How Effective is Political Assassination?

 

Political assassination has always been a means to replace leaders seen as weak, to eliminate political competition, create social insecurity, and instill terror. Frequently, assassinations are tied to radical groups furthering political agendas. This was true of late 19^th Century Russian revolutionaries, the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in 1914, and – in modern history, the attempted assassination of Harry S. Truman November 1, 1950. Some notable assassinations may have been carried out as acts of revenge, as the stabbing of Marat by Charlotte Corday July 13, 1793 or the murder of French King Henry IV in May 1610 by a crazed Catholic cleric.

 

Assassination Used to Incite Social Terror and National Insecurity

 

In 1878 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Vera Zasulich walked into the office of General D. F. Trepov and shot him. Zasulich was part of the Nihilists whose program of political reform condoned violence. Like the Anarchists and numerous other groups at the time, political assassination was part of that program. In The Catechism of the Revolutionary, authors Sergei Nechaev and Mikhail Bakunin provide a list of “categories” – those that must be eliminated. “…the first to be destroyed are people who are especially harmful to the revolutionary organization and those whose sudden and violent death will create the greatest fear in the government…” (Paragraph 16)

 

Although the June 1914 assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were directly related to the political goals of the Black Hand, a secret Serbian nationalist cell, it also was successful in exploiting terror and insecurity. Already viewed as a “powder keg” waiting to be ignited, the Balkans pitted the territorial goals of Austria-Hungary against Russia. In this case, what might be called the “assassination of the century,” launched World War One.

 

Assassination to Replace Potential Political Threats

 

The history of Rome is full of assassinations, often engineered to end the careers of leaders that had become liabilities, as in the case of Nero. In 44 BCE, however, members of the Roman Senate perpetrated the assassination of Julius Caesar, an event destined to become the subject of innumerable books, plays, and mock trials. It also ended the Roman Republic. William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar focuses on both the fears that Caesar was about to make himself a king (thus inspiring Brutus’ motive) as well as the jealousies and ambitions of key senators like Cassius (with the “lean and hungry look…”)

 

In December 1934, the popular Bolshevik Party boss of St. Petersburg, Serge Kirov was assassinated, ostensibly by members of a group opposed to Stalin but supportive of Leon Trotskii. Through the newly formed NKVD, formerly the secret police or GPU, Stalin was able to implicate fellow Bolsheviks like Zinoviev and Kamenev. Show trials and subsequent purges rid Stalin of any potential political threats. The murder of Kirov accomplished several goals, all of which enhanced the power and control of Stalin.

 

Military Assassinations

 

The Roman Praetorian Guard was not the last military group to make and unmake leaders. On July 20, 1944, Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg entered a conference room at OKW HQ in Rastenburg carrying a bomb. Operation “Valkyrie” was planned to kill Adolph Hitler and involved many top generals that felt Hitler had to be replaced in order to swiftly end the war. The plot, however, failed. It was also unsuccessful in creating an anti-Hitler vanguard within the army ranks. As one former officer wrote, “We all took an oath. These generals supported Hitler when Germany was winning and they were receiving medals. Now they wanted to save themselves.” [1]

 

Political Assassinations are never a Solution

 

The use of violence and murder in history in terms of political assassinations has never demonstrated a positive result. When the Roman Senate assassinated Tiberius Gracchus his place was taken by his brother Gaius, who was also murdered. Their assassinations only further exacerbated the conflict between Roman farmers and the Senate. Political assassination is a crime against all notions of law and order in society as demonstrated by the historical record.

 

See also The Assassination of Tsar Alexander II

 

[1] Unpublished memoirs of Gunter Streich

 

References:

 

Virginia Cowles, The Russian Dagger: Cold War in the Days of the Czars (NY: Harper & Row, 1969)

Basil Dmytryshyn, editor, Imperial Russia: A Source Book, 1700-1917  (NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1967)

Constantine FitzGibbon, 20 July (Berkley Publishing Co., 1956)

David MacKenzie, Violent Solutions: Revolutions, Nationalism, and Secret Societies in Europe to 1918 (NY: University Press of America, Inc., 1996)

Jack Pearl, The Dangerous Assassins (Monarch Books, Inc., 1964)

Published May, 15, 2010 in Suite101 by M.Streich. Copyright