The watchful state

by Jonathan W. Daly

>Why did the imperial Russian government fail to prevent revolution in 1917? Were its security policies flawed? This broadly researched study of Russia's security police investigates the government's efforts to maintain order as it struggled against political opposition and threats of violence during the last decade before the Revolution. Historian Jonathan Daly brings to life the men who, often with reformist intentions, took on the task of defending Russia against political dissent and revolution from within. > >*The Watchful State* reveals how the security police matched wits with revolutionary activists under Russia's first constitutional government, from 1906 until the collapse of order in 1917. The secret police kept a watchful eye on a large number of the radical political activists who threatened the state order. Such constant scrutiny enabled the secret police frequently to disrupt plots against the government, to set snares to trap conspirators, and to hold the workers' movem