PERCEPTION OF REVOLUTIONARY TERRORISM OF THE 1870s - 1880s. POLITICAL ELITE OF RUSSIA (EXEMPLIFIED BY P. A. VALUYEV''S NOTE)
Within the context of the history of revolutionary terrorism in Russia in the 1870s-1880s, its perception by the political elite of the Russian Empire is considered. The research is conducted based on a note of the Minister of State-owned Property P. A. Valuev, that was handed over to the emperor after the murder of the chief of gendarmes N. V. Mezentsov. This document was made in time next to murder, carries bright emotional coloring. In it the real mood of P. A. Valuev caused by the terrorist attack conducted by revolutionaries is expressed. The rough reaction of the dignitary to the murder of the chief of gendarmes is accurately traced. P. A. Valuev gives to this event too destructive character. The measures proposed by Valuev in his note are not adequate to the act committed by the revolutionaries. The reaction of P. A. Valuev and other high-ranking officials of Russia and the emperor to this act of terrorism was hypertrophied; as a result, the majority of the measures proposed by Valuev in his note were implemented. It becomes clear that the struggle of autocracy against the consequences rather than the causes that had led to the terrorist act only aggravated the situation.