SPY-MAKING IN RUSSIA

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 16 November 1917, Page 1

SPY-MAKING IN RUSSIA

T. am bringing this letter to a close. It matters little to, me what people will say after 1 am dead. I only write this to tell you- how innocent" people have, without their own knowledge, become "members'' of the Oelirana. , That is_ all. It is time to finish and time to die. I wish to die. as it is the only way out. Of what value is lite, to me now? No one would have anything to do with me, and where would I turn liiv head in shame? lie happy, free citizens of Free Russia! Life and joy to all of you! . N. Baj.ashov. " The poor, unfortunate, innocent Balashov," adds the paper.

Since the overthrow of the Romanoff n gime a search of the vaults "of the oh secret police in the larger cities has re voaled long lists of citizen-spies—men ant women whose services were enlisted t< trap those who were in active sympathy with the revolutionaries. There is no thing in them, however, to throw light 01 the source from which the Tsar's secret police drew this army of "provocateurs.' Neither is there anything to show whethoi or not these spies voluntarily entorec upon the work of enmeshing in the drag net of the police the workers in the revolutionary movement; hut it is well knowi thai, in many cases, the Ochrana (i.e. Secret Service Bureau) managed by underhand methods and threats to so involve revolutionists as to leave them no choice between spy service or suicide. Indeed, the Petrograd ' Ryetch,' in a recent issue, tells of an innocent man, entangled in the police, net, driven to desperation, and at last—after the triumph of the Revolution in "March last—to deatli by suicide. And here is the dramatic story: A reporter named Iretsky prepared foi his paper an article on the revealed secrets of the political police, in which he described the spy system that had spread far and wide throughout Russia, until every man and woman—innocent or guilty—felt a sense of insecurity at all times. Iretsky entered the office of the 'Ryetch' and stopped near the desk of the proof-reader, a pleasant, unassuming young man named Ralashov, who was reading aloud from some " copy." " There were traitors at every step and turn, and we never were sure of any man or any movement," read Ralashov, when another reporter entered the office with a new list of' spies that he had just obtained from the Minister of Justice. The list was eagerly read, and in it appeared the name of Balashov! The proof-reader turned ashen pale.. Stammering that an awful mistake had been made, lie left the office hurriedly. On the following day the editor of the ' Ryetch' received a packet from the authorities of the Viborg district in Petrograd containing a notice and a letter. The notice read: " On April 9, 1917. at 1.55 p.m., one A. N. Balashov committed suicide. The motive of his death, comrades, you will leam from the accompanying letter which the deceased has left." This is Balashov's letter:— Citizens, my name is published in the list of the provocateurs of th,e Petrograd Ochrana. with particulars of my activity for the secret service. It is stated that I used to spy on the members of the staff of the Socialist newspaper ' Novoya Raboch■aya Gazeta,' that my assumed name\was Yorobiev or Morozov, and that I received for my work 25 roubles a month. Permi' me to explain this matter to you. 1 was arrested at the end of 1912. and brought to the headquarters of the Ochrana. There, by threats, force, and entreaties, they wrung from me a promise that I would consider a proposal to " work *' for the Ochrana. Then they released me. Just at that time I had obtained a- job as; proof-reader for the Social- . ist daily, the ' Lutch.' When I came home after my arrest, I found myself half-crazed by the ordeal that I had gone through and the prospects that awaited me. My iirstT" impulse was to run to my nearest comrades and to tell them what had happened ; but somehow I could not muster up enough courage to do it. Several days and weeks passed, and I gradually began to forget about my nightmare. One morning 1 suddenly received an anonymous letter -which invited me to come to the Maryiusky Theatre at a certain hour. I felt that the terrible thing that I dreaded was about to happen. But 1 screwed up enough manliness not to go to the theatre. Two days afterwards, as J was leaving my home, a stranger of medium height, wearing a short Vandyke beard, stopped me. " Gospodin Balashov," he said to me, " 1 have something to tell you." I. understood at once that he was an agent of the Ochrana. He took me to a house in a little lane near Offitzerskaya .street. My flesh still creeps as 1 recall the hours that I spent there with him. He squirmed and buzzed around me like a spider, running his lingers through his goatee, and talking all the time. He alternately gave me. "well-meant" advice and thundered at me, with an evil glare in his eyes, driving with all his cunningness at one point: J. must " work for the Ochrana. '" \\e do not place any obligations ou you," he said to iuq. " We do not give you auy orders. You will only inform us of what you yourself choose to. Or maybe you would prefer to take a trip for a few years to NarimT' (A point in the far north, of Siberia, where serious political offenders were being exiled.) He threatened me with an ugly little laugh, staring directly into my eyes. I sat there as if under hypnotic influence, paralysed, and totally lost. He noticed my condition, and said: " Well, well, be calm ; I mean no harm. By the way, do you know this and this one?" " No,"' I replied. "And did you ever meet that nvtnV' He mentioned names to me. " .Never." He would give me details of the appearance, clothes, and residences of the people about whom he wanted to get information. Finally he let me go with this admonitiou: " j.dink it over, consider it, young man; besides, it does not matter much to you now, anyway ; you are one of us." I hover met him again, and I took no -steps to free myself from the dreadful web that the Ochrana was weaving around me. Spring came, and one day as I was leaving the office of the newspaper 1 was stopped by another stranger, after having parted company with a member of our . staff. ' " Who was the man with whom you i were just speaking? What is he doing in i your office V he asked me. > I managed without difficulty to evade a , direct answer, as he was apparently a I thick-headed, coarse fellow. Still. I felt as ; if some ugly, cold, tiny reptiles were I creeping all over my body while I talked tti him. 1 could not shake him off until ? 1 reached my home. Again, a year after i that, upon coming back from a two I mouths' stay in my home town, I \va# ; stopped by stranger's, but on these, occasions I felt stronger* and replied to all j their questions that I did not know anything about the people they were inter.-- . esteel in. l 1 did not have any surnames in the i secret service, and since that time 1 have - not seen an agent of 1914 I was drafted into the army, and

was stationed at Helsingfors. Finland, until 1915. After that' I' was 'transferred to the Petrograd garrison, and have been working at the same time as proof-reader on the -'liyetch.' 1 left the ' Xovova Rabochaya Gazeta' before it ' was suppressed. 1 had no relations with the Ochrana, and saw none of its agents. Only once, a short time ago, I thought T saw in a big crowd the man with the goat-beard who had stopped me lirst. But he did not notice me.