. K.
Code of Rules
In the same 1902, a special "manual" - "Code of Rules" was also sent out in a circular form, from where the heads of departments got information about the main tasks that each security department of the Russian Empire should perform, and brought this information to each subordinate. Networks of secret agents involved in political affairs were built at a rapid pace, spy surveillance was also established, and internal agents were recruited. The security department in Tsarist Russia selected employees according to many criteria.
The gendarmes were not easy. They were obliged to know perfectly everything about the history of the revolutionary movement, to memorize the names of the leaders of each oppositionattitude towards the party government, to keep an eye on the illegal literature that the revolutionaries established, no matter what. The head of the security department was responsible for all of the above. And the gendarmes were charged with educating their agents in this regard, so that all secret employees would develop a conscious attitude to the matter. The chiefs reported directly to the Police Department, where they received all the general directions of activity, and even the personnel of the security department of the gendarmes were in charge of the department.
Organization of an agent network
The network of new branches was opened on the initiative of S. V. Zubatov, the head of the Moscow Security Department since 1896, who was a great enthusiast in his field. However, he retired in 1903, and his plans were not fully realized. The careerism that dominated this structure intensified the rivalry among the provincial gendarmerie managers.
Despite the fact that the department constantly called on the security departments to exchange information and mutual assistance, the matter hardly moved. Each chief in his city was "king and god." That is why conflict situations arose that did not go in the future for the common cause. And yet, far from one security department was opened every year, the creation of gendarmerie bodies was expanding, and by the end of 1907 there were already twenty-seven of them in the country.
New rules
In the same 1907, the current Regulations regarding the royal security department significantly supplementedand approved by Stolypin. The document includes new items relating to relationships and information exchange within the structure.
Political and gendarmerie authorities, upon receiving information that relates to the scope of activities of the security departments, had to transfer them for the development of cases, arrests, searches, seizures and other things that could not be done without the head of the security department.
Security posts
But information from the Okhrana had to be sent to the gendarme department, so that they could compare the circumstances obtained during the interrogations. However, twenty-seven departments were clearly not enough to control the literally seething public, and therefore, already in 1907, small security posts began to open everywhere.
They were created not in the centers, but in those areas where militant moods grew among the population. In almost all cities over the next two years, such points were established. They were the first to open in Penza, Khabarovsk, Vladikavkaz, Gomel, Zhitomir, Yekaterinodar, Poltava, Kostroma, Kursk, and then in dozens of other cities.
Tasks
The district security departments faced numerous and sometimes difficult tasks. In addition to the organization of internal agents, which was supposed to "develop" local party organizations, in addition to the search, countless officer meetings were held on the territory of the district, which distracted people from the main business - the search and surveillance itself. The number of papers they wrotewas huge as the information was sent out everywhere.
The highest institutions of the search were periodically thoroughly reported on every movement of local revolutionaries, and it was also supposed (now according to service circulars) to help the same institutions in neighboring regions in every possible way. The advantage was that there were many times more intelligence materials, and this helped the conduct of the investigation, since each investigator could use them. When necessary, even secret agents became known to a wider circle of people.
Successes and difficulties
Initially, with the opening of security posts, things went better: one after another, party organizations, committees were dispersed or were defeated, arrests also followed one after another. Communists, socialists and liberals stretched beyond the borders of the country, from where they continued to lead the movement, being already out of reach. Such successes in search work raised the prestige of the gendarmerie high, and therefore the illusion of the complete defeat of all revolutionary organizations was created.
District security departments constantly and increasingly intervened in the actions of the police authorities, that is, political investigation spoiled relations with employees of the gendarme departments. The Department sent out its Joint Effort Circulars periodically, but it didn't help. Gradually, the stream of mutual information dried up. Moreover, the district security posts did not favor their higher provincial colleagues.
Liquidation
After 1909, work in the district officesweakened. Perhaps this happened also because there was some lull in the activities of illegal organizations. Deputy Minister VF Dzhunkovsky, who was in charge of the police, decided that the existence of security departments had ceased to be appropriate. Some of them were merged with provincial administrations, some were simply abolished. The Police Department's justification for this was public benefit.
In 1913, a top secret and urgent circular was issued, according to which the Baku, Yekaterinoslav, Kiev, Nizhny Novgorod, Petrokovsky, Tiflis, Kherson, Yaroslavl, Don, Sevastopol security departments were liquidated. Thus, all but the three metropolitan ones, which opened the very first, were closed. Until 1917, the East Siberian and Turkestan branches acted as an exception. But in the absence of a connecting network of the same structural links, they were of little use.
Petersburg security department
When touching on the work of the St. Petersburg secret police, it is impossible not to touch on the biography of the main character of this institution (pictured). The correspondence of the Police Department has been preserved, and already in the records of 1902 one can find lines where the zeal and diligence of captain A. V. Gerasimov is extremely highly appreciated. By that time, he had already served in the gendarme department for three years, and was also checking the work of other departments, where he also helped his colleagues in every possible way both with advice and deed.
At first, Gerasimov was encouraged by his appointment to the Kharkov security department in1902 He led so well that, without any rules, already in 1903 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and in 1905 he took the post of head of the St. Petersburg security department. As always, he took up the matter actively, first of all putting things in order in his own institution. Troublemakers in St. Petersburg greatly diminished when Gerasimov personally found underground workshops where explosive shells were made.
The way forward
Revolutionaries also appreciated the new "holding face" at its true worth - several assassination attempts were being prepared on him. But Gerasimov was experienced and smart - it did not work out. In 1905, he again "out of all rules" received the rank of colonel, in 1906 - the Order of St. Vladimir, and in 1907 he became a major general. A year later, the sovereign personally thanks him, in 1909 Gerasimov receives another order. Career did not go, but flew up the stairs, skipping steps by dozens.
During this time, Gerasimov made the security department the largest and most productive in the country. He had no ambition. Before his arrival, the head of the security department had never reported to the minister on his own. The first (and last) was Gerasimov. In four years, the institution under his leadership has changed radically and only for the better. Therefore, in 1909, Gerasimov was transferred with an increase - to the Ministry of the Interior. General for Special Assignments - this is how his new position began to sound. He finished his service in 1914 with the rank of lieutenant general.
Petrograd security department
When the war startedGermany, everything German has ceased to sound beautiful to a Russian person. That's why the city was renamed - there was Petersburg, there was Petrograd. In 1915, Major General K. I. Globachev, who later wrote the most interesting memoirs, was appointed head of the security department in the capital.
The largest body of political investigation in the country at that time consisted of more than six hundred employees. The structure included registration and central departments, a security team and the department itself. The latter was organized as follows: undercover and investigative units, surveillance, archive and office. Through the efforts of Gerasimov, extraordinary order still reigned here.
Responsibilities
In the undercover unit, which was the base of the entire institution, all materials from undercover sources were concentrated. Experienced gendarmerie officers and officials worked here, and each had his own part of undercover coverage entrusted only to him. For example, several people were involved in the activities of the Bolsheviks, a few more were Mensheviks, others were socialist revolutionaries and popular socialists, someone was involved in social movements, someone was anarchists.
There was a special officer who observed the general labor movement. And each of them had his own secret collaborators and his own sources of information. Only he could see the agents in the safe houses, and only he kept them from failing. The information received was always carefully checked by cross agents and external surveillance, and thenwere developed: faces, addresses, appearances, connections, and the like were clarified. As soon as the organization was examined enough, it was liquidated. Then the search material was delivered to the undercover department of the security department, sorted out and handed over to the investigators.
