THE RUSSIAN SECRET POLICE.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 401, 17 October 1884, Page 5

THE RUSSIAN SECRET POLICE.

- — r~ ♦ ~ To guide him in! his warfare against tHe revolutionists, Colonel Soudaikin, of the Russian detective service, laid' down as a fundamental principle, not only that there should be as few honest persons , as possible, but that it was equally important to obliterate the belief in honesty. He therefore sought to implant by every means the conviction that honesty was merely the question of price. It was necessary, he maintained, that the scoundrel should cease to be ashamed of his infamy, and that it should be quite impossible for an honest man to make others believe in his incorruptibility. For similar reasons Sou- : daikin's did not hesitate to throw away . money on persons who were evidently deceiving the police. From Soudai- ' kin's point of view, this did not much \ matter. He wanted people to become accustomed to accept money from the polico. This was his principal pur- • ]3ose, and it was considered a success when men took money, even though they did not act as spies. At one time, for instance, over 50 students at St. Petersburg alone were in receipt of salaries from the police. Among them were some so-called honest people — that is to say, students who took tne money but did not serve the police. As a case in point, the experience of the student P off is related. This youth is described as poor in money, but rich in all the qualities that constitute a good com panion. One day, to his great surprise, he received an invitation from Soudaikin, and laughingly related to his comrades that he had accepted, as a joke, the proposal to become a spy. As a commencement, he asked for money to hnj such clothes as would enable him to go into all classes of society. This was willingly granted. He then suggested that a fixed salary would be welcome, and Soudaikin at once allowed him 50 roubles per month. Thus well dressed and amply fed, he lived comfortably and entertained his friends with the. money received from the public treasury. But at last Soudaikin ordered him to take lodgings with a student whom he was instructed to watch. Thereupon P off protested violently. He wrote saying that the student in question was wellknown for his conservative views, and proposed instead to watch another student whom he represented to be a dangerous character. As a matter of fact, it was notorious that this second student was a dull, heavy youth who had kept aloof from all political matters. Nevertheless Soudaikin again agreed to this, and P- — off was once more able to relate to his companions the splendid jokes he was playing with the police. In time however, when it became absolutely evident that he was incorruptible, he was expelled from the police and his revenue stopped. Such incidents didnot discourage Soudaikin. He also willingly paid false spies,'' "who while denouncing their friends to him, were 'careful to first warn those whom they were about to betray. Nor did the fact,, that such per sons revealed to the revolutionists all the police secrets they were abie to discover alter Soudaikin' s policy. These double traitors were, useful in, their way. In the first place, they sometimes unintentionally gave information,, arid always served as a good covering for the faithful and true spies. Secondly, they Were useful in circulating among the ■public false or true information to which the police deemed it advisable to give publicity. In such cases the police would , pretend :to be... especially ; confidential. 1 This means, for instance, was employed by Skp.ndrakoff - when Soudaikin was anxious, that the revolutionists denounced by Jariczewskiin his confessions should have time to escape, so that their arrest should not add to -the popularity of a rival, the public prosecutor Dp.brzynski. Jfyloreover, all persons receiving money were being gradually corrupted, and a very large proportion ended by becoming true spies.' This was just the moment, however, when Soudaikin became parsimonious. ' When a man was finally entangled in his n.qt, and ; irrevocably compromised,, then Soudaikin became severe,' .. avaricious,, , ; and exacting. But in spending such large sums of money to corrupt, these people, Soudaikin had not in view tho petty services they could . render' him. The relations of political' prisoners were obviously open to tempta- : tipn.,' ■ Soiidfiikin persistently invited them to become spies in exchange for indulgences to ' the prisoners. ' Sometimes he even promised, to restore' the captives to liberty. .Possessing, the. right to visit all the prisons, not excepting the inaccessible ravelin of Alexis, he never missed an : opportunity of opening conversation with the inmates, and in two cases he •• even -offered to, assist the prisoners to escape. In another case, a prisoner having promised to work against the revolutionists, Soudaikin set him free on bail, and, finally, he also obtained the appointment of onj of his confidants as chief of a district in Siberia, in order to facilitate the evasion of a political convict. Sometimes men of mark, leaders of the Nihilists,, and others, received sums of money without . any , obligation being imposed. "We know you belong to us," they were told; "you can act quite independently, but we are ready to help you'; there is money." Soudaikin's faith in.the influence of money was unbounded. When dealing with working men he possessed an additional weapon. He didal! b,e coxUd to. mspire them with fee^ngs, pi hostility towards the educated classes. a Aitev the 'assassination jof $trelnii?6ff, who had imprisoned so many workmen at Kieff, a secret police officer interviewed the working men prisoners. He stated that Strelnikoff had been unwise, to imprison them. "W© will set you all. free," he declared j " we know you Jiaye families and children for whom you must work. Besides, you have only been misguided by the students, and are but their tools. It is they and not you who must be punished ; but it would have been wiser had you helped us . to put down these lordlings who use you $s catspaws." Many wprlcmen ware in fact set frefy ancl the (3-overnnient eyen promised them subsidies till they could find employment. ' One workman actually received an allowance of five roubles per day!; but when this failed to produce the desired result, he was again imprisoned. With others this terflpta^Qa was successful Some workmen not w only became spies, \>.n\ they managed to penetrate and betray the revolutionary organisation. This was Soudaikin's supreme aim. He [i felt the imperative necessity, not merely / 5 of gaining access to the revolutionary j' ; committee, but, if possible; of or.ganis- j !• ing them. The creation of such centres j * continually occupied Spudaikin's attent/i.on^ I

and this lie attempted abroad as well a at home. Soudaikin, by creating wholesale distrust, Certainly weakened the enemy ; but he also^'deprrYcd himself of the possibility of distinguishing the men, pn whom-' he' c'dUldC count:: uThpughx possessed of great faculties and keen p'ef-j ception of human weaknesses, he was in one respect absolutely blind: -He utterly failed to realise the terrible force that conscience can exercise. He knew that treachery was a double edged sword, and jrelied solely on his own cleverness and on elaborate precautions for- selfrprotectioajl but could not cpneeire the possibility of* self-sacrifice for conscience J sake 6n the part of men ho believed to-be' thoroughly corrupt; Hence he: :.wa« completely iaken by surprise when DegaieJßE raised j his hand against him ; ( and had npt 'even the presence 6i mind td'draw his revolver:! Soudaikin died by the treachery which he Considered the best of allies, and at the* hands of his most trusted agent. This, end is not without its moral, atid may 'possibly have some effect in inducing the' Russian Government to reform its mode of procedure.