“Mata Hari” in the Don Version

Introduction. During the civil war on the Don, in the conservative Cossack region, in the cities of Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog, women played an important role in the Bolshevik underground and in the organization of Soviet intelligence. Methods and materials. The historiography of this problem is extremely insignificant. In the article, the task was set to find out the reasons for such a feature, relying on a fairly large selection of memoirs and documents and using comparative and anthropological research methods. Analysis. It was found out that many women during the civil war resolutely joined the ranks of one of the opposing sides and sometimes, on their own initiative, fought with special “female methods.” The underground Don committee created by the Bolsheviks consisted of 4 men and 5 women. The women who led the underground were transferred to the Don across the front line. Local women who were part of the underground were used as couriers to cross the front line with intelligence data. The leaders turned out to be good organizers. For the sake of obtaining information, the underground women could enter into close relations with the enemy representatives they were interested in, use their “charms” to lure and destroy white officers, and ruthlessly, without proceedings, destroy in their midst someone who was suspected of treason. Results. It was impossible to organize an intelligence network in Cossack villages, where the majority of the population supported whites, and the Bolsheviks relied on cities with large Ukrainian, Jewish, and Greek populations. The contemptuous attitude of the enemy towards women inherent in traditional society was taken into account. The women selected for underground work were distinguished by promiscuity and ruthlessness. Authors’ contributions. The material on the situation on the Don was prepared by A.V. Venkov. The material on the principles of the organization of intelligence and counterintelligence and the involvement of women in this work was prepared by H.B. Mamsirov.