Spies and Commissars

by Robert Service

  6. R. H. Ullman, Anglo-Soviet Relations, 1917–1921, vol. 1: Intervention and the War, p. 236.

  7. See V. Barnett, A History of Russian Economic Thought, pp. 98–9.

  8. Editorial, The Times, 13 July 1918.

  9. Ibid., 18 July 1918.

  10. Daily Herald, 14 December 1918.

  11. Bolshevik Propaganda: Hearings before a Subcommittee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Sixty-Fifth Congress, Third Session and Thereafter Pursuant to Senate Resolutions 439 and 469 — February 11, 1919 to March 10, 1919, p. 950.

  12. Director of Naval Intelligence, 14 June 1918, p. 2: FO 371/3331/9741. This memorandum is contained in Robert Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 11, folder 4.

  13. A. A. Ioffe to the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, copied to Lenin, Trotsky, Sverdlov and Zinoviev, June 1918: N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, p. 66.

  14. B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, pp. 66–8.

  15. Ibid., pp. 33 and 45.

  16. M. J. Larsons, ‘Au service des Soviets’, pp. 30–2: typescript, M. J. Larsons Papers (HIA), box 1.

  17. N. A. Ioffe Papers (HIA), ‘Ob ottse’, p. 5.

  18. Ibid., pp. 5–6.

  19. Ibid., p. 6.

  20. Ibid.

  21. N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, p. 35; V. R. Menzhinskii to V. I. Lenin, 20 May 1918 in ibid., pp. 57–8.

  22. A. A. Ioffe to V. I. Lenin, May 1918 in ibid., p. 60; M. J. Larsons, ‘Au service des Soviets’, p. 28: typescript, M. J. Larsons Papers (HIA), box 1.

  23. N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, p. 35.

  24. See below, pp. 300–3.

  25. V. R. Menzhinskii to V. I. Lenin, 20 May 1918 in N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, pp. 57–8.

  26. V. I. Lenin to L. B. Krasin, 11 August 1918: V. I. Lenin, Neizvestnye dokumenty, 1891–1922, p. 284.

  27. N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, pp. 35–6.

  28. A. A. Ioffe to V. I. Lenin, May 1918 in ibid., p. 60.

  29. A. A. Ioffe, ‘N. Lenin i nasha vneshnyaya politika’ (dated 20 October 1927), APRF, f. 31, op. 1, d. 4, p. 212.

  30. N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, p. 38. Ioffe could not resist asking Dzerzhinski why the Cheka had failed to prevent the attempt on Lenin’s life.

  31. S. McMeekin, History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks, pp. 97–101.

  32. A. A. Ioffe to V. I. Lenin, May 1918 in N. Ioffe, Moi otets Adol’f Abramovich Ioffe, p. 61.

  33. A. A. Ioffe to the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, copied to Lenin, Trotsky, Sverdlov and Zinoviev, June 1918 in ibid., p. 67.

  34. B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, p. 57.

  35. G. V. Chicherin, Vneshnyaya politika Sovetskoi Rossii za dva goda, p. 5; B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, p. 71.

  36. G. V. Chicherin, Vneshnyaya politika Sovetskoi Rossii za dva goda, pp. 18–19.

  37. B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, p. 49.

  38. Ibid., p. 61.

  39. V. I. Lenin, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, vol. 50, p. 108.

  40. B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, p. 67.

  41. Pravda, 17 August 1918.

  42. V. I. Lenin, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, vol. 37, p. 75.

  43. B. Pearce, How Haig Saved Lenin, p. 68.

  44. Hughes telegraph conversation between G. V. Chicherin and Kh. G. Rakovskii, 5 October 1918: P. N. Vrangel Collection (HIA), box 35, folder 10.

  45. L. D. Trotskii to V. I. Lenin, 17 August 1918: RGVA, f. 33987, op. 1, d. 23.

  14. Subverting Russia

  1. Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Notes on Sidney Reilly: Information Provided by George Hill’, p. 7: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 11, folder 1. See also A. Cook, On His Majesty’s Secret Service: Sidney Reilly — Codename ST1, chs 2–7.

  2. Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Notes on Sidney Reilly: Information Provided by George Hill’, p. 5: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 11, folder 1.

  3. G. A. Hill, Dreaded Hour, p. 102.

  4. A. Cook, On His Majesty’s Secret Service: Sidney Reilly — Codename ST1, pp. 107–18.

  5. Ibid., pp. 107–8, 127–9, 131 and 133.

  6. E. L. Spears to R. N. Bruce Lockhart, 2 January 1967: Robert Bruce Lockhart (HIA), box 2, folder 10; J. Alley to Robin Bruce Lockhart, 13 May 1966: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 2.

  7. Ibid.; G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, p. 201.

  8. Letter (in French, on Crédit Lyonnais notepaper) by unknown person to unknown addressee, summer 1918(?), p. 2: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), folder: Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Reilly: Russian Revolution, Etc.: Sources: Sir Edward Spears’.

  9. Ibid. See also G. A. Hill’s answers to Robin Bruce Lockhart’s questionnaire: ibid., ‘Reilly: Russian Revolution, Etc.: Sources: Others: 1921–1997’.

  10. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, notebooks (1938–1945): Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 4, folder 3.

  11. R. H. Bruce Lockhart (Petrograd), 10 March 1918: Milner Papers, dep. 364, fol. 87.

  12. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, notebooks (1938–1945): Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 4, folder 3.

  13. T. Alexander, An Estonian Childhood, pp. 44–6.

  14. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, notebooks (apparently 1938–1945): Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 4, folder 3.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Moura’s daughter Tanya made the deduction about the pregnancy from letters written at the time by Moura: T. Alexander, An Estonian Childhood, pp. 44–6.

  17. See here.

  18. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 495. On the Sheremetev Lane apartment see R. Polonsky, Molotov’s Magic Lantern: A Journey in Russian History, pp. 43–9.

  19. R. N. Bruce Lockhart, ‘Notes on Sidney Reilly. Information Provided by George Hill’: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers, box 11, folder 1, p. 1.

  20. GARF, f. 102, op. 174, d. 69 (vol. 30: 1914), pp. 37–40. My thanks to Andrew Cook for sharing this with me.

  21. Translation of Starzhevskaya petition to the Red Cross for Aid to Political Prisoners, 11 November 1918, GARF R8419, op. 1, d. 356, pp. 355–6: Andrew Cook’s papers.

  22. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 512.

  23. Ibid.

  24. ‘Pokazaniya M. V. Fride’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 506; translation of Maria Fride’s Red Cross questionnaire, 30 December 1918, GARF R8419, op. 1, d. 264, p. 35 (double-sided): thanks again to Andrew Cook.

  25. ‘Pervoe pokazanie A. V. Fride’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 502.

  26. Washington Post, 2 March 1918.

  27. V. Kingisepp, ‘Dobavochnye pokazaniya ot K. D. Kalamatiano’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, pp. 517–18.

  28. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 517.

  29. K. D. Kalamatiano, ‘Rabota poslednikh 6–8 mesyatsev’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 519.

  30. Ibid., p. 115.

  31. ‘Tret’e pokazanie A. V. Fride’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 504.

  32. Ibid. (A. V. Fride); ‘Pokazaniya M. V. Fride’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 506; K. D. Kalamatiano, ‘Litsa, privlechënnye po delu’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 520. See also D. S. Foglesong, America’s Secret War against Bolshevism: U.S. Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1920, p. 114.

  33. R. H. Bruce Lockhart’s deciphered report, 26 May 1918: National Archvies, FO 371/3332/9748, p. 424; B. V. Savinkov’s testimony in ‘Sudebnoe razbiratel’stvo’, Pravda, 30 August 1924, pp. 4–5.

  34. G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, pp. 200–1.

  35. New York Evening Post, 16–18 September 1918; New York Times, 22 September 1918 and 22 February 1919.

  36. G. Creel (Chairman), The German–Bolshevik Conspiracy (The Committee on Public Information: New York, 1918), pp. 29–30.

  37.
R. H. Bruce Lockhart report (Moscow), 11 April 1918: Milner Papers, dep. 364, fols 200–1.

  38. R. H. Bruce Lockhart report (Moscow), 7 May 1918: ibid., fol. 271.

  39. R. H. Bruce Lockhart to A. J. Balfour, 1 November 1918: National Archives, FO 371/3337/9829, p. 405.

  40. See for example his request to be allowed to subsidize the National Centre in his report of 6 July 1918: Milner Papers, dep. 141, fols 75–7.

  41. R. H. Bruce Lockhart report (Moscow), 13 June 1918: ibid., dep. 365, fol. 106.

  42. R. H. Bruce Lockhart reports (Moscow), 21 and 23 July: ibid., fols 156–7 and 158.

  43. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, ‘Secret and Confidential Memorandum on the Alleged “Allied Conspiracy” in Russia’, enclosure no. 1 in dispatch of 5 November 1918: Milner Papers, fol. 244.

  44. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 491.

  45. Robert Bruce Lockhart’s account in The British Agent attributed the leadership of the plot to Reilly. So too did Robin Bruce Lockhart in Ace of Spies despite knowing, as he admitted in a letter to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1967, that it was his father who had headed the planning: Robin Bruce Lockhart to P. R. H. Wright, F.O. [sic], 19 February 1967: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), folder: Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Reilly: Russian Revolution, Etc.: Sources: Foreign and Commonwealth, 1957–2002’.

  46. National Archives, FO 371/3350, p. 37: quoted by G. Swain, ‘“An Interesting and Plausible Proposal”: Bruce Lockhart, Sidney Reilly and the Latvian Riflemen, Russia 1918’, Intelligence and National Security, no. 3 (1999), p. 90.

  47. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, The Memoirs of a British Agent, Being an Account of the Author’s Early Life in Many Lands and of his Official Mission to Moscow in 1918, pp. 315–16.

  48. Robin Bruce Lockhart to P. R. H. Wright, F.O. [sic], 19 February 1967: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), folder: Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Reilly: Russian Revolution, Etc.: Sources: Foreign and Commonwealth, 1957–2002’. See also M. Smith, Six: A History of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, p. 233.

  49. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 491.

  50. Ibid., p. 492.

  51. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, ‘Secret and Confidential Memorandum on the Alleged “Allied Conspiracy” in Russia’, enclosure no. 1 in dispatch of 5 November 1918: Milner Papers, fols 249–50.

  52. G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, p. 238.

  53. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 492.

  15. A Very British Plot

  1. ‘Capt. Hill’s Report on his Work in Russia for D.M.I.’, 11 December 1918: National Archives, FO 371/3350, cited in R. B. Spence, ‘The Tragic Fate of Kalamatiano: America’s Man in Moscow’, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, no. 3 (1999), p. 353.

  2. S. G. Reilly and Pepita Bobadilla, The Adventures of Sidney Reilly, Britain’s Master Spy, pp. 30–2.

  3. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 494.

  4. R. Marchand, Allied Agents in Russia: Complete Text of the Letter of M. René Marchand, Petrograd Correspondent of ‘Le Figaro’, to M. Poincaré, President of the French Republic, September 1918.

  5. R. Marchand, Why I Support Bolshevism (British Socialist Party: London, 1919), pp. 29, 32, 44–7 and 50.

  6. Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, pp. 489–91.

  7. Ivy Litvinov, untitled autobiographical fragment: Ivy Litvinov Papers (HIA), box 10, folder 3.

  8. G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, p. 239.

  9. The Diaries of Robert Bruce Lockhart, 1915–1938, p. 40; Ya. Peters, ‘Protokol pokazanii Ksenofontova Kalamatiano, on zhe Serpovskii’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 513.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid., p. 514.

  12. The Diaries of Robert Bruce Lockhart, 1915–1938, pp. 40–1.

  13. Ya. Peters, ‘Protokol pokazanii Ksenofontova Kalamatiano, on zhe Serpovskii’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 514.

  14. Ibid.

  15. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, notebooks (1938–1945): Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 4, folder 3; Freddie Hill to Robin Bruce Lockhart, 4 July 1970: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), folder: Robin Bruce Lockhart, ‘Reilly: Russian Revolution, Etc.: Sources: Others: 1921–1997’.

  16. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, Friends, Foes and Foreigners, p. 273; M. E. Harrison, Marooned in Moscow: The Story of an American Woman Imprisoned in Russia, p. 59; G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, p. 100.

  17. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, ‘Last Words on Lenin: An Inaugural Address [as] Honorary President of the Associated Societies, Edinburgh University, 26 October 1960’, p. 16.

  18. Speech of 7 November 1918, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, pp. 92–3.

  19. R. H. Bruce Lockhart to A. J. Balfour, 7 November 1918, pp. 2–4: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 12; Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov.

  20. R. H. Bruce Lockhart to A. J. Balfour, 7 November 1918, pp. 2–4: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 12.

  21. Ibid., p. 3.

  22. Ya. Peters, ‘Protokol pokazanii Ksenofontova Kalamatiano, on zhe Serpovskii’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, pp. 513 and 515.

  23. G. A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, p. 243.

  24. Ibid., p. 245.

  25. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 510.

  26. R. B. Spence, ‘The Tragic Fate of Kalamatiano’, p. 353.

  27. A. Cook, On His Majesty’s Secret Service: Sidney Reilly — Codename ST1, p. 151.

  28. R. B. Spence, ‘The Tragic Fate of Kalamatiano’, p. 353.

  29. Report on conversation with DeWitt Poole by UK ambassador to Norway Sir Mansfeldt Findlay to the UK Foreign Office: in A. Cook, On His Majesty’s Secret Service: Sidney Reilly — Codename ST1, p. 152.

  30. R. B. Spence, ‘The Tragic Fate of Kalamatiano’, p. 355.

  31. J. Noulens, Mon ambassade en Russie Soviétique, 1917–1919, vol. 2, p. 216.

  32. Manchester Guardian, 12 September 1918; M. Findlay report (Christiania), 17 September 1918, based on a Dutch diplomatic dispatch: Milner Papers, dep. 365, fol. 237.

  33. M. Findlay report (Christiania), 17 September 1918, based on a Dutch diplomatic dispatch: Milner Papers, dep. 365, fols 226–7 and 230; R. Vaucher, L’Enfer bolchévik à Petrograd sous la commune et la terreur rouge, pp. 414–15.

  34. P. N. Vrangel Collection (HIA), box 35, folder 10.

  35. Maxim Litvinov, untitled memoir fragment on 1920: Ivy Litvinov Papers (HIA), box 9, folder 10, pp. 30–1.

  36. Manchester Guardian, 6 September 1918.

  37. MI1a: S.F. 401/2/2: Message to British Foreign Office about information received from the Dutch government, 18 September 1918. My thanks to Andrew Cook for sharing this document with me.

  38. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, ‘Notebooks, 1938–1945’: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers, box 4.

  39. The Diaries of Robert Bruce Lockhart, 1915–1938, p. 46.

  40. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, Friends, Foes and Foreigners, p. 279.

  41. Ibid.

  42. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, Memoirs of a British Agent, Being an Account of the Author’s Early Life in Many Lands and of his Official Mission to Moscow in 1918, pp. 339–40.

  50. The Times, 18 October 1918.

  44. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, notes for Cities and Men, p. 2: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), p. 2; M. Findlay report (Christiania), 17 September 1918, based on a Dutch diplomatic dispatch: Milner Papers, dep. 365, fol. 233.

  45. MI1a: S.F. 401/2/2: Message to British Foreign Office about information received from the Dutch, 18 September 1918.

  46. I. Litvinov, autobiographical fragment on 1917–1918: Ivy Litvinov Papers (HIA), box 11, folder 7.

  47. I. Litvinov, untitled memoir fragment on 1920: ibid., box 9, folder 10, p. 31.

  48. The Times, 26 September 1918.

  49. G.
A. Hill, Go Spy the Land, pp. 11 and 258.

  50. Ibid., p. 25.

  51. The Times, 18 October 1918; Le Figaro, 11 October 1918.

  52. L. Naudeau, En prison sous la terreur russe, pp. 127–30.

  53. Ya. Peters, ‘Delo Lokkarta’, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 510.

  54. L. Naudeau, En prison sous la terreur russe, p. 117.

  55. R. H. Bruce Lockhart, Friends, Foes and Foreigners, p. 274.

  56. M. Benckendorff to R. H. Bruce Lockhart, n.d., p. 2: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 1, folder 22.

  57. R. H. Bruce Lockhart to Moura Benckendorff, 2 November 1918, pp. 1–2: ibid., box 1, folder 22.

  58. M. Benckendorff to R. H. Bruce Lockhart, n.d. (late 1918?), pp. 1–2: ibid.

  59. Moura Benckendorff to R. H. Bruce Lockhart, n.d. (summer 1919?): ibid., folder 20.

  60. Pravda, 15 November 1918.

  61. Handwritten report on the second day of the trial, p. 1; no named author: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 1, folder 11.

  62. Ibid.

  63. ‘Protokol zasedaniya Revolyutsionnogo tribunala pri VTsIK’: 25 November 1918, in Arkhiv VChK. Sbornik dokumentov, p. 549.

  64. ‘Protokol zasedaniya Revolyutsionnogo tribunala pri VTsIK’: 28 November 1918, ibid., pp. 553–4.

  65. Handwritten report on the second day of the trial, pp. 1–2; no named author: Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart Papers (HIA), box 1, folder 11. See also Le Figaro, 11 February 1919.

  66. Pravda, 4 December 1918.

  67. R. B. Spence, ‘The Tragic Fate of Kalamatiano’, p. 356.

  16. The German Capitulation

  1. Kh. Rakovski, ‘Avtobiografiya’ (HIA), p. 9; RGASPI, f. 17, op. 84, d. 1, p. 1, reproduced in I. Linder and S. Churkin (eds), Krasnaya pautina: tainy razvedki Kominterna, 1919–1943, p. 24.

  2. V. I. Lenin, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, vol. 50, p. 186.

  3. Pravda, 7 September 1918.

  4. K. Radek, ‘Noyabr’. (Stranichka iz vospominanii)’, Krasnaya nov’, no. 10 (1926), p. 140.

  5. G. V. Chicherin, Vneshnyaya politika Sovetskoi Rossii za dva goda, p. 22.

  6. M. J. Larsons, ‘Dans le labyrinthe des Soviets’, p. 39: typescript, M. J. Larsons Papers (HIA).