We examine the rise of left-wing terrorism in the Russian Empire from 1880 to 1900 and explores its potential toward Russian political development. Using original surveillance records from the archives of the Imperial Russian Secret Police (Okhrana), we construct local radicalization indicators and categorize anti-Tsarist crimes into revolutionary activities (propaganda and membership) and political violence (organization of riots and assassinations). To compute the impact of terrorism on political attitudes, we link these data to the results of the 1917 Constituent Assembly elections in over 400 districts, widely considered to be the last free elections before the 1990s. We account for inter-district revolutionary spillovers by using spatial analysis and considering various factors in Russia's political evolution. Within the Pale of Settlement, political violence led to a shift in voting preferences in favor of centrist parties, while revolutionary activities strengthened conservative factions. This suggests that Russian society in the early 20th century favored stability and gradual reform over radical leftist proposals. Our findings challenge the conventional narrative of the tsarist bureaucracy as inefficient and underscore the role of the Pale of Settlement in the partial radicalization of political preferences. Furthermore, we emphasize the crucial function of secret police in maintaining authoritarian survival.