The most successful Russian terrorist, or what killed the conspiracy genius and adventurer Boris Savinkov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Can a fiery patriot and a cunning conspirator, a brilliant poet and a genius of bloody terror, a furious revolutionary and a gambling adventurer coexist in one person? There is such a person in the history of Russia. This is Boris Viktorovich Savinkov, one of the most controversial figures in Russian historiography at the beginning of the 20th century.

Revolutionary to the core: where was Boris Viktorovich Savinkov born and in what environment was he brought up

Place and time of birth of the future revolutionary terrorist - Kharkov, January 1879. Boris spent his childhood in Warsaw, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. His father was a successful lawyer, his mother was a writer. The income of the parents allowed him to give his son a good education, so after the gymnasium, the young man was sent to St. Petersburg University. There he, like most representatives of the then intelligentsia, became carried away by revolutionary ideas and was expelled from the university for participating in demonstrations against the government.

While still a student, Boris Viktorovich decided to become a professional revolutionary. He started out as a social democrat and was a member of well-known organizations of adherents of Marxism. Having inherited from his mother the liveliness of the word and the lightness of the pen, he carried out propaganda activities, collaborated with the newspaper Rabocheye Delo. During this period, Savinkov was a supporter of the peaceful development of events and declared the inadmissibility of violence.

The Horseman of Death: organizing a series of murders of famous political figures, and how SR Savinkov managed to escape punishment

Everything changed radically in Vologda during the exile, where Boris fell under the influence of the famous revolutionary E. Breshko-Breshkovskaya.

Moving to the Socialist-Revolutionaries, he almost immediately became a fan of terrorism. In 1903, having escaped from exile, Savinkov joined the Combat Organization, which set itself the goal of committing terrorist attacks against the highest officials of the Empire. The leader of the terrorist organization, Yevno Azef, sent Boris Viktorovich to the first operation, which the latter successfully carried out - the Minister of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Pleve was killed. The next victim of the terrorist organization was Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who at that time held the post of Governor-General of Moscow.

The list of those sentenced to death included the mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir von der Launitz. His fate was shared by Admiral Fyodor Dubasov, Vice Admiral Grigory Chukhnin, Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Durnovo. About 60 people became victims of the Combat Organization, which makes it possible to characterize the activities of Azef and Savinkov as mass terror.

Fortune turned its back on Boris Savinkov in May 1906. After the attempt on the life of the commandant of the Sevastopol fortress, Vladimir Neplyuev, he was detained and sentenced to death. He was saved from the gallows by one of the guards in the guardhouse, who turned out to be a Socialist-Revolutionary. The soldier made an escape for Savinkov, and soon the terrorist found himself abroad.

How friendship with Kornilov affected the fate of Savinkov

Emigration brought nothing but disappointment. The fighting organization of the SRs ceased to exist; Yevno Azef, whom Savinkov considered his comrade, was exposed as a police officer. Having finished with politics, Boris Viktorovich turned to literary activity.

The year 1917 in Russia was marked by impending devastation, famine, attacks on the government of the too liberal Alexander Kerensky by right-wing forces, whose interests were expressed by the representative of the generals Lavr Kornilov. Returning from emigration, Savinkov managed to get a place in the government and, with the help of intrigue, began to promote Kornilov to the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, hoping with his help to break through to the levers of power.

Boris Viktorovich's friendship with Kornilov against Kerensky did not bear fruit. Alexander Fedorovich mobilized all the resources to defeat the rebel troops. Realizing that Kornilov's cards were beaten, Boris Savinkov achieved an appointment to the post of commander-in-chief of the defense of the capital from the rebels.

Kornilov was arrested, and Savinkov managed to get out of the water.

Why Savinkov opposed the Bolshevik regime and where he looked for allies

After the Soviets came to power, Boris Viktorovich made his way to the Don - the main center of resistance to the Bolshevik regime. He tried with all his might to carry out a counter-coup. However, his hopes did not come true: the Moscow group was defeated, revolts in all settlements were suppressed.

Experiencing a burning hatred of the Bolsheviks who had ruined his career, Savinkov turned to foreign countries for help. In 1921, in Warsaw, he created a kind of sabotage and espionage association. The plan of the uprising in Soviet Russia developed by him was approved by representatives of the Entente countries. Boris Viktorovich hoped for financial support from England, so he personally addressed this issue to Winston Churchill. In search of like-minded people and sponsors, the inveterate revolutionary even got to the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.

Operation Syndicate-2 and the sentence to be shot. How Savinkov's life ended

The active political activity of Boris Savinkov, directed against the Bolsheviks, attracted close attention to him from the OGPU. To neutralize the dangerous terrorist, the Soviet special services developed Operation Syndicate-2. The bait was information about the underground anti-Bolshevik group "Liberal Democrats". In fact, it was a phantom created by the Chekists.

In August 1924, Savinkov undertook a conspiratorial trip to the capital of Soviet Russia. He crossed the Polish-Soviet border and was arrested the next day in Minsk. And two weeks later he appeared before the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

Savinkov was charged with 43 atrocities against the power of the Soviets. He was sentenced to death - execution with confiscation of property. Taking into account the remorse of the defendant, the death penalty was replaced by a ten-year imprisonment. However, Boris Savinkov could not exist without active political work. In May 1925, he took his own life - he jumped out of the fifth-floor window, taking advantage of the fact that the room in which he was after returning from a walk had no window bars.

The first female terrorist also managed to successfully complete an assassination attempt, while remaining unpunished.