Shubhamsaini9: adjusted citations as per guidelines

2026-01-08T06:53:46Z

adjusted citations as per guidelines

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:23, 8 January 2026
Line 20:		Line 20:
	==See also==		==See also==
	*[[Extrajudicial killing]]		*[[Extrajudicial killing]]
			*[[Lone wolf terrorism]]

	==References==		==References==
Line 35:		Line 36:
	[[Category:Terrorism by method]]		[[Category:Terrorism by method]]
	[[Category:Terrorism tactics]]		[[Category:Terrorism tactics]]
	[[Category:Revolutionary ~~tactics~~]]		[[Category:Revolutionary terror]]

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-09-20T16:03:24Z

Created a new article

New page

{{terrorism}}
In [[leftist]] terminology, '''individual terror''', a form of [[revolutionary terror]], is the murder of isolated individuals with the goal of promotion of a political movement, of provoking political changes, up to [[political revolution]].<ref name=ls>[[Lev Sedov]] "On the [[Moscow Trials]]," Ch. 10, [http://marx.org/history/etol/writers/sedov/works/red/ch10.htm "Marxism and Individual Terror"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312045057/http://marx.org/history/etol/writers/sedov/works/red/ch10.htm |date=2012-03-12 }}</ref><ref name=zi>[[Ze'ev Iviansky]], "Individual Terror: Concept and Typology," {{doi|10.1177/002200947701200102}} Journal of Contemporary History January 1977 vol. 12 no. 1 43-63</ref> As such, it differs from other forms of [[targeted killing]], in particular, the close type of individual murder, the ancient practice of [[political assassination]].<ref name=zi/>

==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.<ref name=nbe>Political assassinations by Jews: a rhetorical device for justice By Nachman Ben-Yehuda, {{ISBN|0-7914-1166-4}}, 1993, [https://books.google.com/books?id=P7XF6axF-m0C&pg=PA37]</ref>

[[Ze'ev Iviansky]] 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]], 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.<ref name=zi/>

The target of a political assassination is usually a very specific individual, while the target of an act of terrorism is not.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice|author=Ben-Yehuda, N.|date=1993|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=9780791411667|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7XF6axF-m0C|page=37|access-date=2014-10-18}}</ref>

[[David C. Rapoport]] (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..."<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Political Assassinations by Jews: A Rhetorical Device for Justice|author=Ben-Yehuda, N.|date=1993|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=9780791411667|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7XF6axF-m0C|page=37|access-date=2015-04-08}}</ref>

==History==
The roots of individual terror as revolutionary tactics lie in the second half of the 19th century in [[Europe]].<ref name=zi/> Part of its theoretical base was "[[propaganda by deed]]" put forth by the ideologists of [[anarchism]]. Different revolutionary parties had different attitude to individual terror, for political, tactical, moral, and other reasons.<ref name=ls/>

==See also==
*[[Extrajudicial killing]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*"The Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party before the First World War," by Manfred Hildermeier, {{ISBN|3-8258-4259-2}}, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000.
** Its Section 12.3.2: [https://books.google.com/books?id=xCAp1vedU70C&pg=PA323 "Individual terror: Anachronistic politics"] discusses the change of the attitude to individual terror within the Russian [[Social Revolutionary Party]]
*[[Walter Laqueur]], ''A History of Terrorism''
** Discusses individual terror in 19th century [[anarchism]], [[Marxism]] and other left-wing movements
*Ze'ev Iviansky, ''Individual Terror, Theory and Practice'', 1977

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Terrorism by method]]
[[Category:Terrorism tactics]]
[[Category:Revolutionary tactics]]

Individual terror - Revision history

Shubhamsaini9: adjusted citations as per guidelines

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article