Russia and the Birth of Right‐Wing Terrorism: Mass Politics, Antisemitism, and the Assassination of Mikhail Gertsenshtein

Abstract This article examines the assassination of Duma representative Mikhail Gertsenshtein in July 1906 as the pivotal moment for the emergence of the concept of “right‐wing terrorism” ( pravyi terrorizm ) in the Russian Empire. Drawing on court documents, police files, and censorship reports, this article argues that the significance of the Gertsenshtein murder lay less in the perpetrators’ intent, but more in its discursive and political impact. Unlike revolutionary terrorists who sought martyrdom and public justification, the far‐right assassins, linked to the Union of the Russian People ( Soiuz Russkogo Naroda ), denied responsibility and were motivated by a mercenary sense of state duty. At the same time, however, the assassination itself triggered a heated and emotional reaction among liberals and the revolutionary left, and it was within this context that a new label of “right‐wing terrorism” ( pravyi terrorizm ) first emerged. The ensuing public debate, amplified in the Duma and the press, polarized the political landscape and led to a semantic shift: terrorism, regardless of ideology, was increasingly defined as an illegitimate, corrosive political crime, setting a precedent for understanding and labeling right‐wing political violence in the twentieth century.