leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

terminology, individual terror, a form of

revolutionary terror Revolutionary terror, also referred to as revolutionary terrorism or a reign of terror, refers to the institutionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see th ...

, is the murder of isolated individuals with the goal of promotion of a political movement, of provoking political changes, up to

political revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

Lev Sedov Lev Lvovich Sedov (russian: Лев Львович Седов, also known as Leon Sedov; 24 February 1906 – 16 February 1938) was the first son of the Russian communist leader Leon Trotsky and his second wife Natalia Sedova. He was born when his f ...

"On the

Moscow Trials The Moscow trials were a series of show trials held by the Soviet Union between 1936 and 1938 at the instigation of Joseph Stalin. They were nominally directed against "Trotskyists" and members of "Right Opposition" of the Communist Party of th ...

," Ch. 10
"Marxism and Individual Terror"

Ze'ev Iviansky Ze'ev Iviansky (1 December 1923 – 22 December 2022) was an Israeli political scientist, and a former lecturer at the department of General History and Russian Studies of the Hebrew University.David C. Rapoport, "Inside Terrorist Organizations" ...

, "Individual Terror: Concept and Typology," Journal of Contemporary History January 1977 vol. 12 no. 1 43-63 As such, it differs from other forms of

targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

, in particular, the close type of individual murder, the ancient practice of

political assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

Individual terror vs. political assassination

Many authors do not draw distinction between types of political assassinations and furthermore, and there is no full consensus on the issue.Political assassinations by Jews: a rhetorical device for justice By Nachman Ben-Yehuda, , 1993

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attempted to draw a distinction as follows. While revolutionary individual terror and traditional political assassination share the common goal, a major political change, they differ in various aspects: tactics, methods, role, view on the society, and significance of an individual act. Most of the differences stem from the immediate purpose of an individual act. In traditional political assassination the target of the killing is a central political figure, such as the king or

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

, whose removal would give way to political changes, and as such the choice of the target is of primary importance. The ultimate goal is to hit the regime represented by the target. Whereas in individual terror, the choice of the target, while important, is secondary to the primary goal, which is to bring the attention of the public to a political movement and to promote the political movement. This key distinction explains differences in tactics. While traditional political assassination may well be clandestine, the efficiency of revolutionary individual terror in a greater extent depends on the publicity of the act. The target of a political assassination is usually a very specific individual, while the target of an act of terrorism is not.

David C. Rapoport David Charles Rapoport (born January 7, 1929, Pittsburgh, PA) is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) who focuses on the study of terrorism. Biography Rapoport received his Ph.D. at Universit ...

(1971) drew the difference as follows: "...the assassin destroys men who are corrupting the system, while the terrorist destroys a system which has already corrupted everyone it touches..."

History

The roots of individual terror as revolutionary tactics lie in the second half of the 19th century in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Part of its theoretical base was "

propaganda by deed Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution. It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pr ...

" put forth by the ideologists of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

. Different revolutionary parties had different attitude to individual terror, for political, tactical, moral, and other reasons.

Individual terror vs. political assassination

History

See also

References

Further reading