UDC

94(47)084

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.5.27

Authors

Vasiliy P. Pashin
Kursk State University; ul. Radishcheva 29, Kursk, 305000, Russian Federation; e-mail: pashinvp@mail.ru

Abstract

For the first time introducing documents from the Central Archives of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation into scientific circulation, this article analyses the scale of terrorist acts and bandit attacks of white émigrés in the Far East. Some of the most active émigré “white bandits” are named, their moral qualities are described. Moreover, the quantitative composition and funding sources of these groups are revealed, as well as the ultimate goals and tasks of the terrorist operations being carried out. The leaders of the gangs were former White Guard officers who stained their names in bloody massacres of civilians during the Civil War. Ordinary members of the gangs were people with extremely low intellectual level unable to understand the purpose of the ideological struggle. For them, robbery and banditry had become commonplace not only on the territory of Soviet Russia, but also in their own environment. The documents analysed include informant reports of the Counterintelligence Department of the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU); reports, informant summary reports, information statements of the Foreign Department of the OGPU on various issues related to the activities of emigrant groups and their leaders as well as the Department’s reports on the activities of white gangs in border areas; excerpts from white émigré newspapers published in China; letters from the Soviet consulates general to representatives of the Chinese administration with protests against raids on the Soviet territory performed by armed White Guard groups. A comparative analysis of these documents shows a rather clear picture of the moods of white émigrés in the Far Eastern region and a well-organized intelligence work of Soviet special services among white émigrés. Further, the perniciousness of the class approach in the general evaluation of white émigrés is demonstrated. Many white émigrés longed to return to the USSR, and even within pro-monarchist organizations ideas of supporting Soviet Russia in terms of national-territorial interests were expressed. In addition, the paper sheds some light on the drab existence of white émigrés in the Far East and their rapid decline in numbers.

Keywords

white émigrés, “white bandits”, terrorism, Far East, China, Harbin, Shanghai

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