Left to the Wolves: Irish Victims of Stalinist TerrorBetween the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921 and Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet secret police sentenced over 4 million persons on political grounds. Over 800,000 were shot and millions died in the slave camps of the Gulag system. At the height of the mass-repression - the Great Terror of 1937/38 - foreigners were in great jeopardy. Knowing that a major war was coming, Iosif Stalin and his cohorts decided to rid Soviet society of all perceived or potential 'enemies'. Among the putative 'Fifth Columnists' were non-Russian ethnic minorities, political refugees from fascism and foreign-born Communists. At least three of these countless victims were of Irish nationality. This book describes their social background, how and why they entered the semi-clandestine world of Communism and the reasons for their residence in the USSR. Patrick Breslin was a graduate of the International Lenin School who turned to journalism and translating. Brian Goold-Verschoyle's visits to Moscow were periodic until his masters in the Soviet espionage service sent him to the Spanish cockpit in 1937. Finally, Se���¡n McAteer was given political refugee status in the new Russia in 1923 after his flight from Scotland Yard. He used his language skills to proselytize sailors for the world revolution or to teach students the rudiments of English in exotic Odessa. Each man in turn knew by time of arrest that the secret police NKVD rarely released or acquitted anybody; and the fabricated charges they were faced with increased their sense of isolation and hopelessness. This realisation was all the more bitter considering the faith they had placed in the Soviet experiment. ���� |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Youth in Dublin | 11 |
The International Lenin School 192830 | 22 |
Copyright | |
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activities agents April Archives arrest August Austrian Berlin Bolshevik Braddock Brian Goold Brian Goold-Verschoyle Britain British cell Chistopol Civil club Comintern Committee communism Communist International Communist Party comrades Connolly CPGB Daisy McMackin Donegal Dublin Dunkineely early Embassy English espionage friends German Gulag Hotel husband Interklub International Lenin School interrogation Ireland Irina Irish Irishman ITGWU James Connolly James Larkin January Jim Phelan June Katya knew Krivitsky labour later Lenin School letter Liverpool London Lotte Moos Lotte's Löwenstein Lubianka Mally March McAteer military months Moscow Neil Nikultsev NKVD O'Flaherty October Odessa Olga organisation Orlov passport Pat Breslin Patrick Breslin Piorun political prison probably Profintern republican revolutionary RGASPI Russian Seán McAteer secret police secret service sent sentence Sibyl Siegfried Moos Siegi social Soviet Union Spain Special Branch Stalin Steiner Street took translation Trotskyist Twist USSR Verschoyle visited VKP(b wife Workers