Introduction

Abstract

The hypothesis underlying this study is that the interplay between two primary factors was instrumental in determining the influence exerted by the secret agent on the Russian revolutionary movement. These two factors were firstly the police assessment of the movement and of the threat it posed to the authorities and, secondly, the characteristics which distinguished those various elements in the movement which were receptive and responsive to police infiltration. In other words, the phenomenon as a whole was marked by the dynamic interaction between the perception of the Police Department on the one hand, and the specific socio-political foundations of each revolutionary party on the other hand. Several aspects of the SR party’s ideological roots and the circumstances surrounding its establishment continued to be central factors in its political and social role.