Did Britain Try to Assassinate Lenin?
Lenin making a speech in Moscow Lenin survived an assassination attempt in
1918 although he was badly wounded
Nearly a century ago, Britain was accused of masterminding a failed plot to
kill Lenin and overthrow his fledgling Bolshevik regime. The British
government dismissed the story as mere Soviet propaganda - but new evidence
suggests it might be true.
For decades what became known as the "Lockhart plot" has been etched in the
annals of the Soviet archives, taught in schools and even illustrated in
films.
In early 1918, in the final months of World War I, Russia's new Bolshevik
government was negotiating a peace deal with Germany and withdrawing its
exhausted troops from the front.
This did not please London. The move would enable Berlin - which had been
fighting a war on two fronts - to reinforce its forces in the West.
Determined to get the Russians back into the war on the Allied side, the
British despatched a young man in his 30s to be London's representative in
Moscow.
His name was Robert Bruce Lockhart.
Supporting anti-Bolsheviks
Lockhart, a Scot, was a colourful character. Known for his love of wine,
women and sports, he also prided himself on his alleged ability to read five
books at the same time.
Robert Bruce Lockhart writing at his desk Robert Bruce Lockhart in 1955
At first, the well-read Lockhart seemed to be making progress on the issue
but, in March that year, the Soviets signed the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty
with Germany, so ending hope of them rejoining the war with the Allies.
Lockhart, it seems, had no intention of giving up.
Instead, the suggestion is, his attention was now turning to overthrowing
the Bolshevik regime and replacing it with another government that would be
willing to re-enter the war against Germany.
Documents show that, in June, Lockhart asked London for money to fund
various anti-Bolshevik organisations in Moscow.
This letter, marked "urgent", was sent from the Foreign Office to the
Treasury. It sums up the Foreign Secretary's attitude to the Moscow's
representative's request:
"Mr. Balfour is of the opinion that the moment has arrived when it has
become necessary to take this action, and I am to request that you will move
the Lords Committee to give the necessary sanction for the expenditure of
such funds as Mr. Lockhart can collect for this purpose".
Counter-revolution
In late May, the British decided to send a small military force to Archangel
in northern Russia.
The official line was that the troops were going to prevent thousands of
tonnes of British military equipment, supplied to the Russians, from falling
into German hands.
Continue reading the main story
Timeline
* 1914 outbreak of World War I between the Allies (France, Russia, Great
Britain) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey)
* 1917 A popular revolution led by the Bolsheviks leads to the
abdication of the tsar and the overthrow of his government
* 1918 WWI ends; Tsar Nicholas is killed; civil war breaks out in which
Lenin's Red Army eventually defeats the White Russians (or anti-communists)
who are aided by many foreign powers
However, documents from the day suggest that plans were later drawn up for
these 5,000 British troops to join forces with 20,000 crack Latvian troops
who were guarding the Kremlin but could, it was thought, be turned against
the Bolsheviks.
In the summer of 1918, Lockhart sent a telegram to London following a
meeting with a local opponent of the Bolsheviks called Savinkov.
It read: "Savinkov's proposals for counter-revolution. Plan is how, on
Allied intervention, Bolshevik barons will be murdered and military
dictatorship formed."
Underneath that telegram is a note bearing the signed initials of Lord
Curzon, who was then a member of the British War Cabinet.
It says: "Savinkoff's methods are drastic, though if successful probably
effective, but we cannot say or do anything until intervention has been
definitely decided upon".
'Ace of Spies'
Sidney Reilly Sidney Reilly's passport photograph from 1918
Meanwhile Lockhart had teamed up in Moscow with another highly colourful
character.
Sidney Reilly, a Russian who had earlier changed his name from Rosenbloom,
was a flamboyant, high-rolling entrepreneur who had recently begun working
for the British Secret Services.
He became known as the Ace of Spies, made famous in books of derring-do, and
was even credited as being the inspiration for Alexander Fleming's James
Bond.
But both were soon in for a shock.
In the late summer of 1918, an attempt was made in Moscow to assassinate
Lenin. He was shot twice from close range by a young Russian woman.
The Bolshevik's secret police, the Cheka, arrested Bruce Lockhart a few
hours later and he was taken to the Kremlin for questioning.
Reilly escaped the Cheka's clutches on that occasion but was shot dead
several years later after being lured back into Russia.
According to Cheka records, Lockhart confessed to being part of a plot
proposed by London to kill Lenin and overthrow the Bolshevik government. But
in early October 1918, Britain's representative to Moscow was freed in an
exchange for his Russian counterpart in London.
'Economical with the truth'
In his best selling book, Memoirs of a British Agent published in the 1930s,
Lockhart insisted that he had played no part either in attempts to kill
Lenin or overthrow the Bolshevik government.
Continue reading the main story
Document
Archive document
* Read the full letter from Lockhart's son
Instead, he insisted that the maverick "Ace of Spies" Sidney Reilly was the
man behind plans for a coup.
Lockhart added that he had little to do with Reilly who some claimed was out
of control.
However, a letter written by Lockhart's son, Robin, has been discovered in
archives in America. It suggests that his father was being rather economical
with the truth:
"If the question of my father's relationship with Reilly still exercises
anyone's mind in the F.O., it is clear from his book Memoirs of a British
Agent that once intervention in Russia had been decided on in 1918, he gave
his active support to the counter-revolutionary movement with which, of
course, Reilly was actively working.
"My father has himself made it clear to me that he worked much more closely
with Reilly than he had publicly indicated".
Whitehall 'pretence'
The man who found that letter, Professor Robert Service, believes the only
way to be sure of the truth would be to gain access to the rest of the files
from the day.
But, more than 90 years later, the British government continues to keep many
of them secret. All, in Robert Service's view, to maintain the myth that
Lockhart-style plots have not - nor ever would be - countenanced by London.
"Britain today has a policy for its intelligence services that is openly
averse to subverting foreign governments or assassinating foreign political
leaders", he says.
"My guess is that the thinking in Whitehall is that the pretence ought to be
that this has always been the case. That the British have always been clean.
"The British haven't always been clean. They have been as dirty as anyone
else".
Document: The Lockhart Plot will be broadcast on Monday 21 March at 2000 GMT
on BBC Radio 4 and will also be available on the BBC iPlayer .
Mike Thomson Presenter, Document, Radio 4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12785695
Received from Irina Malenko
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