UDC

94(47)

DOI

10.37482/2687-1505-V236

Authors

Vladislav I. Goldin
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; prosp. Lomonosova 2, Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1439-6267 
e-mail: v.i.goldin@yandex.ru

Aleksey Yu. Suslov
Kazan National Research Technological University; ul. K. Marksa 68, Kazan, 420015, Respublika Tatarstan, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-8102 
e-mail: fsgtkstu@yandex.ru

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.

Keywords

individual political terror, Russian Civil War, V.I. Lenin, A.L. Litvin, F.E. Kaplan, B.V. Savinkov, historiography, Socialist Revolutionary Party

References

1. Litvin A.L. K istorii pokusheniy na V.I. Lenina v 1918 godu [On the History of the Assassination Attempts on V.I. Lenin in 1918]. Kazan, 2021. 62 p.
2. Vinogradov V.K. et al. (comps.). Fanni Kaplan, ili Kto strelyal v Lenina? [Fanny Kaplan, or Who Shot Lenin?]. Kazan, 1995. 189 p.
3. Litvin A.L. (ed.). Delo Fani Kaplan, ili Kto strelyal v Lenina? [The Case of Fanny Kaplan, or Who Shot Lenin?]. Moscow, 2003. 295 p.
4. Morozov KN. “Ya ne Sharlotta Korde, no zhit’ bez deystviya nadoelo”: novye svidetel’stva i shtrikhi k portretu i biografii Fanni Efimovny Kaplan [“I Am Not Charlotte Korde, but Bothered to Live Without Action”: New Rows to a Portrait and Fanny Efimovna Kaplan’s Biography]. Peterburgskiy istoricheskiy zhurnal, 2018, no. 3, pp. 345–361. DOI: 10.51255/2311-603X-2018-00068
5. Morozov K.N. Pokushenie na V.I. Lenina 30 avgusta 1918 g.: problema kharaktera i prichastnosti [Attempted Assassination on V.I. Lenin on 30 August 1918: Nature and Complicity]. Petrov Yu.A. (ed.). Rossiya v gody Grazhdanskoy voyny, 1917–1922 gg.: vlast’ i obshchestvo po obe storony fronta [Russia During the Civil War, 1917–1922: Authorities and Society on Both Sides of the Front]. Moscow, 2018, pp. 154–160.
6. Morozov K.N. F. Kaplan and Attempt on Lenin’s Life on August 30, 1918. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo oblastnogo universiteta. Ser.: Istoriya i politicheskie nauki, 2018, no. 3, pp. 95–114 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.18384/2310676X-2018-3-95-114
7. Morozov K.N. “Ya imel svyaz’ s gruppoy terroristov”: problema prichastnosti B.V. Savinkova k pokusheniyu na V.I. Lenina 30 avgusta 1918 g. [“I Had a Connection with a Group of Terrorists”: The Problem of B.V. Savinkov’s Involvement in the Assassination Attempt on V.I. Lenin (August 30, 1918)]. Rossiyskaya istoriya, 2020, no. 2, pp. 78–89. DOI: 10.31857/S086956870009256-2
8. Morozov K.N. Boris Savinkov: opyt nauchnoy biografii [Boris Savinkov: An Attempt at a Scholarly Biography]. Moscow, 2022. 768 p.
9. Morozov K.N., Morozova A.Yu. (comps.). Tri brata (to, chto bylo) [Three Brothers (What Happened)]. Moscow, 2019. 1015 p.
10. Rat’kovskiy I.S. Grazhdanskaya voyna v Rossii: okhota na bol’shevistskikh vozhdey (1917–1920) [The Russian Civil War: Hunting for Bolshevik Leaders (1917–1920)]. Moscow, 2021. 431 p.
11. Lenin V.I. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works]. Moscow, 1958–1965.
12. Litvin A.L. Rossiyskaya istoriografiya gosudarstvennogo terrora v strane, 1917–1953 [Russian Historiography of State Terror in the Country, 1917–1953]. Moscow, 2019. 430 p.
13. Kostin N.D. (ed.). Vystrel v serdtse revolyutsii [A Shot in the Heart of the Revolution]. Moscow, 1989. 285 p.
14. Suslov A.Yu. Rossiyskie sotsialisty posle oktyabrya 1917 goda v otechestvennoy istoriografii [Russian Socialists After October 1917 in Russian Historiography]. Kazan, 2013. 488 p.
15. Avtobiografiya P.A. Sokolova (fragment) [Autobiography of P.A. Sokolov (a Fragment)]. Leont’ev Ya.V. (ed.). Boevoy vosemnadtsatyy god [The War Year of 1918]. Moscow, 2018, pp. 447–455.
16. “...U menya k TsK i ego rukovoditelyam zapalo nedoverie”. Avtobiografiya chlena boevoy gruppy Kulebakskoy organizatsii Partii sotsialistov-revolyutsionerov P.A. Sokolova (1925 g.) [“...I Have a Distrust of the Central Committee and Its Leaders”. An Autobiography of a Member of the Combat Group of the Kulebaki Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party P.A. Sokolov (1925)]. Otechestvennye arkhivy, 2016, no. 4, pp. 84–100.
17. Leont’ev Ya. Pokushenie na vozhdya [Attempted Assassination on the Leader]. Istorik, 2018, no. 9, pp. 66–71.
18. Rat’kovskiy I.S. Yanvarskoe pokushenie 1918 g. na V.I. Lenina v Petrograde [January 1918 Attempt on Lenin in Petrograd]. Russ. Colon. Stud., 2019, no. 2, pp. 142–155.
19. Rat’kovskiy I.S. Krasnyy terror, karayushchiy mech revolyutsii [Red Terror, the Punishing Sword of the Revolution]. Moscow, 2021. 352 p.
20. Shubin A.V. Vystrel v serdtse bol’shevizma [A Shot in the Heart of Bolshevism]. Morozova A.Yu., Suslov A.Yu. (comps.). Zhit’ istoriey i dumat’ o budushchem [Lingering on History and Thinking About the Future]. Moscow, 2021, pp. 365–376.
21. Mogil’ner M. Archival History of State Terror: The Problem of Documentary Evidence (Review: A.L. Litvin. On the History of Assassination Attempts on V.I. Lenin in 1918. Kazan: IP Romanov E.G., 2021. 62 p.). Ab Imperio, 2021, no. 2, pp. 266–274 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.1353/imp.2021.0047