The Practice of Violence and the Moral Character of the Tsarist Police: Political Persecution in Tsaritsyn District in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the moral character and practices of the use of violence by law enforcement officers of Tsaritsyn district in the early 20th century. Based on a wide range of archival sources, including departmental correspondence, reports and materials of internal investigations, as well as using modern historiography, the author analyzes the key factors that led to the degradation of the law enforcement system. The impact of low financial security for employees, expressed in insufficient salaries and delayed payments, on the spread of corruption, drunkenness and other forms of deviant behavior is considered in detail. Special attention is paid to the comparative analysis of two institutions: the general police and the gendarmerie. It is shown that while the former was massively involved in systemic abuses and unjustified violence, the latter, though maintaining a higher level of official secrecy and formal compliance with procedures, also demonstrated cases of moral decay and arbitrariness. It is emphasized that far from suppressing protests, the punitive actions of the authorities, in particular the use of arms to disperse peaceful assemblies acted as a catalyst for the radicalization of society, strengthening the positions of revolutionary organizations. The conclusion is drawn about the deep institutional degradation of the punitive apparatus, which became one of the prerequisites for the crisis of state power in the region on the eve of the revolutionary events.