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Terror as methodology: The enduring history of state violence in russian governance

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In Brief

  • The current use of systemic violence against Ukraine is viewed as the latest manifestation of a centuries-old historical pattern of Russian state reliance on terror.
  • The Tsarist regime established a precedent for 'official lawlessness' through administrative exile (Kennan) and weaponized economic hardship (Kropotkin), institutionalizing caprice as a tool of the state.
  • Soviet leaders ideologically justified the 'Red Terror' (Trotsky) not as regrettable necessity, but as a revolutionary duty and the indispensable means for the dictatorship of the proletariat.
  • Prolonged state-enforced suffering has fostered a culture of moral apathy and normalized brutality, systematically reducing individuals to 'instruments of violence' (Tolstoy).

The modern spectacle of aerial bombardment turning skies into a source of death for civilian populations has been described as a terror unseen in Europe for decades [1]. This charge, leveled against the Russian state, points not to a new phenomenon, but to the resurgence of a deeply entrenched historical pattern. The use of systemic state violence and arbitrary repression to maintain authority and crush resistance has been a defining feature of Russian governance for centuries, a reality observed by commentators both within and outside its borders [2, 3]. This practice is not an aberration of a particular regime but rather a persistent methodology of power, a strategic tool wielded to ensure state cohesion and project authority.

More than a century ago, the anarchist Peter Kropotkin chronicled a level of cruel repression in Russia that he claimed surpassed anything known from modern history, describing conditions so desperate as to constitute a public duty to expose them [4, 5]. An examination of this history reveals a consistent through-line of state-sanctioned terror, evolving in its justification but consistent in its application. From the administrative lawlessness of the Tsarist era, which used exile as a tool for unity, to the ideologically rationalized terror of the Soviet period and its contemporary manifestations, the Russian state has repeatedly relied on fear and violence as primary instruments of domestic and foreign policy [6]. This long history demonstrates that terror is not simply a reaction to crisis, but a foundational element of the state's relationship with its people and its neighbors.

The Tsarist Precedent: Lawlessness as a Tool of Statecraft

Long before the revolutions of the 20th century, the Tsarist regime employed a system of repression that established a precedent for official lawlessness. The historian George Kennan, writing in the late 19th century, argued compellingly that it was the state's own practices—specifically administrative exile, where thousands were banished to Siberia without judicial trial—that directly caused the rise of revolutionary terrorism, not the other way around . This system of arbitrary punishment, devoid of legal process, institutionalized caprice as a legitimate tool of the state, creating a foundation of official violence upon which later regimes would build.

The mechanisms of this terror were both psychological and brutally physical. Kropotkin's accounts from 1909 describe a system dominated by courts-martial that handed down numerous death sentences, leading to what he termed an epidemic of suicides within prisons [7]. The ill-treatment of the condemned was methodical and barbarous, with physical torture inflicted on prisoners to extract information [8]. This state-sanctioned cruelty was not hidden but served as a public demonstration of the consequences of dissent, designed to quell opposition through fear.

The targets of this repression extended far beyond committed revolutionaries to encompass a wide swath of civil society. Individuals who organized armed resistance against pogroms were themselves treated as the worst kind of revolutionaries, and a wave of prosecutions was unleashed against anyone with liberal-minded views, however moderate [9, 10]. This demonstrates a state logic wherein any challenge to the central authority, even actions aimed at protecting minority communities, was categorized as a threat to be eradicated. This unchecked power, as noted by observers like Donald Mackenzie Wallace, inevitably led to abuse and exerted a pernicious influence on the entire society [11].

State terror also manifested in economic and social spheres. The government’s lower agents in villages and towns wielded their power arbitrarily, driving large numbers of people to despair [12]. During times of famine, the Ministry of the Interior ordered the stringent collection of tax arrears and famine loans, sometimes deploying punitive expeditions that ruined peasants by seizing and reselling their property for a fraction of its value [13, 14]. This weaponization of economic hardship against a vulnerable populace illustrates a form of systemic terror that operated alongside direct political repression, reinforcing the state’s absolute and often predatory control over its subjects.

The Ideological Justification of Soviet Terror

The Bolshevik revolution did not discard the Tsarist apparatus of repression; instead, it intensified it and gave it a new, powerful ideological justification. For leaders like Vladimir Lenin, victory over the bourgeoisie was impossible without a long, desperate struggle demanding absolute discipline and a concerted will [15]. This framing transformed state violence from a pragmatic tool of an autocratic regime into a necessary and historically mandated instrument of class warfare and revolutionary progress.

Leon Trotsky was one of the most explicit theorists of this new form of state terror. He argued that the revolution itself was the ultimate justification for the means used to defend it [16]. From this perspective, if the proletariat was right to seize power, it was obligated to use any means necessary, including terror, to maintain it [17]. This logic reframed terror not as a regrettable necessity but as a revolutionary duty. The concept of a dictatorship was central, as it was seen as the only form through which the proletariat could achieve and secure control of the state [18].

A crucial element of this ideological framework was the distinction Trotsky drew between

(the weapon of the historically reactionary class) and

(the tool of the rising proletariat) [19]. While the former was seen as a futile attempt by a dying class to delay the inevitable, the latter was portrayed as a constructive force, clearing the way for a new socialist order. This moral and historical rationalization allowed the Soviet state to deploy violence on an unprecedented scale, not as an act of oppression but as a righteous step toward a utopian future.

This revolutionary ethos culminated in the vision of a state ruled by an

and an

[20]. While this specific phrasing comes from a deeply controversial text, it reflects the broader ideological climate where centralized, absolute power was deemed essential for societal transformation. Terror was thus fully integrated into the state's identity, becoming a core component of its project to forge a new society and a new type of human being, by force if necessary.

The Social and Psychological Scars of Enduring Repression

Centuries of living under a system of state-enforced suffering has left indelible marks on Russian society. The national character has been described as one schooled in the stern discipline of privation and tested by recurring famine, war, and political persecution [21]. This history has forged what one observer called a

[22]. However, this endurance coexists with a

born from living under the absolute and often arbitrary power of the state, a condition that degrades both the ruler and the ruled .

The perpetual use of state violence creates a vicious cycle. As Kropotkin warned, a government that regularly employs terror paves the way for new disturbances and spreads a pervasive

[23]. Violence becomes a normalized mode of interaction, eroding the moral fabric of society. This dynamic suggests that state repression does not ultimately create stability but instead breeds a culture of brutality that can easily erupt in new forms of conflict.

At the individual level, the state’s repressive machinery functions to systematically break down human dignity and autonomy. Leo Tolstoy described how young men were reduced to a

in order to become effective instruments of state violence [24]. This psychological transformation is a core objective of institutionalized terror: to hollow out the individual conscience and replace it with unquestioning obedience to the state’s will. This process creates both the agents of terror and a populace too fearful or broken to resist.

The impact of such profound and prolonged suffering is not confined within national borders. Kropotkin argued that the

that links civilized nations makes it impossible for one country to suffer so intensely without affecting the entire international community [25]. Despotism in one part of the world, he insisted, inevitably reacts upon all others . This century-old observation finds its modern echo in contemporary appeals for an international response to Russian aggression, which is framed as a terror that threatens not just one nation, but the stability of an entire continent [26].

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The historical record demonstrates a stark continuity in the Russian state's reliance on terror as a primary instrument of governance. This pattern stretches from the Tsarist policy of administrative exile, which institutionalized official lawlessness as a tool of control , through the Soviet era's explicit ideological embrace of the Red Terror as a necessary means to a revolutionary end , and into contemporary military actions that use fear as a weapon against civilian populations . While regimes and ideologies have shifted, the underlying principle of using systemic violence to enforce state will, eliminate dissent, and project power has remained remarkably constant.

This enduring reliance on repression has been a recurring theme for both internal critics and external observers for over a century. The use of Siberian exiles to forge

, the historical tendency toward imperial expansion and subjugation of neighbors [27], and the perception of Russia as a land defined by its penal system and political oppression have deep roots [28]. The

that Woodrow Wilson saw in post-revolutionary Russia serves as a painful object lesson that persists today [29]. Ultimately, the history of the Russian state is inextricably linked to the history of the lash—a tool of coercion that has been used to maintain order at home and assert dominance abroad, leaving a legacy of suffering and instability that continues to shape the present.