scott b smith - 1998 - who shot lenin - fania kaplan the sr underground and the august 1918...

7/27/2019 Scott B Smith - 1998 - Who Shot Lenin - Fania Kaplan the SR Underground and the August 1918 Assassination Atte

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Who Shot Lenin? Fania Kaplan, the SR Underground, and the August 1918 Assassination

Attempt on LeninAuthor(s): Scott B. SmithSource: Jahrbcher fr Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, Bd. 46, H. 1 (1998), pp. 100-119Published by: Franz Steiner VerlagStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41050066 .

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Scott . Smith, ortland, RWho Shot Lenin? Fania Kaplan, theSR Underground,andtheAugust1918 Assassination ttemptn Lenin

Inthe ataloguefperplexingpisodesntheRussianRevolution,he ttemptn Lenin'slife utside heMikhel'sonactorynMoscowon the veningfAugust 0, 1918occupiesa prominentlace.1Whenfour ays ater heKremlin ommandant. D. Mal'kov and agroup fLatvian ommunistsxecuted he lleged ttacker,formernarchist amed aniaKaplan, heBolshevikuthoritiesnewnext onothingbout he ttack. aplanhad beenarrestedtthe cene nd ubsequentlyonfessed o the hooting,uther nterrogatorsereunable o establish hetherhe hadaccomplices r acted s part f largererroristroup,whetherhehad ties oanypolitical arty,rwhether er ttack adany onnectiono theassassination fthePetrogradheka hiefM. S. Uritskiin the ameday s the ttacknLenin nMoscow.Nonetheless,ithinn hour fthe ssassinationttempta.M. Sverdlovpubliclyttributedt o the ocialists-Revolutionaries,ar xcellence he artyfrevolution-aryterrorism.2hen the Cheka learned hatKaplan considered erself n SR, G. I.Petrovskii,hePeople'sCommissar f nternal ffairs,rderedocal Soviets o arrestllSRs, an order hat pened hewayto thedevastationfthePSR in theRed Terror f theautumnf 1918.3In fact, he Chekano less than hepopulationt arge emainednthedark bout heorigins f the attack ntil reparationsor he howtrial f theSocialist-RevolutionaryCentral ommitteeembersegan tthe ndof 1921.4 spart fthese reparations,n ex-SR namedGrigoriiemenov ublishedthin amphletntitledVoennaia boevaiarabotaPartii otsialistov-revoliutsionerova 1917-1918gg."5 emenov's ombshell or hefirsttime etailed aplan'sties o theSR terroristroup e had headed.Thisorganization,easserted, adorganizedheAugust 0 attemptith heknowledgendsupportftheSRCentral ommittee.t theSR trial tselfnthe ummer f1922,Semenov tarreds theleadingwitness or he rosecution,hougheformallyemained defendant.ispamphlet1Research or his rticle assupportedy grantromhe nternationalesearchndExchangesBoard IREX),with undsrovidedy heNational ndowmentor heHumanities,heUnited tatesInformationgency,nd heU.S. DepartmentfState,which dministersheRussian, urasian,ndEastEuropeanesearchrogramTitle8). I would ike o thank ichard ipesand Jonathanalyfortheir ommentsn a draft f his rticle.2 Ia. Sverdlov Vsem sovetam abochikh,rest'ianskikhkrasnoarmeiskikheputatov,semarmiiam,sem, sem, sem,n: zvestiia TsEK, 1August 918,p. 1.Pnkazo zalozhnikakh,n: zvestiia TsIK,4 September918, . 5; see also Arest ravykhserov,in: zvestiia TsIK,5 September918, . 3. It should e noted hatwhile heBolsheviks rrestedRs,they esignatednly epresentativesf hebourgeoisiend he fficerorps shostages.la. reters,Vice-Chairmant the Cheka at thetime, onceded s much: ee 1. Mikhel s 5-iagodovshchina okusheniiaa t. Lenina:Vospominiia yv. am.Predsedatalia ChK Ia. Peters,n:IzvestiiaVTsIK,30August 923,p. 1. The confusedccount f he ssassinationttemptyM. Ia.Latsis Dva goda bor'byna vnutrennemronte. oskva1920,pp.23-24 also reveals ow ittleheChekaknew bout tprioro thepreparationf he rial.5 Semenov's eminiscencesirstppearednthepro-Bolshevikerlinnewspaper ovyimir, 4February922, ubsequentlyameout s a separate amphletnBerlin,ndwerefinallyepublishedbyGosizdat nMoscow atern1922.Allreferencesre otheMoscow edition.

JahrbcherurGeschichtesteuropas6 1998)H. 1 o Franz teiner erlagWiesbaden mbH, itzStuttgart/Germany

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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin 101served s thefoundationoth fhis owntestimonynd of he estimonyf a setof disillu-sioned ormerRs whoprovideddditionalvidenceinking aplanto thePSR. Yetas thetrial ell ar hort f lementaryotions f ustice ndrevealedhat emenov ad oinedtheCommunistartyn 1921 ndbecome Cheka gentome ime arlier,istoriansave beenreluctanto endmuch redenceo Semenov' testimony.heties, f ny, etween aplanandthe Rs haveremainedmatterf peculation.In other espects fog fmysteryas continuedo shroudheAugust 0 assassinationattempt. hilefordecadesSoviethistoriansndpropagandistslaborated heversion fKaplan'sattemptirstketchedySemenovnddevelopedtthe R trial,wo cholarsntheWest, orisOrlov ndSemion yandres,ere hefirstoquestionhe eceived ccountand to laybarethecontradictionsn theeyewitnessescriptionsf theshooting. rlovconcludedhatKaplandid notfire he hots tLenin,whileLyandresmore autiouslys-serted hattcouldnotbe established hohad shotLeninor whatgroup toodbehind t,though e expressed eriousdoubt hatKaplanwouldhave beenphysically apableofcarryingut he ssassinationttempt.6ith hedethronementfthe fficialenin ult ndthe peningf he rchivesnRussia, host fhistoriansnd ournalistsaverepeatedndelaboratedhese rguments.woprominentistorians hohaveexamined aplan'sChekafile,A. L. Litvin ndthe ateD. A. Volkogonov,aveconcludedhat aplanprobably idnot hoot enin ndthat,tany ate,he Rs boreno relationo the ssassinationttempt.7Most of thisrecentiteraturenstead ttributeshe ssassinationttemptorivalries ndconspiraciesithinheBolshevikeadershipSverdlov, zerzhinskii,nd Stalin ariouslyfigures themain onspiratorandone ntrepidnvestigatoras assertedhat eninhimselfstaged heentireassassinationttempt"oprovide pretexto launch heRed Terror.8Under he mpact f these harges,heoffice f theProcuratorf theRussianFederationdeclared he 1918 nvestigationo have been conductedsuperficially"ndofficiallye-6 BORIS Orlov Mifo FanniKaplan, n: Vremia my2 (1975) pp. 153-163 and 3 (1976)pp.126-159;Semion yandres The 1918Attemptn the ife fLenin:A New Look atthe vidence,in: SlavicReview48 (1989) pp.432-448. Orlov's article as beenreprintedn stochnik (1993)pp.63-74. N.D. Kostin's esponseoOrlov, ud na terroromsic], n: stochnik (1993) pp.79-87,reiterateshe tandard ovietnterpretation,ut s useful or tspublicationf engthyxcerptsromKaplan'sCheka ile. ostin evelops isviewsmore ullynhisSud nadterrorom.oskva 1990. TheOrlov-Kostinxchange asbeenreprinteds Kto strelial Lenina:FanniKaplan,LidiiaKonoplevailikto-torugoi...,n: Rodina10 1993) pp.59-77.7D. VOLKOGONOVenin: oliticheskiiortretdvukh nigakh.ol. 1. Moskva1994, p.396-399;A. L.LitvinDelo 2162 i drugie el, n: Sobesednik2 (1991) p. 5;A. L. Litvin V Lenina strelial"Dzerzhinskii,n: Rodina 7 (1995) pp. 58-60. See also GrigoriiNilov [Aleksandr Kravtsov]Grammatikaeninizma. ondon1990,pp. 28-45, 148-155;E. Danilov Taina"vystrelov"anniKaplan,n:Zvezdavostoka 1991)pp.113-130;E.Danilov TrivystrelaLenina,li za chtokazniliFanniKaplan,n:Neva 5-6 (1992)pp.306-324;Oleg Vasil'ev Pokusheniea Leninabylo nstseni-rovkoi,n: Nezavisimaia azeta, 9August 992,p. 6; E. Danilov Pokushenie a vozhdia: ignalkterroni,n:Ogonek 5-36 1993)pp. 10-16;Nikolai Zen'kovichPokusheniia Kremle:Ot Leninado Eltsina:Tainy.Versii.Podopleka.Moskva1995,pp. 5-23; Idem Vozhdi na mushke: eraktyinstsenirovki.insk1996,pp.8-26.8Vasil'ev Pokushenie a Lenina ylonstsenirovkoi. 6. Nilov Grammatikaeninizma p. 148-155 argues or Stalin-DzerzhinskiionspiracyinwhichLeninsubsequentlycquiesced),whileLitvin V Lenina strelial" zerzhinskiip.58-60 optsfor heSverdlov-Dzerzhinskiiariant.Morecautious s Volkogonov Leninvol. 1,p. 397,who assertshat he ntire ffair ayhave been oneof heBolsheviks' igmystifications."or n additionalircumspectommentn Sverdlov' role, eeLyandres The 1918Attempt.442,n. 57.



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102 ScottB.Smithopened henvestigationnto he hootingn1992.9 heemergingrthodoxyhat aplandidnot hoot enin s nowfindingtsway nto econdaryccounts.10While he ontradictions,ddities,ndpatchinessf he vidence atheredy he ontem-porary olsheviknvestigatorsf the ssassinationttemptave fueled he rgumenthatKaplandidnot hoot enin, oluminousR sources hat hed ightn the ssassinationavenot een xaminederiously.hemostmportantuchmaterialsre he ranscriptsf he Rtrial ndofthepretrialnterrogationsarried utbytheGPU in March- pril1922, opiesofwhich rehousednthe tateArchive f heRussian ederationGARF). While he rialitself as a sham,tnonethelessroducedvidence fgenuine alue.Scholars istoricallyhadno access othismaterialndwere urtheramstrungy he mphasishat he ontempo-rary ewspaperccounts fthe rial aveto the harges f Semenov ndthe ther x-SRswhocooperated ith heprosecution.he Sovietpressprovided nlybrief, istortedc-counts f the estimonyfthe rue efendantstheSR Central ommittee embers howere ubsequentlyondemnedo death makingtvirtuallympossibleo assesscriticallyany fthe vidence dduced t the rial.The archival rialmaterials nowavailable.To be evaluated roperly,owever,hismaterial ust e dividednto wo ategories.hefirstompriseshe estimonyf he wenty-twoprincipalefendantstthe rial,leven fwhomweremembersfthe R Central om-mittee. hey ndtheothermembers fthefirstroup fdefendantsenerallyefused oanswerny uestionsnthe retrialnvestigation.tthe rial, hilenever enyinghePSRhadopposed olshevikule,hey efendedhemselvesorcefullynd oughtoparryariouscharges:hiswas not show rialnthehigh talinist ode.Yet elementsfStalinistracticewere resentnthe rosecution'seliance n the onfessionsf second roup fdefendantswho dmittedheiruilt,fferedbject onfessions,nd denouncedhePSR. Of the welvemen ndwomenn the econdgroup fdefendants,emenov ndhis closeassociate . V.Konopleva layedhemain oles. heir etailedonfessionsrovidedhe rincipalvidenceagainsthe armore rominentRs of he irstroup.11he evidence rovidedy he econdgroup f defendantsndergirdedotonly heprosecution'sersion fthe ssassinationattempt,ut llsubsequentoviet ccounts s well.The obviousweaknessesfthismaterialhaveunderstandablyed recentnvestigatorsfthe ssassinationttemptodisregardt oruse itonly electively.Now that he vidence romhefirstroup fdefendantss available, owever,t snolonger ecessaryrprudentodisregardhe estimonyf he econd.A rigorousomparisonofthe vidence romhe wogroups fdefendantsffersnstead reliable pproachothetrialmaterialnd otheAugust 0 assassinationttempt.orpurposesf ystematicnalysisandclarityfpresentation,arts neandtwoof his rticle resenteparate ersions ftheassassinationttempt,elyingespectivelynthe videncef achgroup fdefendants.hisapproach, espitets nevitableepetitions,rovidesheonly urewayto graspwhat scommonothe wo ccounts, herehey iffered,nd,ultimately,hat hould e accepted9 "Postanovlenie vozbuzhdenii roizvodstvao vnov' otkryvshimsiabstoiatel'stvam,"n:Istochnik2(1993)p.88.10E. g.Robert Service Lenin:A Political ife.Vol. 3. The ronRing.Bloomington,nd.1995,pp.29-33.1 In addition, slew ofother Rs were nterrogatedy heGPU andappeareds witnessest thetrial. monghewitness ere everal ormerentral ommittee embersndotheroppartyeaders,including. I.Rakitnikov,. K. Vol'skii,ndK. S. Burevoi, hose eadershipf hemost nequivo-cally ro-Soviet ing f he SR in he attertagesf heCivilWargainedhem (fleeting)xemptionfromrosecution.



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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin103as fact.Thiscomparisons the ubject fpart hree, hich hen eturnso the yewitnessaccounts,aplan's onfession,ndother vidence hat ave nspiredhe ecenttudies f heassassinationttempt.his iftingf he arious lasses f vidence ermitsor hefirstimea full econstructionoth f heAugust 0 assassinationttemptnd ofthe hadowyworldofundergroundR organizationsrom hich t ssued.

IAnanalysis fthe rial vidence estbeginswith he asetheprosecution adeonthebasisofthe estimonyfthe econdgroup fdefendants.ar andaway hemostmportanttestimonyame from . I. Semenov. orn n 1891 nto hefamilyf a Russian mperialofficialnwhats now he stonianity fTartu,emenov resentsnoutstandingxampleof heRussian evolutionaryerroristndhismentality.12xcept or eriods f mprisonment

andexile, nd for rmyervice uringheWorldWar,hedevoted istime xclusivelyoundergroundevolutionaryork romhe geoffourteen.oorly ducated ndnotparticu-larlynterestedn socialist heory,e driftedromartyoparty,bsorbedll thewhile nterrorism,nd nded pa Communistn1921Hebeganhis ortuousareer s a professionalrevolutionaryn the Combat rganizationftheLatvian ocial-Democracy."hisgroup,one of everal ational ocial-Democraticerroristrganizationsctive uringnd after herevolutionf1905, ivaled he R combat etachmentsn ts ommitmentoterrorismndcarried utmany rutalcts of terror.13fter is first rrestnd exile n 1907,Semenovreturnedllegallyoresume is erroristareernder he uspices f n anarchist-communistsplinterroup fLatvianocial-Democrats.emenov emainedn anarchist-communistorthe next everalyears s he worked isway throughhefamiliar ussianrevolutionarypatternf rrest,xile, scape, ndrenewederrorismntil eemigratedo France n1912.There e brokewith narchismndoined hePSR in1915.He returnedoRussiathat earandwasdraftednto he rmy; e served hroughouthewar s a noncommissionedfficer.Activenarmy oliticsn1917,he served s Commissarfthe th rmynd ater ssistedKerenskynthe utilefforto find ro-governmentroopso overturnheBolshevikeizureofpower.After ctober emenov ecame key iguren he SR' s effortoorganizemilitaryorcesfor hedefense f theConstituentssemblynd thereafterovednaturallynto he SRunderground.eworkednPetrograd,oscow, nd Saratov ntil is firstrrest nder henewregime,n he all f1 1 .Ninemonthsf mprisonmenteem ohavebroken emenov.By May reports erecirculatingmong heSRs that emenovhadchanged ispoliticalorientationndexpressedn interestnenlistingn theRedArmy.14n fact, emenov'change fheart robably ent urther.here sgoodreason o believe hat esigned nasa provocateuror heCheka nexchange or is release n June 919.He certainlyecame12Unless therwiseoted,he ollowingiographicalnformations drawn rom he nterrogationfSemenov n20April 922,GosudarstvennyirkhivossiiskoiederatsiihenceforthARF)f.1005,op. 1A, d. 1347, 1. 69-71. For a brief haracterizationf Semenov, ee Viktor ShklovskiiSentimentalnoeputeshestvie.ec. ed. Moskva1990,p. 144.Shklovskii,howorkedwith emenovintheundergroundn1918,described im s "obtuse nd suitable or olitics."li SeeAnnaGeifman hou ShaltKill:RevolutionaryerrorismnRussia,1894-1917.Princeton1993,pp. 106-108 and Ia. P. Krastyn' Revoliutsiia 905-1907godovv Latvii.Moskva 1952,pp. 187-194.14GAilF f. 1005,op. IA, d. 347,1.67 (interrogationf L. V. Konopleva, 0 March1922); heraccounts confirmedyV.Chernov Samozashchitaredatelei,n:GolosRossii, 8March1922,p. 2.



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104 ScottB.Smitha Chekaagent y 1920, nd this eems hemost ikelymomentorhim ohave struckdeal.15His quickreemergencenSR circles fter isrelease endsfurtherredence o thesuspicionhat e hadenteredhe ervicesf heCheka, s doeshisdecision o ointheNarodgroup,hewing f he artyhat tood or he losest econciliationith he oviet egime,andwas riddledwith heka gents.In 1920,Semenov egan o handlemoredelicate asksfor heBolsheviks. he Chekadispatched im o PolandduringhePolish-Soviet ar for se against orisSavinkov'sWarsaw-based ussianPoliticalCommittee.emenov ecured coverforhimselfnSRcircles ywranglingnassignmentn Polandfrom heMinorityfthePSR,the uccessorto theNarodgroup.16rossinghefrontt the nd ofJuly,emenovwas arrestedythePolish uthoritiesndreleased womonthsater fterhe nterventionfSavinkov, homheknew romhe rerevolutionarymigrationndfromrmy oliticsn 1917. Semenov ene-trated avinkov's rganizationyofferingis services s a terrorist,ndSavinkov greedto Semenov's roposalo assassinate rotskyndLenin.Departingolandwith passportand 100000 rublesuppliedySavinkov,emenov idnot eturno Russia she hadagreedwithSavinkov uttravelednstead oGermany.n Berlinhe givea detailed eportnSavinkov t the ovietmission.17UponhisreturnoRussia emenovuit heMinorityf he SR,which xpelled im orgoodmeasure.nJanuary921he oined heCommunistartyndonceagainwent broad,this imepparentlyogathernformationnmigrR circles.18broadhemet pwith .V. Konopleva,his close associate romheundergroundn1918,who ike Semenov adbecome nagent ftheCheka nd member ftheCommunistarty.19 hile till utsideRussia heyame oplay key artnthe reparationfwhat eninhopedwould e the irstof a seriesofmodeltrials imed t theopponents fthe Bolshevik ictatorship.20he

15Thiswasthe iew f formeremberfSemenov's roup, hoknewhimwell:M. A. TlSLENKORazoblacheniezhi, n:GolosRossii, 3 March1922,p. 3.16GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.349,1.94 testimonyfSemenov); ARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.347,1.103(testimonyfVol'skii); see also S. Maslov Proshloe rovokatorapis'mov redaktsiiuGolosaRossii"), n:GolosRossii,17March1922,p. 1.1 See the xcerptsromemenov's eportsent yDzerzhinskiio Lenin ndTrotsky:ossiisknTsentrhraneniiaokumentovoveisheistoriihenceforthTsKhlDNI)f.76,op.3,d.226,1.6-10(vypiskaz dokladaSemenova). ee also GARFf. 1005,op. 1A,d. 349, 1.94-104 (testimonyfSemenov);GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 349,1.88-92 (testimonyf . D. Smilga ndA. A. Mazalov).Semenov elatedhat etold avinkovbout is 1918 erroristrganizationndKaplan'sattempt.hesameyear, avinkov claimed redit or he ttemptn hisBor'ba s bol'shevikami.Warszawa 920,p. 32. Savinkov's laim clearly alse mayhave stemmedrom istalkswith emenov. avinkovlater eniedohisSovietnterrogatorsny onnectionoKaplan r he ssassinationttempt.eeDeloBorisa avinkova. oscow1924, .36.Semenov's 920reportsotheCheka urelytood ehindheSoviet tatementfNovember0, 1920that nnouncedheuncoveringfplansfor erroristttacksagainst oviet eaders.The authoritieseclared hat mprisonedR Central ommittee embers,followersfSavinkov,ndofficersfWrangel'srmywouldhenceforthll be consideredostages.SeePravitel'stvennoeoobshchenie,n:Pravda, 0November920,p. 1.18GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 349,1.98 (testimonyfSemenov);RTsKhlDNIf.17,op.84,d.45,1.8 (G. SemenovV Tsentral'nyiomitet KP(b),5 December 921).19ForKonopleva's ies otheCheka, eeTlSLENKOazoblacheniezhip. 3.20SeeLenin's etterfFebruary0,1922 oPeople'sCommissarfJustice. I.KurskiinV. I. LeninPolnoe obranieochinenii.ifthd.,vol.44. Moskva 964, p.396-400.Lenin'scollectedworks recarefullycreenedoconceal isrole nthe reparationf he Rtrial. his etter,hich heds aluablelightn Lenin's oliticalnd egalviews uringhe ransitionoNEP,wasone of he nlydocumentsallowedhroughhe ilter.enin rderedhe ecipientsf he etterot ocopy t, orefero t nprint,or o connectisname o t nanyway.Previous ditionsfLenin ontainnly briefndmisleadingexcerptromt: see V. I. LENIN ochineniia. hird d.,vol. 29.Moskva1934,p. 419.



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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin 105Bolsheviklanfor how rials ocused irstnthe R Central ommittee embers, ost fwhom adbeen oundedp nSovietRussiaby arly 921.Semenov roduced ispamphletonthe Rundergroundnd ts ies and he ies f hepartyeadership to FaniaKaplan'sassassinationttemptnd ubmittedt otheCommunistarty entral ommitteen Decem-ber5, 1921.He attached letterrofessingis needtoexpiate is sinsbeforeherevolu-tion.21 nDecember 8,after reportrom zerzhinskii,heCentral ommitteeormallyapprovedhe lanfor major rial fSRs.22nJanuaryonoplevaubmitteder wnreport,covering uch he amegrounds Semenov; ortionsf his eport erepublishedo muchfanfare yPravdaon February8.23The sameday,fourdaysafter hepublicationfSemenov's rochurenBerlin,heGPU announcedheupcomingrial.24The charges roughtySemenov ndKonoplevawere ndeed ensational.25n greatdetail, he woformerRs recountedhehistoryftheparty'snvolvementn terrorismn1918.Konoplevaestifiedhat nder henfluencefthe atificationftheTreatyfBrest-Litovsk hedecidedoassassinateeninnMarch 918.She nformed. N.Rabinovich,heCentralCommitteeepresentativen the SR Military ommissionnPetrograd,hat hewouldcharacterizehe ttacks an "individualct." Sheneverthelessished o know heCentral ommittee'sttitudeoherplan.AccordingoKonopleva nd P. T. Efimov, hoparticipatednthe ttemptith er ndalsoappeared t the rial s a member fthe econdgroupfdefendants,abinovichndA. R. Gots f heCentral ommitteegreed o theplaninPetrograd;naddition,abinovichraveledoMoscow o obtain he onsent f heBureauof heCentral ommittee. ith he o-aheadromheBureau,Konopleva ndEfimovwenttoMoscow nd pentwoweeks eadyingheirlan o shoot enin, ut eturnedoPetrogradwithoutarryingtout.26InPetrograd onopleva oon oinedforceswith emenov,whom heknewfrom heirworknthe arty ilitaryommissionarlyntheyear.Afterhe issolutionf heConstit-uentAssembly,emenovmergedsthemain igurentheCommission,hich oncentratedonorganizinghe oldiers f he etrogradarrisonndonformingorkeretachmentsoyaltothe SR. By May,when he oliticaltmospherenPetrogradadbecome xtraordinarilytense ue to food hortagesndtheBolshevikhootingfworkersnthe ndustrialuburbofKolpino, emenov ndKonopleva egan opush hepartyeadershipo take dvantageof he ituationnd eizepower. heCentral ommitteeembersnPetrogradGotsandD.D. Donskoi), upportedythePetrogradR Committee,locked ny uchpreparations,however,ndSemenov's opes ufferedfurtherlow nmid-May hen wave of arrestsrolled hroughhe rganizatione had assembled.27

In this ontext,emenovatched n to the dea ofterrorisms a wayoffacilitatingheoverthrowf heBolsheviksnPetrograd.rom he emnantsfhisorganizatione formeda "Central ombat etachment,"onsistingfhimself,onopleva, heveteran R terrorist21RTsKhlDNI f. 17,op. 84, d. 45, 1. 8-9 (SEMENOVV Tsentral'nyiKomitetRKP).22Marc JansenA ShowTrialUnder enin:TheTrialoftheSocialistRevolutionaries,oscow1922. TheHague1982,p. 23.LiGARF f.1005,op. 1A, d. 346, 1. 69-86 (L. V. KONOPLEVA oklad o voennoi boevoi rabotePSR);Pokazaniia Lidii Konoplevoi, in: Pravda,28 February1922, p. 1.24"Rabota" serov:Ot Gos.Politicheskogopravleniia,n:Pravda, 8 February922,p. 1.25Thefollowingccountynthesizesemenov's rochure,istestimony,nd that fKonopleva;where haveused estimonyyothermembersf he econd roup fdefendants,have cited t.DIn addition oKonopleva's testimony,ee AR1< . 1005, op. A, d. 346, 1. 99-100 (interrogationsof Efimov 12 and 31 March 1922).27In additionto Semenov's brochure, ee Shklovskii Sentimental' oe puteshestviepp. 145-153.



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106 Scott B.SmithE. A. Ivanova, nd overhalf dozenPetrogradorkers. emenov's roup eganprepara-tionsfor heassassinationfZinov'ev andVolodarskii,he mostprominentolshevikleaders nPetrograd.hewould-beerroristsoon discoveredhat olodarskiiresentedneasier arget. ccordingly,emenov ecided okillhim irstndappointedmember fhisgroup,heworkerergeev,ocarryut he ttack.When reparationsad beencompleted,SemenovmetGots nd skedhim or inalpprovalf he lan.AccordingoSemenov, otsasked emenov owait. emenov,owever,ttributedhis equesto a failurefwill nd oldSergeevogoahead f he pportunityo hootVolodarskiiresentedtself. uch nopportu-nity rose thenext ay,June 0,andSergeev hothimdead onthe treet otfar rom heObukhov actory.he SR Central ommitteeubliclyenied ny onnectiono themurder.AccordingoSemenov, abino i h ustifiedheCentral ommittee'senunciationf theattempty citing ots'srequesthat emenovwait.AlthoughheCentral ommittee'senial f n SR tie o Volodarskii'smurderutragedthemembersf heCombat etachment,t tayedntactndmovedts perationsoMoscowafter emenovwas unable opersuadehepartyoseizepower nPetrogradt the nd ofJune.n Moscowthe fifteen embersf Semenov'sgroup ocused npreparationsorterroristttacks n Lenin ndTrotsky.hemembersf he rganizationstablishedurveil-lance andbegan oprepare movefirstgainst rotsky,ecause ofthe mpact isdeathmightaveon theRedArmy.emenovurnedo Gots oclarifyhe arty'sttitudeoterror.Accordingo Semenov,Gotsagreed hat errorismas nowappropriatend instructedSemenov okill itherenin rTrotskyt thefirstpportunity.t a secondmeeting otsagain pprovedhe lanwith solemn romisehatheCentral ommitteeouldrecognizethe ctas an official eed oftheparty.At his tage aniaKaplan nteredhe cene. orn eigaKhaimovna oitmannVolhyniain 1887,Kaplan, ikeSemenov,was a formernarchistndterroristhogravitatedothePSR in the astyears f theOldRegime. he was arrestedn 1906when bomb heandseveral ther erroristsere reparingor heKievgovernor-generalxplodedn their otelroom,lightlynjuringer. houghentencedodeath,he hadher entenceommutedndpassed he emainingears f heOldRegimenSiberian theAkatui ndMal'tsevprisonswheremostwomen olitical risoners ere ncarcerated.28hile nprisonKaplanaban-doned he narchisteliefshat hehadembraceds a teenagerndbegan o considererselfan SR. Freed romrison y he ebruaryevolution,hecame oMoscowbut oon movedsouth otheCrimea. hereturnedoMoscow fterebruary91 .29 ccordingo theprose-cution nd he econd roup fdefendantstthe rial,y he ummerf 1918KaplansharedSemenov's eliefn thenecessityf erroristttacksn Bolshevikeaders.n Moscow shejoined terroristrganizationedbyV. K. Rudzievskii,lawyerwho calledhimselfn SR.Thisgroup,nknownoSemenov,egan reparationsf tsownfor ttemptsgainst eninandTrotsky.. S. Dashevskii,ne ofthe eaders ftheundergroundR groupworkingotransferfficerso the asternront,an cross he rganizationndput emenovn touch

28Lyandres The 1918 Attempt p. 434-437 clearsup theconfusion urroundingaplan's name andpast party ffiliation. he basic facts are clear from heprotocolsof Kaplan's interrogation, hichnevertheless reventedneither he Bolsheviks from endering er astname as Roid nor some migrSRs from ivingher a first ame of Dora. See I. VOLKOVICHERed.) K istoriipokusheniiana Lenina(Neopublikovannyematerialy), n: Proletarskaia revoliutsiia6-7/18-19 (1923) pp. 275-285, herep. 284.29Volkovicher (ed.) K istoriipokusheniia pp. 282-284.



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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin 107with aplan.Theymet,ndSemenovnvited aplan nd certain arusia o oinhisgroup,whichwascertainly ore ormidablehanRudzievskii'srganization.30Semenov ow tepped p preparationsor he ssassinationfLenin.Hedeveloped planto shoot enin t one ofhisweekly ridayppearancest Moscow factories.ythis ointmost f he R Central ommitteeadmoved outh o Saratov o cross hefront or amaraand hencipientommitteefMembers ftheConstituentssemblyKomuch).DonskoiandE. M.Ratner, owever,emainednMoscow spart f MoscowBureau f heCentralCommittee.ccordingoSemenov, onskoimetKaplanandtoldher heparty ouldnotrenounce n attemptnLenin.Three onsecutiveridaysnAugust hemembers ftheorganizationtaked ut factories here eninmight e expected o speak.On thethirdFriday,Kaplanheldresponsibilityor heregion outh ftheMoscowriver,where s itturned ut,Leninspokeat theMikhel'son actory.She carried revolverupplied ySemenov ndwasaccompaniedy nother emberf hegroup, worker amedNovikov.Afterhemeetingovikovntentionallytumblednthe tairwells he followed eninoutof he actory.hisdelayedhe rowd ehind enin nd created nopportunityorKaplanto shootLeninas he stepped rom hefactoryohis automobile. aplan quickly ell ntoBolshevik ands, utNovikov scapedunnoticed.To thedismay fthe errorists,heCentral ommitteeisclaimedesponsibilityor heattack. emenovmetwithDonskoi,whoexplainedhat heneedtoprotecthePSR fromBolshevik errorustifiedheCentral ommittee'sisassociationfthepartyrom aplan'sattempt.he Central ommittee'senunciationfresponsibilityhoroughlyemoralizedheterrorists,ut everalmemberseverthelessecided oorganizenattemptnTrotsky. heydispatched islenko o Saratov o express utraget theCentral ommittee's efusal oacknowledge aplan'sattack ndtorequest ermissiono assassinate rotskynthenameof an "autonomousroup f SRs."AccordingoKonopleva,Gotsapprovedhe dea,butnothingver ame f t.Thegrouparried ut series frobberiesogatherunds,ut ooncollapsedwhen heChekagotwind f ts ctivitiesnd arrestedemenov nd several thermembers.

IISuch werethe hargeshatayat theheart fthe R trialn1922. How much ruth idtheyontain?milVandervelde,heBelgian ocial-Democratrieflyngaged s a defenselawyer or hefirstroup fdefendants,aveanunequivocalnswer: It sperfectlylear

that ll thiswasthoughtp bySemenovaterogetherith hosewho ncited im."31nfact,close examinationfthe estimonyfthefirstroup fdefendantst the rial ndof otherSR sources hows hatGots,Donskoi, ndE. M. Timofeev each of whom t one timeserveds Semenov' link o theCentral ommitteemadenosuch laim.Their estimonyprovides wealth f vidence n Semenov' organizationnd he ackgroundo theAugust30 attempthat snot olored ya desire opleasetheBolshevik rosecutors.naddition,migrRsgatheredestimonyhey opedwould ehelpfulo thefirstroup f defendantsandpublishedt n theBerlin R newspaperGolosRossii."Rabinovich, . M. Chernov,30In additiono Semenov's rochurend estimony,ee: GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 346,1.90 (testi-mony fP. N. Pelevin);GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 346,1. 146-148 testimonyfDashevskii).nhisbrochure,emenovmisnameselevin, hom e callsPepeliaev,ndRudzievskii,hom e remembersas Gruzdievskii.Quoted nV. VoitinskiiSud nad sotsiahstami-revohutsioneramiMoskve, n: Dvenadtsatsmertnikov:ud nad sotsialistami-revoliutsioneramiMoskve.Berlin 922,p. 35.



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108 Scott B.SmithandV. M.Zenzinov, ach ofwhom ad been ctiventhepartynderground,ssued tate-ments,s didM. A. Tislenko,he nlymember f Semenov's rganizationnown o haveemigratedoWesternurope fter heCivilWar.32From hese ources t s clear hat he R Central ommitteeeveral imes iscussed hepossibilityf terroristttacks n Bolshevik eaders fter ctober. ach time,tdecidedagainsterror. tthe ndof1917, heCentral ommitteeocusedtshopeson theupcomingConstituentssemblyndurged artymembersot o begoaded nto conspiratorialeth-ods"byBolshevik rovocation.ut after hedissolution ftheAssembly,acedwith hedawningealizationhat heBolshevik oldonpowerwas more ecure han hey ad real-ized, ome R leaders egan orethinkheirosition.n mid- anuaryheCentral ommitteemember . N. Ivanovproposedhat heCentral ommitteeonsider heuse of terroristmethodsgainstheBolsheviks. lthoughhernovupportedvanov'sproposal o discussthe ssue, heCentral ommitteeefusedo considertandthusn effecteft ntact ban onterrorism.33he Central ommitteembodiedtsoppositionoterrorismn thedirectivestdispatchedopartyrganizationsnJanuary,hich nstructedRs toconcentratenbuildinga mass ocialist ppositionotheBolshevik ictatorship.34At all evels ftheparty,owever,alk fterrorismercolatedhroughout918 ithadafterllbeen heparty'smainweapon gainstheOldRegime nd formany Rs remainedthe nly ogicalmethodfpoliticaltruggle.ne need nly ecallvanKaliaev'swell-knownremark,an SR without bombwas not n SR" tounderstandhedepths fthe R attach-ment oterrorism.35nFebruaryheCentral ommitteeeturnedothe ssue at the nitiativeof the Khar'kovparty rganization,hich aised hepossibilityfassassinating . A.Antonov-Ovseenko,he commanderf Bolshevik orcesnUkraine.Whilethe CentralCommitteeetoed uch nattack,hemajorityndorsed hernov's iew hatnconditionsofCivilWar here ould nprincipleome timewhen hemurderf Bolshevikommissarwould evolutionizehemasses.The Central ommitteehereforeidnotforswearheuseof errorismgainsthe oviet egime.36oreover,vanov nd someother entral ommit-32Tislenkoubmittednaccount fSemenov's roup o theBerlin R organizationn March1922;a copy s ntheHoover nstitutionrchiveshenceforthIA),Nicolaevskyoll.,box8,folder 9.Anedited ersionppearednder he itle azoblacheniezhi, n: GolosRossii, 3 March1922,p. 3. Theeditorsorrectedrammaticalrrorsnd deleted eferenceso the irstroup fdefendantsDonskoi,Timofeev,ndE. A. Ivanova).33GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.368,1.65 testimonyf vanov);GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.368,1.80-81(testimonyfTimofeev);ARFf.1005, p. 1A,d. 368,1.90 (testimonyfGenderman). ee alsoV.M. ZenzinovProvokatoremenovkpredstoiashchemrotsessam),n: NovaiaRossiia42-43 (1938)pp.9-12,here . 9. The trialnquestion as that fBukharin,orwhich estimonyas concoctedoshow hat emenov ndBukharin adformedterroristrganizationn the1930s.Bukharin's ole nthe how rial f he Rs,atwhich e servedsoneof hedefenseawyersor emenovndthe econdgroup fdefendants,hus ameback o haunt im. n his ettero theFebruary-Marchlenumf heCommunistarty entral ommitteen1937,Bukharinleaded n vain hat heparty ad tasked imto defend emenovbecauseof Semenov'sgreat ervices o theparty. ee Materialy evral'sko-martovskogolenumasKVKP(b) 1937g., n:Voprosystorii -3 (1992) pp.3^4, here p.26-28.34See Marc Jansened.)Partiia otsialistov-revoliutsionerovosleOktiabr'skogoerevorota917goda:Dokumentyz arkhiva . S.-R.Amsterdam989,pp.53-119.^ QuotednGeifman houShaltKillp.44.JOGARF1.1005, p. 1A,d.368,1.81 testimonytTimoieev);ARF1.105, p. 1A,d. 368,1. 8(testimonyfGots);GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d. 368,1.89,162-163 testimonyfVedeniapin); ARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 369,1. 140-142 testimonyfRakitnikov).



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FaniaKaplan, heSRUnderground,ndtheAugust 918 Assassinationttemptn Lenin 109tee membersupportederrorist ethods fstrugglegainstheBolsheviks,nd thepartyleadershipeceivedmany ffers rom Rs interestednassassinatingenin.37Forthe nvestigatorftheAugust 0 assassinationttempt,hemostmportantftheseoffersamefromaniaKaplan.After er rrest, aplantestifiedhat he had cometoherdecision oshoot enin lreadynFebruary.38ndeed ther vidence onfirmshat fter erarrivalnMoscow n the pring, aplan uggestedo theveteran iberian R N. V. Fominthatheyssassinateenin. ominnturnroposeduch n attack o theCentral ommitteemember . M.Zenzinov, hom heCentral ommitteeaddelegatedosupervisell under-groundonspiratorialndmilitaryork nMoscow.ZenzinovnformedheCentral ommit-teeof he omin-Kaplanroposalnd hortlyhereafterommunicatedheCentral ommit-tee'snegative esponseo Fomin.39 omin oondepartedor iberia, utKaplanstayed ninMoscowand remainedirmn her erroristonvictions. . V. Liberov, ne of the SRdefendantsfthefirstroup tthe rial, ecalled aternprisonhat e had seenKaplan nthe pringndknew hewanted o assassinateenin.40 . K. Vol'skii,who s a leader ftheNarod roupwas not roughtotrial,estifiedhat e hadmetKaplan wice nMay1918 andshetoldhim fherdesire o assassinate topBolshevikeader.41Thiswasroughlyhe ame ime hat onopleva laimed lso to havecome o believe nthenecessityf errorismnd ohave raveledoMoscowwith fimov o assassinate enin.ThatKonopleva idnot nvent er toryut f hinir anbe establishedromhe estimonyofRabino ich ndTimofeev. abinovich'secollectionsonfirmonopleva' assertionhatsheproposedo assassinateeninwithoutnvokinghename f he SR. Rabino ich oughtto dissuadeher, ut raveledo Moscow to ascertainhe pinion ftheMoscow Bureau ftheCentral ommittee.he Bureau ejecteder roposal, utKonoplevanevertheless ent

37Ivanov estifiedt theSR Trial hat e supportederroristcts:GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 368,1.58; in an interrogationytheGPU prior o the rial, e said that smallnumber f other entralCommittee embersavorederroristethodsf truggle:ARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 347,1.4 (interro-gationf7April 922).Less reliableestimonyn this oint amefrom heformer entral ommitteemember . S. RozenbliumFirsov),whostated hat hernov oldhim nMayor June 918 that efavorederroristttacks n Soviet eaders:GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 346,1.191,194 interrogationsof23 and 30March1922)andfrom . V. Sviatitskii,ho stated hat hernov, ots, enzinov,ndTimofeevll supportederrorism:ARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 346,1. 168 interrogationf 19 March1922). For rank-and-fileR offerso assassinateenin, ee GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 369,1. 17-18(testimonyfTimofeev).or dditionalvidence fgeneralerroristentimentntheparty,eeGARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.369,1.32 testimonyf vanova);GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.347,1.10 interrogationof a. T. Dedusenko April 922);ZenzinovProvokatoremenov p.9-10; B. Rabinovich Kak tobylo,n:GolosRossii,17 March1922,p. 3.38Volkovicher (ed.)K istoriiokusheniia . 284;Kostin Sud nad terrorom. 83.39Zenzinov irsteportedaplan's proposaln anarticle nthemurderfFomin ndseveral thermembersf heConstituentssembly y squadofCossacks nOmsk nDecember 918;the rticlewaspublishednthe arisnewspapera France ibre, June 919 andreprintedn V. M. Zenzinov(ed.) GosudarstvennyierevorotdmiralKolchaka v Omske 18 noiabria 1918 goda: Sbornikdokumentov.aris1919,pp. 152-153. He amplifiedis reminiscencesna letter o Chernovnre-sponse o Semenov'allegations,uotednV. M. Chernov udin otselui,n:GolosRossii, 5 Febru-ary1922,p. 2. S. V. Morozov f theMoscow Bureauof the Central ommitteelso recalled heKaplan-Fominroposalnddatedt oMarchGARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 374,1.172).For Zenzinov'sundergroundork n Moscowgenerally,ee V. M. ZENZINOVor'ba rossiiskoi emokratiibol'shevikami 1918godu:Moskva Samara Ufa Omsk.HLA,Nicolaevskyoll.,box8,folder24,pp. 13-18. All of his stablisheshat enzinov'sknowledgefKaplanwas based on more han"hearsaynformation,"s Lyandres assertsThe 1918Attempt. 435).wE. OLITSKAIA oivospominanna.ol. 2. Frankfurt/Main971,p. 143.41GARFf 1005,op. 1A,d. 346,1. 173 interrogationfV. K. Vol'skii23 March1918); see alsoGARFf.1005,op. 1A,d. 347,1.42 (interrogationf Semenov 7April 922).



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110 ScottB.Smithto Moscow.42 imofeev's estimonyorroboratesabinovich's ccount f theBureau'srejectionfKonopleva'sproposal; e testifieds wellthat e interceptedonopleva ndEfimovn Moscow and sent hem ack oPetrograd.43Evidence romhe irstroup fdefendantslso establisheshat emenov,ikeKonoplevaandKaplan, egan opush or erroristttacksgainstheBolshevikeadershipn the pringof1918.Semenov'sworkntheMilitaryommissionnthewinterndearly pringf 1918fell nderhe upervisionfDonskoi,who argelyonfirmedemenov's ccount f t.44yMayresponsibilityor emenov's ctivitiesassed o Gots ndRabinovich. ots estifiedthatheyupportedemenov's ffortsobuild nundergroundilitaryrganizationecauseof he xtraordinaryoliticalensionnPetrogradnMay- une.With hepoliticalituationsuperchargednd he ossibilityf pontaneousorker isordersuite eal, he artyeededan "armed ist."45his"fist"was not ntended s a terroristetachment,ut Gots andRabinovich ach recalled hat emenov id notconcealhis desire oengage n terroristattacksnthe pringf 1918.AccordingoGots, emenov sked hortlyefore hemurderofVolodarskii hetherheBolshevikhootingfworkerstKolpino nd elsewhere adchanged he ttitudef theCentral ommitteeowardserrorism.otsreplied hat t hadnot.46Tislenko's ccountupportsots'stestimonybout heCentral ommittee'sppositionto terrorismndprovides urthernsightntoSemenov's ctivities.With hesupportfSemenov ndthe R Militaryommission,islenko erved s chief f staffn one ofthePetrogradivisionsf heRedArmy, posthe had ecured ith hehelp f notherR whohadpenetratedhe rmy. e proposedo Semenov o use hisown ccessto documentsndpasses o blowupthe rainf heCouncil fPeople'sCommissarshen t eft etrogradorMoscow n March.AccordingoTislenko,emenovgreed othis lan, ut epresentativesof heCentral ommitteeetoed t.When onskoi ejected second equest rommembersofSemenov's roup or ermissionoengagenterrorism,islenko,emenov,nd severalothers ecided o actontheirwn, houghislenko epartedor heVolga shortlyeforehemurderfVolodarskii.47Afterhatssassination,emenovoldGots hat ergeev adhappenednVolodarskiindtaken dvantagefhisproximityo shoot im; emenov laimed e wasno lesssurprisedthanGots twhat adhappened. nthe asisof his onversationotspublishedhe arty'sdenialofresponsibilityor he ssassinationn theCentral ommitteergan elo naroda.Gotsdecided o transferemenov's roup cross hefrontnd sentvanova oMoscow toinform he Central ommitteefwhathadhappened. heresponsibilityfSemenov'sorganizationor hemurder fVolodarskii ecamecommon nowledgen thehighestspheresfthe R leadership.48Gots soon eft or hefrontnd turned vermanagementf Semenov'sgroup o E. M.Timofeev,ne ofthe fourmembers fthe MoscowBureauofthe Central ommittee.Timofeevpprovedemenov's roposalokeep he roupogetheror se as a partisannit42RabinovichKak tobylop. 3.43GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d.369,1. 1-9 testimonyfTimofeev).44GARFf. 1005,op. 1A,d. 354,1. 69-76 andd. 355,1. 3-25 (testimonyfDonskoi);see alsoZenzinovProvokatoremenov . 9.45GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d.350,1.74 (testimonyfGots).46GARFf.1005,op. 1A,d.350,1.64 (testimonyfGots);RabinovichKak tobylop.4.*'HIA,Nicolaevskyoll.,box8, older 9,p. 1 statementrTislenko).48GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.350,1.66-70,76-79 testimonyfGots);GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.350,1.178-183 testimonyf vanova);GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d.371,1.129 testimonyfD. F. Rakov).



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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin111on the astern ront.emenov ent o Saratov o makepreparationsor hemove cross hefront. herehe met Tislenko nd toldhimabout the circumstancesf the murder fVolodarskii.hey greedoresume erroristttacksespiteheCentral ommittee'spposi-tion, nd Semenov eturnedo Moscow nmid- uly. e metTimofeevndargued hat isgroup, hich adgatherednMoscow, ughtobe leftherencasethe artyook pterror-ism.Timofeev,owever,nsistedhat errorismgainst olshevikeaders emainednaccept-able ince heBolsheviks adnotdefinitivelyroken ith he nternationalocialistmove-ment.49otsmeanwhile eturnedo Moscow fromenza,having eenunable oget crossthe ront.emenovmet im nd gain skedwhetherheCentral ommitteettitudeowardsterroradchanged, utGotsrepliedthad not.50Inmid- ugust imofeeveft or aratov ndhanded emenov' organizationver othelast f tsCentral ommitteeiaisons, . D. Donskoi, elling im hat he rganizationasto be transferredcross hefrontoon.Donskoimet emenov everal ays ater. emenovinformedim hat aniaKaplanhad oinedhisgroup nd that he had "definiteerroristschemes nd wishes."Donskoi skedto meether,which hey id"very hortly"eforeAugust 0.Kaplan rgued or terroristttack,utDonskoi xplainedhat he arty as notnowcarryingut erroristttacksnd hat he hould thinkard."Histestimonyontinues:"I added also that n herposition,wishingto carry ut a terroristct, she would putherselfoutside hepartyf she acted. .. I gotthe mpression hat strong ecisionhad matured nher,but thought hatmy ndications nthisregardwould be completely uthoritative nd wouldexert ome influence."51Afterhe ttemptnAugust0 and he R Central ommitteeenunciationf tonSep-tember,Donskoimet emenovnd skedhim fhe had ny onnectionoKaplan's ttempt.Semenov dmittede hadprovided erwith he evolverhatheused, ndexplainedhathe had been nspired y Kaplan's example.His groupwouldhenceforthevote tself oterrorismnd act as an"autonomousroup f SRs." The conversationecameheated ndSemenov tormedut, nly oreturneveral ays ater osayhewould ubmitotheparty'sorders ndmove othe astern ront.52Meanwhile,he ay fterhe ssassinationttempt,islenko ad arrived rom aratov ojoinSemenov's rganizationnterroristctivity.tsmembers,owever, ad demanded hatSemenovroducehe romisedentral ommitteecceptancefresponsibilityor he ttackonLenin.When twas not orthcoming,heyonvened meetingt thegroup's onspirato-rialdacha tTomilino o confrontim. hough emenov laimed hat heCentral ommitteehadrenegedn tspromise,llexcept onopleva, islenko,nd vanovawhoknew he ealstory) egantosuspect hat emenov addeceived hem. heexecution fKaplan onlyintensifiedheir nger. emenovmanaged onethelesso secure vote ofconfidencenhimselfs leader,nda majorityf hegroup ecided o continue ith errorf heCentral

49GARF f. 1005,op. 1A,d. 373, 1. 2-4 (testimonyfTimofeev);TISLENKORazoblachenie lzhi p. 3.50GARF f. 1005, op. 1A, d. 372, 1. 122 (testimony fGots).51GARF f. 1005, op. 1A, d. 372, 1. 164-165 (testimony fDonskoi). Accordingto B. A. BABINAFevraT 1922, in: Minuvshee: storicheskii lmanakh (1986) pp. 7-80, herepp. 24-25, Donskoi gaveher a ratherdifferentccount of this conversationwhile in prisonbefore he trial.She quotes him assaying:"She [Kaplan] indeed came to us, and inparticular o mepersonally,with a proposal to sendher okillLenin.I looked at her hen a rather retty oman,butunquestionablynot normal and withvarious defects:deaf, halfblind, omehowexalted. Like a holyfool! Least of all did itoccur to me totake herwordsseriously."Donskoi' s testimonynthetrial s morereliable han he much laterreminis-cences of Babina and, as will be shown below, helps to make sense of Kaplan's testimony o herinterrogators.52GARF f. 1005, op. 1A, d. 372, 1. 166 (testimony fDonskoi).



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112 ScottB.SmithCommitteeave explicit pproval.A minorityfsix, ncludingemenov ndTislenko,supportedonopleva's roposal ogoahead ven f heCentral ommitteeidnotgive tssanction. hegroupelected islenko otravel oPenza,where imofeev, ots, nd severalothermembers ftheCentral ommitteeerehiding ut, tillhoping o travel cross hefrontoSamara.UponhisarrivalnPenza,Tislenko nformedimofeev hat hemembersofSemenov's roup adbeen urprisedy he arty'senunciationfthe ttemptfAugust30 and skedhowtheparty ouldview heir ontinuederroristctivityf hey idnotusethe artyame.Withhe upportfGots, imofeevepliedhathiswas outofthe uestionand threatenednspecified unishmentsfthegroupdid not cease itsactivity.islenkoreturnedoMoscow ndcommunicatedhis othe errorists.islenko, emenov, onopleva,and a fewotherstayed n and decided otarget rotsky,ut heyufferedrom severeshortageffunds, ecause Donskoirefused o financeheir perations.heycarried utseveralexpropriations,"utmorale eterioratednd heywere oonbetrayedo theCheka.Semenov nd several thers ere rrested.53Ill

It should eclear romhis eview fthe vidence upplied ythe wogroups fdefen-dantshat he entraloint fdisputeoncernedhe ttitudefthe R Central ommitteeoSemenov's ctivities.et this hould ot bscure owmuch f Semenov's toryhedefen-dants fthefirstroup oncededn theirestimony.hepartyeadership's ppointmentfSemenovo setupanundergroundilitaryrganizationnPetrograd;he erroristnclina-tionsofSemenov nd hisassociates; heorganization'sesponsibilityor hemurder fVolodarskii;tssubsequentransferoMoscow,where emenov ontinuedopressforpermissionocarryut erroristcts allthiswasagreed nbyboth roups fdefendantsat the rial nd should e accepted s fact.Thetestimonyfthefirstroup fdefendantsndthe dditionalvidence rommigrSRs also establisheslearlyhat emenov's ccount ftheAugust 0 assassinationttemptcannot e dismisseds a concoctionfter hefact ya Cheka gent-provocateur.f coursewhat heSRs knew bout he hootingameultimatelyromemenov, uthe related oseveral Rsthehistoryf hemurderfVolodarskiindofKaplan'sattemptongbefore edefectedo the Cheka. ndeed Semenov ecountedhebasic facts o bothDonskoiandTislenkowithin aysoftheAugust 0 assassinationttempt:e toldDonskoi hat e hadsuppliedKaplanwith herevolverhat he used n the ttemptnd nvited islenko o ameetingfthe erroristrganizationt which hedistraughterroristsiscussedwhat odoin thewake ofKaplan's execution.Mostmembers ftheCentral ommitteenew boutSemenov'snvolvementnthemurderfVolodarskii,utSemenov's onnectionoKaplanwasa more losely uardedecret.till, onskoi old oth . M. Ratner ndS. V. Morozovof heMoscowBureau f heCentral ommitteebout t n1918, nd nFebruary919hetold heCentral ommitteeember . S. Burevoi hat aplanhad carriedut he ct nde-pendentlyfter heCentral ommittee embers adrefusedo sanctiont as a partyct.While heres no confirmationfSemenov's laim hat onskoi skedNovikov owrite p53TislenkoRazoblacheniezhi .3. nhis tatement,islenkotatedhatvanovain dditionoKonoplevand imself)newbouthe entralommitteeppositiono errorndwas hus ot psetwith emenov; olosRossii mittedhis etail. ee alsoGARF .1005, p.1A,d.373,1. 12-13(testimonyfTimofeev).



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FaniaKaplan, heSRUnderground,ndtheAugust 918 Assassinationttemptn Lenin 113hisexperiencesor he artyrchive, orozov skedKonopleva or picturefKaplanforthe amepurposenNovember 918.54The Central ommittee embersxpressed o doubt hat aniaKaplanhadshot eninon behalf f Semenov's rganization,ecause herewas abundant vidence hat he had.Evenwithoutavingecourseothe estimonyf he econdgroup fdefendants or to thetestimonyfKaplanherself- picturefKaplan'sterroristntentionsmerged learlyndunambiguouslyromhe videnceuppliedy he irstroup fdefendants.aplanproposedher ervices or terroristttack n Lenin othe R Central ommitteenthe pringf 191and discussed erdesire o shoot eninwith t east wootherRs,on three ccasions,nthe ameperiod. emenov rought aplan o Donskoibefore ugust 0,she toldDonskoithat he ntendedokill enin,ndhe formedhempressionhat er eterminationasquitestrong.onskoi earned rom emenovhortlyfter ugust 0 that e hadprovided aplanwith weapon.At the ame ime,s several entral ommittee embersnew, islenkoarrivednMoscow o find hemembersfSemenov's rganizationpset yKaplan'sexecu-tion nd convinced hat hehad acted nbehalf f theparty. hecircumstantialvidencelinking aplan otheAugust0attempts thus uite trong,ince hedefendantsfthefirstgroupanhardlyesuspectedf yingo mplicatehemselvesnd heirarty.t s thereforeimpossibleo believe hatKaplanwas not nvolvednd that hemight ave "cometo theMikhel'sonactoryhatvening y ccident,"sLyandres assuggested.55ucha scenariocannot esquaredwith he nambiguousvidenceying aplan o Semenov's rganization,least f llwith he onvictionnthepart fthemembersfthat rganizationhat he wasa member ftheir roupndhad acted n tsbehalf.Theres,moreover,dditionalvidence obelieveKaplanwas nvolvedn the ttempt.nthefirst lace,ofcourse,Kaplanhad a terroristast nd was arrestedt the cene.Moreimportantly,he confessedo the hooting.n light f whathas been establishedbove,Kaplan's testimonyoher nterrogatorsppears autious, ut ruthful.he stated hat hewanted okillLenin, ecausehe hadbetrayedocialismndpostponedhe ealizationf ruesocialismfordecades;thesewerestandardR motives or ppositiono theBolshevikregime.he testifiedhat hehaddecidedo ssassinateenin nFebruary918 ndhad eversince beenpreparingo carry ut her ntention,hichfitswellwith hetestimonyfZenzinov and Morozov abouther Marchproposal o assassinate enin.56n addition,Kaplan's estimonytronglyuggestshat onskoi' admonitiono her o "think ard" ndnot o nvolve he artynher ctions iguredrominentlyn hermind uring er nterroga-tion. he wasquick o state hat hewas a socialist nd everal imes nderlinedhefact hatshewas no ongernanarchist,ut efusedhrougheveralnterrogationso admit hat hewas an SR or to revealher ttitudeo theSRs' KomuchgovernmentnSamara.Kaplanacknowledgedhat he was an SR only fter everalnterrogations,hen heChekahadalreadystablisheder artyffiliationyroundingpsomeofherpast cquaintancesrom54GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 374,1.178 testimonyfMorozov);GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 347,1.72 (interrogationfKonopleva April 922);GARF f.1005,op. 1A,d. 374,1.199 testimonyfE.M.Ratner); ARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.346,1. 163 interrogationfBurevoi 6 March1922);ChernovSamozashchitaredatelei . 3.55Lyandres The 1918Attempt.447.It should epointedut hat enzinov eferredoKaplan'sMarch roposalo shoot enin n hisarticle fJune 919, hree ears efore roletarskaiaevoliutsiiaublishedheprotocolsfKaplan'sinterrogation.



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114 ScottB.Smithprison.till,henever laimed sanctionromhe artynd nsistedhat hehadcarried uther ct personally"nd"accordingo her onvictions."57Finally,neofthe tems ound nKaplan's possession fter er rrest as a trainickettothe tation fTomilino,n therailroadine eading o Kazan'. Kaplan nitiallyeniedhaving uch ticket,ut n a laternterrogationmplicitlyoncededtwas herswhen herefusedo statewherehehad cquiredt.58 heconspiratorialacha f he emenov rgani-zationwas ndeed tTomilino,s not nly emenov ut everalmembersfthefirstroupofdefendantsestified.onskoi nd vanova oth cknowledgedt, heMoscow SR M. A.Davydov estifiedhat e had rentedtfor heparty,nd Tislenko iscussed t ength ismeeting ith hemembersf he rganizationtTomilinohortlyfter aplan'sexecution.59Kaplan's possession f ticketoTomilinos a lastpieceofevidence ying er rrefutablyto Semenov.On thebasis of all thismaterial,here an be no reasonable oubt hatKaplanwas amember f Semenov' organization,hat he wanted okillLenin, nd that he was atMikhel'son spart fSemenov's lan oassassinateheBolshevikeader. heoften-repeatedclaims hat aplanwas inked o Semenov's rganizationndtothe Rs only t the ime fthe1922 trial ndthat ermembershipnthe emenov rganizationannot e establishedaresimplymistaken.60nview ofthis, he dditionalvidence hat as beenadvanced nsupportfthe rgumenthat aplandidnot hoot enin osesmost f ts ignificance.There re ndeed ome ontradictionsnthe yewitnessccounts nd ome dditiesnthecase as awhole, ut herere varietyf xplanationsor his hat re implernd farmoreprobablehan he onspiracyheoriesurrentlynfashionmongnvestigatorsftheAugust30 attempt.hree lusters fevidence igure ost rominentlynthese heories: aplan'sallegedphysicalnabilityocarryut he erroristttack; setofargumentsbout hegunthatwasused, hebullets emovedrom enin'sbody, ndthenumber fcartridgesoundat the scene; and the contradictionsn theeyewitnessccounts f the scene outsideMikhel'son. heargumenthat aplanwas not apableof hootingeninhingesmainlynher upposed lindness,houghomenvestigatorsave uggestedhewas alsodeaf ndtoounstablemotionally.61aplan,however, asdefinitelyotblind: hehad osther ightn1909,but treturnedn1913. 2Althoughhe didnot egain ormal ision, hepersonwhoshot enin tood nly hree rfourmeterswayfromim.As tohernstabilityndnervous-ness, his s anargumentn favor atherhangainst erparticipationnterrorism,iven he

57Volkovicher (ed.) K istoriipokusheniia pp. 282-285; D. Rudnev, S. Tsybov Sledovatel'VerkhovnogoTribunala:Dokumentrnyiocherk.Tallin 1971, p. 82.58Volkovicher (ed.) K istoriipokusheniia pp. 283, 285.59GARF f. 1005, op. 1A,d. 349, 1. 17 (testimonyfDonskoi); GARF f. 1005, op. 1A, d. 373, 1. 151(testimonyof Ivanova); Tislenko Razoblachenie lzhi p. 3; GARF f. 1005, op. 1A, d. 348, 1. Ill(interrogationfDavydov6 May 1922). LYANDRES huserrswhen he asserts hat he Central Commit-tee membersdisputed he existenceof the dacha (The 1918 Attempt . 447).60Lyandres The 1918 Attempt . 447; LlTVlNDelo 2162 i drugiedel p. 5; VOLKOGONOV enin,vol. l,p. 397.01This arguments advanced invarying egreesbyOrlov Mif o FarmiKaplan, m: Vremia i my3(1976) p. 131; Nilov Grammatika eninizmap. 41; Lyandres The 1918 Attempt . 440, n. 46, andp. 445; Litvin Delo 2162 i drugiedel p. 5. Kaplan's past blindness s well-established,but theonlyreference o her deafness s Babina's half-centuryaterrecollection f her conversationwith Donskoi(Babina FevraT 1922 p. 25). None ofKaplan's friendsmentionherhavinga hearingproblem, houghtheyrecalledwithconsiderableemotion hestory f her oss of vision.62F. Radzilovskaia, L. Orestova Mal'tsevskaia zhenskaia katorga1907-191 1 gg., in: Katorga issylka59 (1929) pp. 115-146, herep. 123. None of thepeoplewho metKaplan in 1917-1918 assertedthat he was blind.



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FaniaKaplan,he RUnderground,nd heAugust918AssassinationttemptnLenin115well-documentedecordfRussian erroristsith rave motionalndpsychologicaliffi-culties.63SkepticsfKaplan's nvolvementnthe ssassinationttemptave lsopointedoques-tions bout hegunthatwas used,thebullets emoved ater rom enin'sbody, nd thenumberf artridgesound tthe cene.Thegun houghto havebeenused to shoot eninwas recoveredy heCheka nly everal ays fter he ssassinationttempt. ccordingoLenin's chauffeur. K. Gil',who turned o see a woman's rmfire he econd ndthirdshots tLenin nd hen ave hase oher,hewoman roppedhe evolverhat hehadused.Itwasnot, owever,ound tthe cene.Only fterpublic ppealdid a local worker amedKuznetsov eliver herevolver,Browning,o theCheka.64hisstory as struck ecentinvestigatorss suspicious,speciallyince heressome antalizingvidence o ndicate hatanothereaponmightavebeenfoundnKaplan'sbriefcase.65oreover, hile tappearsthathreehotswere iredtwobullets it enin ndonehitPopova)andthat heBrowningturnednbyKuznetsovad hree f ts ixbulletsemaining,heCheka ound ourartridgesat the cene n ts earch everal ays fter he hooting.66Inaddition,olkogonovndLitvin ssert hat ecent ests n theBrowningave furtherconfused atters.olkogonovtateshat he ullet emoved rom enin'sbody n 1922 wasnot iredy heBrowningurnednbyKuznetsov;itvinhargeshathe aliber f he ulletremovedn 1922differsromhe aliber f he ullet emovedfter enin'sdeathn1924.67It s difficulto address hese harges ullyinceneithercholar iteshissource, utrecenttestson thebullets ytheMinistryfSecurityastserious oubt n their alidity. heMinistryfSecuritystablishedhatneof he ullets as"probably"ired romheBrown-ing; ests n the econdbulletwere nconclusive. heMinistry'seportmakesno mentionofdifferingullet alibers rthepresencef secondweapon.68The last cluster fevidence dduced nmost f therecent tudies f the ssassinationattemptocuses nthe ontradictionsnthe yewitnessccountsf he hooting.69he Sovietauthoritiesccordedriorityothree itnessesGil',the hairmanf heMikheFsonactorycommittee. la. Ivanov,ndS. N. Batulin,hedeputymilitaryommissaror he ocal RedArmy ivision.None of thesemennor nyone lse outside hefactoryadactuallyeenKaplan shootLenin; heir ccounts ocused n whatoccurred fter heshootingnd onKaplan's behavior rior othe hooting. n thesepoints hewitnessesontradictedachotherntheirestimonytthe ime nd ntheirater ecollections.hemost laringontra-dictionies nthedivergentccounts fKaplan'sarrest,nwhich ach vanov nd Batulinclaimed ohaveplayed he eading ole.Althoughhe uthoritieseem o havedecided atertogivepriorityo vanov' claim, robablyecausehe was chairmanfthefactoryommit-63See AmyKnight FemaleTerroristsn theRussianSocialistRevolutionaryarty,n:RussianReview 8 (1979) pp. 152-154 andGeifman hou ShaltKillpp. 167-172.64Revol'ver,n: zvestiia TsIK,3 September918,p. 4.VOLKOGONOVenin, ol. 1,p. 398 assertswithout itationhat gunwas found nKaplan'sbriefcase.heprotocolsfKaplan's nterrogationakeno mentionf his un nd tnever iguredntheprosecution'sase. But see thebrief eportn the nitial earch fKaplan nKOSTIN ud nadterrorom. 80.66Volkogonov Lenin, ol, 1,p. 398;LitvinDelo 2162 i drugie elp. 5.67Volkogonov Lenin, ol.1,p. 398;Litvin V Lenina strelial" zerzhinskii. 58.58E.MaksimovaSledstvieodeluFanniKaplanprodolzhaetsia,n: zvestiia, March1994,p. 7.wSee especiallyyandres The 1918Attemptp.437-442 andDanilov Pokushenie avozhdiapp. 11-12.



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116 ScottB.Smithtee,vanovnfact idnot ssert ntilater hat e hadcaptured aplan.70tthe ime, atulinprovidedhe nly escriptionfKaplan's capture,nethat s straightforwardnd does notcontradicthe estimonyf vanov, il',orother itnesses;t sobviouslyo bepreferred.71Theremainingontradictionsnthe estimonyavemainlyo dowithKaplan'sactivitiesat Mikhel'son rioroLenin's hooting.ome ofthesehave imple xplanations: il', forinstance,onfusedaplanwithM. G.Popova, womanwhowastalkingoLenin tthe imeof the hootingndwas woundednthe ttack.72 orebroadly,he ontradictionsn theeyewitnessccountstem rom he haostypicalf a crime cene, articularlyne as dra-matic s an assassinationttempt:tshould ome as no surprisehat hosepresent avevaryingccounts fwhat adoccurred.ndeed he npublishedheka nterrogationsontainevenmore ontradictionsnd confusionhan hepublishedestimonyn which he ecentinvestigatorsftheAugust 0 attemptaverelied.73lthoughyewitnessestimony ightat firsteem to be a goodandunambiguousource,t too needs tobe treatedritically,because oftheunreliabilityf ndividual itnesses,hedesire fwitnesseso nflateheirownroles, nd ater ffortsythe uthoritiesoadd or embellish etails or ropagandapurposes.hismaterialrovidesdecidedlyhaky oundationnwhich o build naccountof he ssassination;he ther vidence or aplan's nvolvementfferssurer lace o start.Since t s clear hatKaplanwas atMikhel'son s part ftheSemenov roup'splantoassassinate enin, nd that emenovwas tied o thePSR,the onclusionhatmost f therecenttudentsfthe ubject avedrawn that enin's hooting asorganizedyfigureswithin heBolshevikeadership takes n the uraofthefantastic.irtuallyhe nly vi-dence or his heorys Sverdlov's ommento V. D. Bonch-Bruevichuringenin'srecu-perationhat heyweremaking owithout enin.Sverdlov robablymeant nly hat hepartyeadership as showing, erhapsurprisingly,hat t didnotdepend ompletelynLenin nd couldfunctionithoutim.74itvin,or ne, smuch s concedeshistheoryfa conspiracys far-fetchedhen e admitshat or t ohave nyweight,emenovmust avebeen ooperatingith heCheka romhe pringf 1918 forwhich heres not shred fevidence.75itvin ndother ecentnvestigatorsfthe ssassinationttemptavebeen ed

70See Ivanov's testimonyfSeptember inVolkovicher (ed.) K istorii okusheniiap. 278 and hisaccount in Podrobnostipokusheniiana tov. Lenina, in: Izvestiia VTsIK, 3 September1918, p. 4.Compare Ivanov Kak ranili licha, in: P. Posvianskii (ed.) Pokusheniiana Lenina 30 avg. 1918 g.:Dokumenty,vospominaniiaochevidtsev,gazetnyematerialy1918 g., nekotorye annye z protsessaTsK Partiisotsialistov-revoliutsionerov,rotokolydoprosa Kaplana i dr. Vtoroe izd. Moskva 1925,p. 23.71Volkovicher (ed.) K istorii okusheniia p. 279-280. Much has also been made of thedifferingaccountsofKaplan's executionprovidedbytheKremlin ommandant . D. Mal'kov the most detailedofwhich s hisZapiski komendantaMoskovskogo Kremlia. Moskva 1959, pp. 157-161. Subsequenteditions f Mal'kov' s memoir upplyfewer etailsoftheexecution, robably reflectionf the authori-ties' reluctance o divulgetoo much nformation bouta sordidearly-morningxecution.Mal'kov'saccountsare notcontradictory;hey implyvary n theirdegreeof detail.72Volkovicher (ed.) K istoriipokusheniia p. 277; S. K. Gil' Shest' let s V. I. Leninym:vospominaniia ichnogoshoferaVladimira l'icha Lenina. Moskva 1947, pp. 37-38.13KUDNEV,TSYBOVSledovater Verkhovnogo nbunala p. 84. ine contradictions learly puzzledthe Cheka investigators, ho returnedo the scene with vanov and Gil' to reenact heshooting.SeeIstochnik (1993) pp. 75-78 forphotographsf the reenactment.he photographswere shotbyla. M.Iurovskii, herecently eturnedxecutioner f the mperialfamily,who was assisting nthe nvestiga-tion.74This is howBonch-Bruevichnterpretedverdlov's remark. ee Tripokusheniiana V. I. Lenina,in: V. D. Bonch-bruevich Vospominaniiao Lnine. Vtoroe zd. Moskva 1969, pp. 327-383, herep.361.75Litvin V Lenina "strelial" Dzerzhinskiip. 59.



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FaniaKaplan, heSRUnderground,ndtheAugust 918 Assassinationttemptn Lenin 117astrayy heirssumptionhat he vidence roducedor he R trial s no more eliablehanthat roducedor he rials fthe talin raand,generally,ya tendencyo see the elationbetweenhe ssassinationttemptgainst enin ndtheRed Terror s akin o that etweentheKirovmurdernd heGreat errorf he1930s.The mplicitnalogy etween aplan'sattemptnd theKirovmurdersmisleading.While heBolsheviksmade effectivese ofKaplan'sassassinationttempto unleash heRedTerror,hey ardly equired pretextntheway hat talin id nthe1930s ndhad ndeed lreadyntroduced ost fthepracticesassociatedwith heRedTerror.Ifconspiracyheoriesregroundless,hat oes notmean llaspects fthe ssassinationattemptre ompletelylear. hecontinuingonfusionbout he evolveror revolvers)ndthenumber fcartridgesound t the cenemeans hat hepossibilityf a secondgunmancannot eexcluded. or an onebeabsolutelyertain hat aplan hot eninherself,inceno one saw her o t, lthoughhe vidence s overwhelminghat he did andthere s virtu-allyno evidence osupport rival cenario.What s certains that emenov'sgroup rga-nized nd arried ut he ttemptnd hat aplanwas nvolvedn t and urelyhe uestionofwho stood ehindhe ssassinationttempts thekey ne.The final oint hat s notfullylear s the ttitudeftheSR Central ommitteeo theterroristlans ndacts of Semenov's rganization.utsimply,emenov ndKonoplevaclaimed lear,unambiguousanction rom heCentral ommitteeor heorganization'sactions, hile heCentral ommitteeefendantsnd heirupportersnemigrationisputedthis igorously.n several rounds,t simpossibleoaccept emenov's laim f CentralCommitteepproval.tdoesnot itwellwith heCentral ommittee'seneral osturetthisstage f heCivilWar,whichwas one of autious ppositiono theBolsheviksduemainlyto theTreaty fBrest-Litovsk)ommingled ithfearof a spontaneous opular nti-Bolshevikruptionwhich errorismightavehastened.Moreover,he ssertionhat heCentral ommitteeupportederroristttacks n Bolshevikeaders eaves everal pisodesperplexing.o cite woexamples:ftheCentral ommitteepprovedheir lans,neitherKonopleva' returnrom oscowwith fimov tthe ime f heirttemptgainst enin, orKaplan's reluctanceo nvoke hename fthePSR after he ttemptfAugust 0 makesmuch ense.Yet twasdisingenuous,osay he east, or he arty'seadershipodeny ny onnectiontotheAugust 0attempt.emenov's roup prang ltimatelyrom ispartynstructionsobuild n anti-Bolshevikilitaryrganization,ndpartyeaderswere nregularontact ithhim hroughouthe ummer. oreover,he arty's isapprovalf Semenov's ctivities asclearlyot s strongs themembersfthefirstroup fdefendants aintainedt the rial.Notonlywereno membersfSemenov's rganizationxpelled romhe arty,ut hepartywelcomed emenov imself ack nto hefold fter is releasefrom risonn 1919 andKonopleva emainedn active Rthroughout1 -191 . Inaddition,heCentral ommitteeturnedo SemenovnAugust 919when tdecided o send terroristetachmento Siberiato assassinate dmiral olchak. hough othingame f his lan, emenov's ppointmenttohead hedetachmentndicatesheprestiges a terroristhat e continuedoenjoy nthetop ircles fthePSR.76The ambiguouselations etween heSR leadershipnd Semenov'sorganizationrefurtheruggestedytherole ofE. A. Ivanovaboth n theorganizationnd at thetrial.

76RTsKhlDNIf.274,op. 1,d. 7,1. 15 protokolasedaniiaTsKPSR, 14August 919);GARFf.1005, p. 1A,d.373,1.65 testimonyfTimofeev);ARFf.1005, p. 1A,d. 347,1.67 (interrogationofKonopleva 0 March1922).



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118 ScottB.SmithIvanova was the step-sisterf the CentralCommitteememberN. N. Ivanov and aprerevolutionaryerroristfnote, aving een a member ftheNorthernlying ombatDetachmentfAlbert rauberg"Karl").Thisdetachment'sttacksn1906-1907 arned ta deservedeputations one ofthemost earsomeR terroristrganizations.77espiteherdenials,vanovawas indisputablymember f Semenov's rganization.onetheless,heCentral ommitteeembersccepted er s a memberf he irstroup fdefendantst thetrial.nfact,vanova's lace nSemenov's rganizationn1918wasprobablyathermpor-tant. onopleva, islenko, emenov nd shewere he nlymembersfthe rganizationoknowof theCentral ommittee'sppositionoterrorism,ut he had herown ties o theleadershiphrougher rother.e was a supporterfterroristttacksn Bolshevik eadersand nJune 918 evenbrieflyonsideredoining emenov's rganization.hrough im,Ivanova robablynew hat minorityftheCentral ommitteeavorederrorism,hichwould ertainlyaveemboldeneder ndherfellowwould-be errorists.78naddition,erties othe eadershipndher redentialss an SRterroristaywellhave uelled nydoubtsamonghe ank-and-fileembersf he rganizations to the egitimacyftheirnterpriseandtheparty'sttitudeowardst.The difficultyfuntanglingherelations etween he SR leadershipnd Semenov'sorganizations underscoredythefact hat here reseveral ocumentednstancesffalseCentral ommitteeenials fresponsibilityor erroristctsprioro the evolution.till, tis likely hat he Semenov rganizationonformedo another, ore ommon atternfprerevolutionaryR terrorismthe ecurrentendencyfterroristrganizationsoescapethe ontrolf he artyeadershipnd ocarryut cts f errorutonomously,iolatingheorders fthepartyeadership.79emenov's rganizationore close resemblanceo theseprerevolutionaryRterroristrganizations.ikeprerevolutionaryR terrorists,any fthemembersfthegroup adpast ies oanarchistroupsnddid notpaymuchmind othemattersfdoctrinehat bsorbedhe arty'seadership. s hadbeen hepracticeefore herevolution,hemembersf he rganizationere ompletelysolated romhe ivilian odiesofthepartynd ived n seclusion tthedacha n Tomilino. ndno less than eforeherevolutionhe xperiencef solationndofpreparationor erroristctswelded hemem-bers f he roupogetherndcultivateddevotiono ts eader. hishelps xplainwhy hegroup ouldcontinueoholdtogetherven s themembersegan osuspect emenov fmisleadinghem bout heCentral ommittee'sttitudeo terrorism.Inotherwords, herewasample rerevolutionaryrecedentor heSemenov rganiza-tion'sdevelopmentnd forts mbiguouselationothepartyeadership.his should e afinal eason oput o rest hemythsurroundinghe ssassinationttemptfAugust 0,1918.Regardlessfwhetheromedetails fwhat appenedutsideheMikhel'son actoryremainmurky,hebasicpicture and mostmportantly,ho stoodbehind he ttack isclear. t should ome s nosurprisehatmemoirists,olshevik ropagandists,nd Soviethistoriansssuedmythologizedersionsfthe ttack,eplete ith etails uch s childrenrushingocapture aplan.Nor houldtbesurprisinghathencongruitiesf he1922 rial,the roclivityorecrecynthe art fLenin'sheirs ndguardians,nd he opularendency77For vanova'snvolvementnKarl's etachmenteeZ.Klapina amiati.Trauberga,n: storiko-revoliutsionnyiiulleten'-3 (1922) pp. 58-62 and A. I. Spiridovich artiia otsialistov-revoliutsioneroveepredshestvenniki.etrograd916, .363.78GARF .1005,p.1A, .347, . interrogationf vanovaApril922);GARF .1005, p.1A,d.350, .132 testimonyf vanov).79For hisnd or alse entralommitteeenials f esponsibility,eeGeifmanhou halt illpp.65-69.



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FaniaKaplan, he R Underground,nd heAugust 918 Assassinationttemptn Lenin 119tosuspecthe fficialersion f ventsn a matterfLenin'sbiography,avegiven ise oamyriadfmythsbout aniaKaplan'ssurvival ndthe esponsibilityf Sverdlov or heassassinationttempt.et thesemythsreno lessmythicalor hat. oviethistoryeaturedsome trangeonspiracies,ut heAugust 0 attemptn Lenin's ifewas not ne ofthem.

scott b smith - 1998 - who shot lenin - fania kaplan the sr underground and the august 1918...

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