Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve[a] (Russian:Вячесла́в Константи́нович фон Пле́ве,IPA:[vʲɪtɕɪˈslafkənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕfɐnˈplʲevʲɪ]; 20 April [O.S. 8 April] 1846 – 28 July [O.S. 15 July] 1904) was a Russian politician who served as the director of thepolice from 1881 to 1884 and later as theminister of the interior from 1902 until his assassination in 1904.
Born inMeshchovsk,Kaluga Governorate, Russia, on 20 April 1846,[1] Plehve was the only son of schoolteacher Konstantin von Plehve and Elizaveta Mikhailovna Shamaev, daughter of a minor landowner. In 1851, Plehve's family moved from Meshchovsk toWarsaw in Russian-controlledCongress Poland, where his father accepted a job as an instructor in agymnasium.
After studying law atImperial Moscow University, he joined the Ministry of Justice in 1867.[1] He served as assistant prosecutor in theVladimir circuit court and as a prosecutor inVologda. In 1876, he was appointed assistant prosecutor of the Warsaw Chamber of Justice, and in 1879 as prosecutor of theSaint Petersburg Chamber of Justice.
In 1881, he investigated themurder ofAlexander II and then joined theInterior Ministry as a Director of theDepartment of Police, also in charge of theSecret Police. He is credited with the destruction of numerous "People's Will" terrorist groups.
He became a member of theGoverning Senate in 1884 and assistant minister of the Interior in 1885. As an assistant minister, at first under CountDmitry Tolstoy (in office 1882-1889) and later under his successor,Ivan Durnovo (in office 1889-1895), Plehve had shown definite administrative talent.
Made anActual Privy Counsellor in 1899, he wasFinnish Minister Secretary of State from that year until 1904. He supported the abolition of the separate Finnish army in 1901.
In April 1902, following the assassination ofDmitry Sipyagin, Plehve was appointed minister of the interior and chief ofGendarmes. Under his leadership of the interior ministry, peasant uprisings were suppressed in thePoltava andKharkov provinces after Plehve imposed harsh penalties for the revolting peasants.[2] After a brief attempt at conciliation with thezemstvo conservatives failed, he relapsed—disbanding the police-supported labour unions (zubatovshchina).[3] The same year, Plehve used his position as minister of interior to insist thatHirsh Lekert, who had tried to assassinate the governor ofVilnius,Victor von Wahl, be tried under wartime law. This virtually guaranteed a death-sentence.[4]
In August 1903, Plehve met withTheodor Herzl inSaint Petersburg and discussed the establishment of Zionist societies in Russia. He proposed a Russian government request to the Ottoman Turks to obtain a charter for Jewish colonisation of Palestine.[5]
Plehve became a target for Jewish revolutionaries after his meeting with Theodor Herzl although he had forwarded Herzl's proposals to TsarNicholas II.[5]
After Plehve did nothing to prevent a bloody wave of anti-Jewish violence in 1903, the known double-agentYevno Azef decided not to inform the Tsarist authorities of the plans of theSocialist Revolutionary Party to kill Plehve. He survived one attack in 1903, and two in 1904, before theSocialist-Revolutionary Combat Organization succeeded. On 28 July 1904, Plehve was travelling on his way to his weekly audience with the Emperor. AtIzmailovsky Prospekt [ru] inSaint Petersburg,Igor Sazonov, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, threw a bomb into Plehve's horse-drawn carriage,[6] killing him at the age of 58.[1][7]
Because Plehve carried out theRussification of the provinces within the Russian Empire, he earned bitter hatred inPoland, inLithuania and especially inFinland. He despoiled theArmenian Apostolic Church, and was credited with being accessory to theKishinev pogroms. His logical mind and determined support of the autocratic principle gained the tsar's entire confidence. He opposed commercial development on ordinary European lines on the ground that it involved the existence both of a dangerousproletariat and of a prosperous middle class equally inimical toautocracy.[8]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Plehve, Viatscheslaf Konstantinovich".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 835.
| Preceded by | Minister of Interior 1902–1904 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Finnish Minister Secretary of State 1899–1904 | Succeeded by |
