Just Finished Reading: Spies & Commissars – Bolshevik Russia and the West by Robert Service (FP: 2011)

Once the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia burst upon the world like a bombshell a question reverberated across the West in the capitals of both Russia’s enemies as well as her existing allies. The question was: What do we do about it? The Central Powers response was easy – encourage the chaos, break Russia away from her western partners, knock Russia out of the war and, if necessary, deal with her later. To this end they allowed Lenin to cross their territory whilst pushing the remnants of the Russian army to collapse and ultimate revolt.

The response of the Western Allies was, inevitably, more complex. They wanted Russia to do her part and hold down dozens of German divisions in the East. Indeed they went so far to at least talk of assassinating Stalin (in 1918!) because he was such a strong advocate of a separate peace with Germany. But with German units flooding west in ever greater numbers there was little they could do to crush, or even influence, the Revolution as it survived day by day and, at its most perilous, hour by hour. Individual spies (and potential assassins) were in place but there was only so much that they could do in those very chaotic and highly dangerous times. But with the ultimate defeat of Germany and her allies things changed – just not as much as the west had hoped. After 5 years of bloody war it was a rash military man indeed who ordered, or contemplated ordering, his men to board ship to fight another war against what many soldiers saw as the birth of a working class utopia. Some still tried and the resulting strikes and practical mutinies in both British and French units sent shockwaves through London and Paris. Not only would troops not be sent to fight in Russia but they would be demobilised at speed and scattered across their home countries before revolution could spread outside Russia’s borders.

Knowing what was, at least potentially, ranged against them the Russian radicals knew that their ultimate salvation was spreading the revolution abroad as quickly as possible. The English were considered too far from revolution to aim at directly, the French showed promise, but the jewel in the crown of European revolution was Germany which seemed, to many observers, to be on the verge of revolution itself in the wake of military defeat and economic collapse. Much of the Russian effort to spread the October Revolution was spent on their old adversaries. In a time of great adventure and even greater risk on all sides revolutionary Russia became a magnet for revolutionaries from across the world, journalists in search of the story of a lifetime, businessmen in search of opportunity, political agents trying to destabilise the new regime or to spread its message far and wide as well as a whole host of thrill seekers and hangers on. It was the new Wild West were reputations were made and lives bought, sold and often lost.

I’ve got a pretty good handle on the momentous events of 1917. But here I learnt, down at street level, things were far from being neat or orderly even in a revolutionary manner. From day to day the chaos boiled over, winds changed direction, power and reputation flowered and died and no one, not matter who they were or how well connected they thought themselves, knew what was going to happen tomorrow. Anyone who tells you that things could not have happened differently (anywhere not just in St Petersburg in 1917) is simply showing their ignorance of detail. If Stalin has been assassinated by the British Secret Service the history of the world might have been very different. If the assassin’s bullet that struck Lenin had been a killing stroke and not just an incapacitating one the revolution itself might have failed. If the British financed coup had succeeded the revolution would have most definitely been crushed at birth. So many possibilities, so few certainties – this is the overall message of this book. Russia was in chaos for over 5 years after the revolution swept the Bolsheviks to power. At any moment the whole thing could have come crashing down. It was certainly not for want of wishing or planning from the British, French and Japanese forces. This is their story. Recommended for anyone interested in these world shattering events.