The Combat Organization (, or the Fighting Organization) was the terrorist branch within the Social Revolutionary Party of Russia. It was a terror sub-group that was given autonomy under that Party. In his memoirs, group member Boris Savinkov called the group the "Terrorist Brigade." (This phrasing was followed in his own memoirs by Whittaker Chambers, an American spy for the Soviets.) History In 1902, Grigory Gershuni founded and led the group. In July 1904 they murdered the Russian Minister of the Interior, Vyacheslav von Plehve. In 1904, Gershuni was arrested, and Yevno Azef succeeded him, with Boris Savinkov as his deputy. Azef, a double-agent in the employ of the Tsarist secret police Okhrana, changed the Terrorist Brigade's mode of attack from firearms to dynamite. In its middle period (1903–1906) the brigade's members included more than a dozen women and more than four dozen men—some nobles, honorary citizens, priests, and merchants. Most were 20–30 years old; 19 Jews, and two Poles. In 1908, Savinkov succeeded Azef, but the group disbanded shortly thereafter. Members Grigory Gershuni Yevno Azef (also "Evno" and "Azev"/"Azeff" and "Yevno Asiev") Boris Savinkov (also "Savinkoff") Mikhail Melnikov Stepan Balmashov Thomas Kachura Igor Sazonov (also "Yegor" or "Egor" and "Sozonov") Ivan Kalyayev ("Kaliaev" in the 1931 translation of Savinkov's Memoirs of a Terrorist) Sikorsky Borishansky Dulebov Shveitser (also "Schweitser"/"Schweizer") Karl Trauberg Assassination efforts Assassinations 1902: Dmitry Sipyagin 1904: Vyacheslav von Plehve 1905: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia Nicholas Bogdanovich (governor of Ufa) 1906: Vladimir von der Launitz Failed assassinations Konstantin Pobedonostsev Nicholas Kleigels Fyodor Dubasov Ivan Mikhailovich Obolensky See also Socialist Revolutionary Party 1905 Russian Revolution Terrorism in Russia Bolshevik Military Organizations PSP Combat organization The Just Assassins References External sources Boris Savinkov, Memoirs of a Terrorist (New York: Boni, 1931)/Воспоминания террориста (1917) . Albert Camus, The Just Assassins / Les Justes (Paris: Gallimard 1950) 1905 Russian Revolution Military wings of socialist parties Socialist Revolutionary Party Terrorism in the Russian Empire