P. Martynov’s service in Saratov security department (about the crisis of identity in the gendarme milieu)

The article deals with the official relations among officers of Province Gendarme Departments and Security Departments after the revolutionary events of 1905. In 1906-1907 the Ministry of Internal Affairs taking into account the work experience in the conditions of the revolutionary crisis tried to improve the structure of political investigation bodies and raise their efficiency. Referring to archival documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation the author analyses episodes from A.P. Martynov’s work in the Saratov Security Department. A special attention is paid to the corporate culture and relations among gendarme officers, as well as with the above departments - the Police Department and the Headquarters of Separate Gendarme Corps. The author arrives to the conclusion that it was traditional bureaucracy and aristocracy’s prejudices that sharpened the competition and conflicts among gendarme officers, which derailed the efforts to make the work of secret political police of the Russian Empire more efficient.