Based on the materials of the archive of Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Vladimir divisions of the tsarist secret police, published on the pages of the democratic press of the period of the February Revolution, the essence of the technology of political investigation in the provincial factory center is revealed: methods of recruiting secret agents, the supervision of informants, their gradation by category depending on the value of the information obtained, monetary remuneration. Provided also is some information on failures and errors in the activities of the gendarmes. An attempt has also been made to show the corporatism of interests and the concept of honor of representatives of the gendarmerie and police departments, their interaction in protecting the autocratic system. The author comes to the conclusion concerning the sufficient effectiveness of the work of the gendarmerie of the Shuisky district of the Vladimir province. It is particularly true of the city of Ivanovo-Voznesensk: a developed network of agents, close coordination with the police, special attention to the preventive direction in their activities, broad intellectual horizons and professionalism of high-ranking officials of this service at the provincial level and an extremely primitive approach to fulfilling their mission by their local subordinates. It all worked quite well in conditions of stable socio-political life of the country and the region. However, the well-coordinated apparatus of the political police could not resist the revolutionary pressure of February, which united all segments of the population in the intention to build a civil society, and turn Russia into a free democratic state.
For citation: Ilyin Yu.A. Ivanovo-Voznesensk Gendarmerie Department: Technology of Political Investigation on the Eve of the February Revolution (based on the materials of the Democratic Press of Ivanovo-Voznesensk), Bulletin of the Ivanovo State University. Series: Humanities, 2024, iss. 3, pp. 145—151.