Editing SR Combat Organization

{{Short description|Russian terrorist organization (1902-11)}}
{{Expand Russian|Боевая организация партии социалистов-революционеров|date=April 2014}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
| logo             = 
| caption          = 
| native_name      = Боевая организация партии социалистов-революционеров
| native_name_lang = ru
| other_name       = 
| leader           = [[Grigory Gershuni]] {{small|(1902–1904)}}<br>[[Yevno Azef]] {{small|(1904–1908)}}<br>[[Boris Savinkov]] {{small|(1908–1911)}}
| foundation       = 
| dates            = {{Start date|1902||}}–{{End date|1911||}}
| dissolved        = 
| merger           = 
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| predecessor      = 
| merged           = 
| successor        = 
| country          = [[Russian Empire|Russia]]
| allegiance       = 
| motives          = 
| area             = 
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| ideology         = [[Revolutionary socialism]]<br>[[Narodniks|Narodnism]]
| position         = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]
| crimes           = 
| attacks          = 
| status           = 
| size             = 
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| financing        = 
| partof           = [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]]
| allies           = 
| opponents        = {{flag|Russian Empire}}
| battles          = 
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| website          = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
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The '''Combat Organization''' ({{Langx|ru|Боевая Организация|Boyevaya Organizatsiya}}, or the Fighting Organization) was the terrorist branch within the [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]] of [[Russia]]. It was a [[terrorism|terror]] sub-group that was given autonomy under that Party.  In his memoirs, group member [[Boris Savinkov]] called the group the "Terrorist Brigade."<ref>
  {{Cite book
  | last = Savinkov
  | first = Boris Viktorovich
  | author-link = Boris Savinkov
  | others = Joseph Shaplen (trans.)
  | title = Memoirs of a Terrorist
  | publisher = [[Boni & Liveright|A. & C. Boni]]
  | year = 1931
  | location = New York
  | pages = 364
  | lccn = 31018026
 }}</ref> (This phrasing was followed in his own memoirs by [[Whittaker Chambers]], an American spy for the Soviets.<ref>
  {{Cite book
  | last = Chambers
  | first = Whittaker
  | author-link = Whittaker Chambers
  | title = Witness
  | publisher = Random House
  | year = 1952
  | location = New York
  | pages = 65–66
  |lccn = 52005149 }}</ref>)

==History==
In 1902, [[Grigory Gershuni]] founded and led the group. In July 1904 they murdered the Russian Minister of the Interior, [[Vyacheslav von Plehve]].

In 1904, Gershuni was arrested, and [[Yevno Azef]] succeeded him, with Boris Savinkov as his deputy.  Azef, a double-agent in the employ of the Tsarist secret police [[Okhrana]], changed the Terrorist Brigade's mode of attack from firearms to dynamite.
In its middle period (1903–1906) the brigade's members included more than a dozen women and more than four dozen men—some nobles, honorary citizens, priests, and merchants.  Most were 20–30 years old; 19 were [[History of the Jews in Russia|Jews]], and two Poles.<ref>
{{cite book
| last = Gorodnitsky
| first = R.
| title = Fighting Organization Socialist Revolutionary Party 1901-1911
| publisher = Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN)
| year = 1998
| isbn = 5-86004-120-9
| pages = 235–236}}</ref>
In 1908, Savinkov succeeded Azef, but the group disbanded shortly thereafter.

==Members==
* [[Grigory Gershuni]]
* [[Yevno Azef]] (also "Evno" and "Azev"/"Azeff" and "Yevno Asiev"<ref>
  {{Cite book
  | last = Chambers
  | first = Whittaker
  | author-link = Whittaker Chambers
  | title = Witness
  | publisher = Random House
  | year = 1952
  | location = New York
  | pages = 66 (fn)
  |lccn = 52005149 }}</ref>)
* [[Boris Savinkov]] (also "Savinkoff")
* [[Mikhail Melnikov]]
* [[Stepan Balmashov]]
* [[Thomas Kachura]]
* [[Igor Sazonov]] (also "Yegor" or "Egor" and "Sozonov")
* [[Ivan Kalyayev]] ("Kaliaev" in the 1931 translation of Savinkov's ''Memoirs of a Terrorist'')
* Sikorsky
* Borishansky
* Dulebov
* Shveitser (also "Schweitser"/"Schweizer")
* [[Karl Trauberg]]<ref>
  {{Cite book
  | last = Chambers
  | first = Whittaker
  | author-link = Whittaker Chambers
  | title = Witness
  | publisher = Random House
  | year = 1952
  | location = New York
  | pages = 66 (fn)
  |lccn = 52005149 }}</ref>

==Assassination efforts==
===Assassinations===
* 1902: [[Dmitry Sipyagin]]
* 1904: [[Vyacheslav von Plehve]]
* 1905: [[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia]]
** [[Nicholas Bogdanovich]] (governor of [[Ufa]])
* 1906: [[Vladimir von der Launitz]]

===Failed assassinations===
* [[Konstantin Pobedonostsev]]
* [[Nicholas Kleigels]]
* [[Fyodor Dubasov]]
* [[Ivan Mikhailovich Obolensky]]

==See also==
* [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]]
* [[1905 Russian Revolution]]
* [[Terrorism in Russia]]
* [[Bolshevik Military Organizations]]
* [[Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party|PSP Combat organization]]
* ''[[The Just Assassins]]''

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External sources==
*[[Boris Savinkov]], ''Memoirs of a Terrorist'' (New York: Boni, 1931)/''Воспоминания террориста'' (1917) {{LCCN|72005616}}.
*[[Albert Camus]], ''[[The Just Assassins]]'' / ''Les Justes'' (Paris: Gallimard 1950)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sr Combat Organization}}
[[Category:Russian Revolution of 1905]]
[[Category:Left-wing militant groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Military wings of socialist parties]]
[[Category:Socialist Revolutionary Party]]
[[Category:Terrorism in the Russian Empire]]
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