The Great Conspiracy: Secret War Against Soviet Russia

160 Pages·2011·16.36 MB·English

AB UT THE A T RS
The authors of this book, Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn,
have won an international reputation for their investigations of secret
diplomacy and fifth cohunn operations.
For a number of years Mr. Sayers specialized in investigating and
writing about Axis fifth column intrigue; and the first comprehensive
exposes of Nazi conspiracy in France, England and Ireland to he pub
lished in the United States were written by Mr. Sayers. Mr. Sayers is
J.
also well known as a short story writer, and Edward O'Brien dedi
cated one of his famous anthologies to him.
Albert E. Kahn was formerly the Executive Secretary of the
American Council Against Nazi Propagand~, of which the late \Villiam
E. Dodd, former Ambassador to Germany, was Chairman. As editor of
The Hour, a confidential newsletter devoted to exposing Axis fifth
column operations, Mr. Kahn became widely known for his exclusive
news sdtops on German andt Japanese conspiratorial activities in the
Americas.
The first book on which Mr. Sayers and Mr. Kahn collaborated,
Sabotage! The SecretW?tf Against America, was one of the outstanding
best-sellers of the war period. Their second book, The Ptot Against the
Peace achieved top sales in the early months of the postwar period.
Their current work, The Great Conspiracy Against RztSsia, was first
published early in February, 1946. Because of its sensational content,
this book has been widely quoted upon both here and abroad. The book
is already being translated into a number of foreign languages .
•
PROFESSOR FREDERICK LEWIS SCHUMAN, WOODROW WILSON PROFESSOR OF
GOVERNMENT AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, author of Soz:iet Politics at Home arid
Abroad and other books, writes:
"The authors have brilliantly told a story which is more fascinating
than any fiction and yet is sober fact, documented and indisputable
even in its most startling and incredible episodes. Here is the
fantastic tale of the long and devious series of plots against the
Soviet Union from the White emigres, anti-Bolsheviks and inter
ventionists of 1918 to the Trotskyites and Rightists of the 1920's
and 1930's, the America Firsters, anti-Semites and native Nazis of
yesterday, and the contemporary preachers! of \Vorld War IlL"
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BONI & GAER, INC.
Publishers
15 East 40th Street, New York 16, N. Y.
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·'GBE.A'fCONSPIRAm
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RUSSIA.·······
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.~SIENATO R':CLAUDE'
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A LL ,R I G H T S R ES E R V E D
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INCLUDING THE RIGHT' OF REPRODUCTION,
, IN W RO LE 0 R I NPA R TIN .A N Y FOR M
I. .
COPYRIGHT, 1946. BY' MICHAEl SAYERS AND ALBERT E. KAHN ~
PUBLISHED 'BY BONi& GAE R, INC .
.l '
"EAST 40TH' STR.!3.E:r, NEW YQRK 16,N. Y
IN C A NA D A
BOO~S, SUITE 403, TYRRELL BUILDING
TORONTO.I.CAN ADA
First Printing, February, 1946
SecOnd Printing (Paper Edition),., June, 1946
Third ~rinting(pa:p~r .:Edition), :September, 1946 .' /
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I THE RISE OF THE SOVIET POWER •.• • • . . • •.•
'J. Mission/o Petrograd - 2. Counterrevolution...:.... 3. Revolution .-:. 4. Non
recognition - 5. Secret Diplomacy
II POINT COUNTER Porr.;rT" .;,':, .....• " '. . "
J. British Agent - 2. Zero Hour'-'-3.Mission's End
III MASTER Spy • • • • .'., " . . ',' •
1. Enter M, Massino - 2. Sidney Reilly - 3. Money and. Mur,der -'- 4. The'
Lettish Plot - 5. Exit Sidney Reilly.'" ' , . ,
IV SIBERIAN ADVENTURE. •.• \. •. • • .,. .• •
.1.>Aide Mhnoire --,-2. Intrig1ie at Vladivpstok --'-3. Ter~or iii the East,
V PEAlCE AND WAR. • • • " • • • • • •
1. Peace in the West- 2. At.the Peace (::onference /-:- 3. Golpvin's Mission
VI THE WAR OF INTERVENTION • ,'. •.•• .' , • •
l.Prel'ude .~ 2. Northern Campaign -'- ;3; Northwestern Campaign ~
4. Southern Campaign - 5. Eastern Campaign -:... 6. ThePolej andWran.'
Vn gel~ 7. The Last Survivor .
AN ACCOUNTING.
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THE WHITE CRUSADE '. , • • " • '.' • ' • . • •
1. The,Ferment of the Aftermath -2. White RltJsia Exodus- 3. A Gentle- '
m,an from Reval-4. The Hof!man~ Plan '. "'.' ,
THE STRANGE CAREER OF A TERRORIST. - •. '.. •• .
1. The Return of Sidney Reilly - 2. "A Business Like AnT Otker!':
3. Sunday at Chequers - 4. MoocoUf Trial, 1924 .
X To THE FINNISH FRONTIER.' • • .'. • • • • •
. 1. Anti-Bolshevism on Broadway - 2. Agent Bl - 3. Black Hundreds at
Detroit - 4. The Last of Sidney Reilly ,,",' " .'
XI OVERTURE WITI,i WAR DRUMS, • ' ) . ,53
'. XII MILLIONAIRES AND SABOTEURS • • • • • • . • • • 5.4 .
1.A Meeting in Paris ~ 2. Plan of Attack. - 3. A Glimpse Behind the
Scenes"':" 4. World's End
THREE TRIALS • ' • .' • • • • • • • • '. ..58
1. The Trial of tke lndustria/>Party--'- 2~ The Trial of the Mensheviks -
3. The ,Trial ot the Vickers Eng;neers '. .... . . .
DEATH OF AN ERA . ." •. '
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Fifth
BOOKTHREE: Russia's Column .'
xv THE PATH To TREASON '. • •• • '. • • • •
.' 1. Rebel among Revolutionaries- 2. The Left Opposition - 3. The p'atb-'
to Treason...:.... 4. The Struggle for Power - 5. Alma Ata ' . " ..
GENESIS OF. A FIFTH COLUMN • • • • • ' • • •
1. Trotsky at Elba '-::, 2;' Rendezvous in Berlin - 3. The Three Layers
XVII TREASON AND TERROR. • .'. • . • '. •
1. The Diplomacy of ,Treason :- 2. The Diplomacy of Terror
~:VIII MURDER IN ,THE K,REMLIN .' •. '. • • • • • • •
1. Yagoda - 2. The ,Murder of Menzhinsky ~ 3. Murder with a Guaran~
tee - 4. "Historic,al Necessity"" '
DAYS OF DECISION • • , • ','
1. The War Comes West -..:; 2. A Letter from
Oslo - 4. Zero Hour ,. .
THE END 01' THE TRAIl. .' \
':1~ Tukhachevsky. -2: The Trial
3. Action in May ;- 4. Finale,
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MURDER' IN' MEXICd
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, BOOK ,FOUR: From Munich to San Francisco
THE SECOND WORLDWA R •
1. 'Munich -'-'- 2. World War II
BY"
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MICHA'EL ,. SA YERS
AND
ALBER-T E. KAHN
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Sabotage 1-The Secret War ~gainst America
,'*- , The' Plot Against the Peace
, The Great Conspiracy 'Against Russia'
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IN TROD'U rION
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con~
DO' NOT KNOW of a greater •
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tribution which basheenmade to w~rldp~acetltrough betterinterna-
-' ,',' " "'" of her asinfl\lencegbyherpa~tt "
'. than'AibertE.,'kahn and Michad, Sayers haye made through , ' ,
b.ook, The Great (;onspiracy AgainjtJ~ttSjia! " ' . , ' '. ' ," "
'" I{there cati' be real uhderstandlng ,between Russia 'on .oneha.nd~
can
Gteatj3ritain and .the lJnited~;~tates~n the othet~."there be a true
lasting pea~e. We oithe Western wori4 Imow,our 6v:,nl'~tand~see·
.. .. . . . , .
""',, 'itin, terms o(ourownexperience, of course.But'soJew~fus knoV\T,
"what &as' been the , eXRetience of.the people\of Russia and; therefore): .
,.~ , .. most of us &,0 not realize why 'they. happ~n' to .have·theirpresent '
...... ; ..
opinions•
. . 'What theauthors~o,f thisb~okhavedoheis to tak:~the pe~iod"
" beginning with' the Rev6lution,inRussia and J¢t Us. see' the ,world ~bit .
,,' ", through Russia's~xperience. 'I~ ,short, they. have bestowed the rare gift
. "', for whi~h the poet 13u!l,18 yea~ed' by letting 'uS see ourselves:,; as ilie . ,.'
·'·RussianS see us'-,."outoftheir experience!.
:. . '. : f. ~ ,c,. ;'. ;.,,' ,.','
A continuation of, the 'ciisastrous policies ~f anti -SoYiet'fu.ti-igue "
so vivi~ny clescribed in this book would<i~evitably result ili.:athird
, worldwar. That 'is why this b00k ~hould"betead and studied ~y'all
'those eager to see peace durably established in the wodd~ .T his work "
is l'equi!edreading for every Americanarid ~British 'statesman;and, for '
'. .. '. ...., that .~tter, requij:ed •. reading 'for '. ev~ryCitizeil'of hoth .<;ountiies. '.'
Surely, if the majornati()nSand~peoplesof the earth can. look
.
"~~:tes1t~~t:;n::Z;p£~~~:::::;:
heart· , . .., .....
and.
: All qf us are debtors to Mr. Kahn· Mr~;Sayersf6rtheii'telUrig' .
.. us.tliis··~toIycontainiogso,mucK6f p~th9S .. ~cl~ragedy ... ' " . , '.
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,;None ;~f the, incidentsordia16gue inT:heGreai
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'Ct;)1'lspiracy Againsi.Russial13,sbeen invented 'by ..•.
'the a.~thors.The:rhaterialllas been drawn from
various documentary squr<:es whith areindkated
in the text or listed in. the BiblibgraphicalN6tes.,
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Revoluti~n .a nd Counterrevolution' .
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CRAPT ER I when his hero, Theodore Roosevelt, had tried/to.
get to the White House without the aid of big money,: .
.T he Rise. or' political machines. .R obins was a militant liberal;.····
~fSoviet Powe~
a tireless and colorful crusader for everycausechal-;
lenging reaction. . .
'1. Mission to .Petrograd
"What? Raymond Robins? That uplifter? That
IN the midsummer;r thefatef~l year of 1917, 'as Roosevelt-shouter? What's he <loingon this mIs
the Russian revolutlomity'vo!cano. seethed' and sion?" exclaimed .colonel Wlllifl,ffi ]~oyce Thomp-.
rumbled, an "American named Major Raymond . son, head of the American. Red Crossin Russia,
Robins arrived inPetrograd1 on ,a secret mission of when' he heard', Robins had been. appoiilted .as ·his
the utmosf importance. Officially, he traveled as ch~ef assistant. .' Colonel Thompson was a Republi
AssistantChief of the AmeritanRed Cross. Division; can and a standpatter: ,He>had a considerable per
UnofJiciany; he was"u{the service of :the Intelligence sonal stake in Russianaffair~in Russian manga,nese
Division 'of .. the· United States Army. His ,secret and copper mines. Buil:Colonel Thompsonwfl,SalsQ
mission was to help keep Russia in the wir against a . realistic and clear-headed . observer of facts..\lI.('!
,Germany. .' ........•. , .' ". ' ..' . .' had' alreadyprivaiely decided thatilothin'gcoulclbe
. The situation on the Eastern Front was desperate. .' achieved. by' the conservat~ve apP!oadl which\"(].·
'The ill-led, wretchedly equipped Russi?-ll Army had State Department. officials, were adopting t0y.'ard .
been cut to pieces by the Germans. Shaken by the turbulent Russianscene;.. . " ,
Jinpact of the war, and rotted from within, the . 'DavidFran~is, the American'. Ambassador.iitl,' •. ' i,.
feudal Czarist regime had tottered and fallen .. In .R ussia that year, was an elclerly~ opinionated, poket~
March, Czar Nicholas II had been forced to abdi playingSt.,Louis banker. and former Governor .
cate· and a PrOvisional .. Government had been estab . Missouri. He eutan odd figure in the hecticatmos.·
lished. . The revolutionary. cry of Peace, . Bfeadand . phere of war-torn, revolutionarY Petrogril-d with hi~ "
Land! swept across the countryside, summing up all silver hair,hisoldcfashioned high stiff collars
. the ithmediate longings and'. ancient' aspiration$ of hisblad< qltaway coat. ....
. the war~weary, famished and dispossessed Russian . "Old Francis,".a, British diplomat remarked,
millions. . . . ,'. "doesn't know a, Social RevoJutionflE}' from
. 'Rilssia's allies~Britain, France" and the United potato!" , ." ".
":States--'fearedthe collapse of.the· Russian Army was But what AmbassadQr Francis laCked. in ..
. at hand. . At any moment,a million German trOops edge of Russian politics .he ~ade up.fortin
might pe suddenly releasedfrom·theEastern Ftont strength of his convictions. These he derived .
and hurled againstthe tired Allied forces in 'the from the lurid gossip' of the Czarist generals
west. Equally alarr.ning was the prospect of Ukrain millionaires who flocked around the tm,er1<:an
ian wheat, Donetscoal, Caucasian oil,. and all· the Embassy ·in Petrograd. Francis. . was· positive
other limitless resources of the Russian land fa~ling . whole Russian upheavaL waS the result of a uerD1:OlQ) >.,
'. into~he rapacious maw of Imperial Germflny. .. plot and that all the, Russian revolutionaries .
. The' Allies were striving desperately to keep foreign agents .. At anyra,te, he thought the,
Russia in .thewar~at least until American rein- thing wouldso6riblow over. .
.' forcements rea<ili.ed the Western Front. Major On April 21, 1917,. Ambassador Francis
j
Robins was one of numerous diplomats, military confidentially telegraphed' the United States
men and spedal Intelligence officer; who were being tary of Stat~, R,obert Lansing:---, / .' .
hurriedly dispatched to Petrograd to do what they
c.t?uld to keep RussiafightinS' . .. . '. '.
Forty-three years old, a m'an of boundless energy, LENIN,. MAKING VI()L~NT SPEECHES AND
extraordinary', eloquence and gr~a,t personal magnet
ism, . with 'jet-black hair ana strikipg aquiline
features, Raymond Robins was a distinguished pub .. DEPORT OPPORTUNELY,
lic figure in the United States. He had given llpa
successful business career in Chicago to devote him
sd£ to, philanthropy an~, social work.. In politics,. he'
.wa$a.··R~sevelt man. . He had plareda leadmg
partin~hefamous "Bull Moose" cfl,ffipaign~f 19l2, ,
IPetrograd' was the capital of. Czarist Itussia .• '. The.city,
n;uned/ after Peter'the Great, was originallY-called .St,Peters~
burg .. It was changed to the more Russian form ofP etro, grad
!ltthe outbreak of the First WorldWai:. MtertheBols~evik .
~olutioilMoscow became the ilewcapitalatid)n J924; after
J:.enin's.de~th, the.n3.ll}eof)heformer cal?ital\vils.~hil~ged Jo, .
Leningrad. .. . .
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-,;\:,,;;-/:~, ;~;,l"'Y -', .
~(~? 2 TIll! GREAT CONSPIRACY AGAINST RUSSIA
tr:,' ,:; the tens of thousands.~In 'ragged, filthyuniforins, ~o force rne.Whenthe land belongsto the peasants,
,
~~i/, theystreainedertdlessly through the, countryside, . and the faCtories to .the w{)rkers, and !thepowerto
~~i;;'acrads0SS ~erthairi-Sill0akedfields and along, the rutted the Soviets, then we'll know we hav~ something to'
\'l ,< fO " wto ev,' ages, towns ¥1d cities.2 fight for, and we'll figtht .for it!" ." '.
, ., In the rear, the homecomipg Russian soldiers ro- Robins. was in his element in this argumentative
l"; ,countered the ,re'Yolutionary, ,workers and peasants. atmosphere. At home in the pnited States, a fa~
~r; "E verywher~ soldIers; workers and peasants were miliar platform figure, he had often debated with
spontaneously forming their own revolutionary com- American Marxists: why not with Russian 1301-
t\:,> 'mittees, or "Soviets',' as they called them, and elect sheviks? Frequently, Robins' asked permission to
f;~" ing deputies to voice their demands for Peace, Bread reply toone of the Bolshevik speakers. In crowded
J
factories and trenches, thebroadcshouldered, dark
I".[,~,;,l·.,.,:,·;"·,,.,;;\t~~~~;~~i~i~~~~ eyed. American would get up and talk. ''Through
his own interpreter, Rdbins, told the Russian audi
ences aboutiAmerican qemocraq and.the menace of
Prussian militarism. Invariably> tumultuous applause
~",. ' with, soldier delegations, straight from the muddy greeted his words. ' . . . .
, front-line trenches demanding an end to the war. At the same. time,. Robins was not neglecting his
~i',. Bread riots were occurring almost, daily. Le11in's Red Cross duties. His job was to get food to the• .
~;'i, Bolsh~vik, Party-the organization of the Russian starving cities~ Down the Volga, Robins found im- .
;:~:.:!Gommunists,whi<;h had been declared illegal and mense stores of grain rotting in the storehouses .. The
~);,drivct1,underground by Kerensky:-was rapidly grain could not be moved:becauscrthere was no ttans-'.
ii\t
gi:owingin power and prestige. ' " " port. Under the hopelessly inefficient Czarist regime,
,"" " ", ",Raymond R=obirl:s re[~sed to accept the oprnio11s of all transport had gone to pieces, and Kerensky had
r,:,:"~,';~,;,,,t~i~::~: ~: :t;':a;:~l:r:::s:: ~~ 'done nothing to remedy the s~tuation. Robins pro
posed' getting, a fleet of barges down the Volga to
"petrograd salons, butwent "into the field," as he ship the grain. Kerensky's officials told him it could
It{·,; 'putdt, to vieW the Russian scene with his own eyes. not be done. A peasant cameup'toRobins a11d intro~
'{I::L }{dbins believed passionately in what he called "the duced himself. He was the chairman of the local
;
~~0':): outdoor mind-that thing that is common 'in peasants' Soviet. He told Robins t.~at barges would
~"';"'" ,,' America among successful businessmen; amind that be made avail:rble. Next morning the grain began.
t::r to move upriver. towards Moscow and Petrograd,
1.!,';<;·.".':'·";:'.',·.::·.~:: ,;.·.~,.; ~~:Z' ::~Jti:~~;!;;,o;
Everywhere, Robins saw the same evidence of the
:. ..•.' ..• . .. .factories, trade-union halls, army barracks and even confusion and helplessness o;f the KerenskyGovern
fir? the lice-infested trenches on the Eastern Front.· To ment, contrasted with the organization anddetermi
~~~~;~:h;~:f::;~E;~i.ng nation of the revolutionary Soviets. When a chair
in Russia, Robins went
man of a Soviet said a thing would be done, it was
\ri; . All Russia that year was like a vast, turbulent done.. . . . . '
~.,.\ .., . debating society. After centuries of enforced silence, The first time Robins came to a Russian village
. f::
the people had at last found their tongues. Meetings and asked to see the iocal government official, the
~: ,were being held everywhere. Everyone had his say. peasants had smiled at him. "Better see thechairman
':, Goyernme{lt officials, pro~AHied propagandists, Bol- of the Soviet, "ithey told him. .
':What is this Soviet?" said Robins.
·~!.,·.,.i."l.i,r~~~{~}il~~~~~~~; "The workers', soldiers' and pe.asants' deputies:"
"But that's some sort of revolutionary organiza
tion," Robins protested. "I want the civil organiza
tion-the regular civil power."
tr't i"t.t·1.Rsu ssian soIdie.r art one of these hectic mass meetings. The peasants laughed. "Oh, that! Thataoe~n't
it Constantinople or is it free Russia? Is it democ amount to anything. You had better see the chair
.' racy or is it the capitalist plunderers? If you can man of the:; ,Soviet!"
I~/:~;;~~~;~~:~~:~;;; . Back in Petrograd, after his tour of inspection,
Robins made his preliminary. report' to Colonel
Thompson. Kerensky's Provisional Government,said·
Robins, was a "sort of paper-and-corisent affair
~:~rmonths of the war, at the peak of the German aggression,
~fi:!:;'.th'e;Ru'ssia1is . had invaded East Prussia, thus drawing off two superimposed on top, sppported by thebayoriets in
~!\,t;;:Gerti1an army corps and a cavalry diviSion, and giving Joffre ,Petrograd aiidMoscow and some other places." The
v:;(. • :, the, chance to .close the breach at the Marne and save Pans. In
~\;~;"':' Its rear; the Russian Army had to' contend with treason arida . realgovernmeht of the· country. was being exercised
~~~V;ii,leffi:ciency. The Uinisterof, War, Sukhoul?Jllnov, was by the Soviets: But Kerensky stood f6r the. continua-
t:l>,,:i'tra,itor, .i:nGennan pay. The Czar's court swarmed with tion of the war against GermanYi and for that. reason
5i/;:;,'German agents and notorious Germanophiles. headed by the
.:·; .. c;:zi!iihaand her ,adviser, the sinister priest, ltisputin. The R<;>bins belieyed he should :be maintained in poweri
the
'~;\Rl,lssiari troops ",erewietchedly equipped. l)y 1917, Russian If the ,Allies were interested in preventing Russia
::< Annyl;!ad, .~uffeJ:ed •. D1ore . fatal, casualties than Gre;lt. Britain, fi()mslipping into ,complete .chaqs"a11d . so under
Of Ffaj1ce'imctyI~lYSombine~:L.The ... 1ossestqtaled 2,762,064'
·'killC;id. ~~O.OO() 'wo1lD.ded; 2,SOO,OQOmissin&.'. . . ;G ermandomination, they must use all their influence'
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