The political world was very interested in the events that took place during the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, which brought Russia’s relationship with the West on a new level. New communist regime attracted the attention of leaders throughout the world. In Robert Service’s book Spies and Commissars: the early years of the Russian revolution, the author guides the reader through the entire revolution and describes West’s attitude towards the formation of new political ideology in Russia. Service shows how the West used actionable intelligence to undermine Bolsheviks and influence their politics in the east Europe and how Russia tried to eliminate a potential threat to the spread of Communism. The Western Allies were ready to do everything
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So they decided to get out of the Bolsheviks game and fight for their own benefit. Reilly brought Latvian representatives to Lockhart, who later proposed to finance the Latvians in order to overthrow Bolshevism and arrest Soviet leadership (152). However, Lockhart denies this and said that the Latvians approached him first. The Latvians occupied high positions of power in Moscow and the British saw an opportunity with connections like these. After Cheka’s raids Lockhart felt that he might be asked to leave Moscow, so he asked Reilly to handle the agreement with the Latvians. This plan with the Latvians turned out to be a complete disaster and “the Lockhart plot became on open secret at the top of the communist leadership” (155). The next morning our British agent had been arrested, he found out shocking newspaper claims which said that he was the head of the Allied conspiracy, which included the murder of the Communist leaders Lenin and Trotsky and buying up the Latvians. Lockhart was arrested at the time when the Chekist leader was assassinated and later that day few shots were fired at Lenin after he gave a speech to factory workers. The events played out in a way that the British decided to break contacts with French and the US agencies in hopes of being …show more content…
As an enemy of almost every other state around the world they knew that every step they take in foreign activities is observed (239). Surprised Cheka’s raid, which resulted in the destruction of western intelligence network, threw a shadow at Sidney Reilly. DeWitt Poole, consul-general for the Americans in Moscow, formed a poor opinion about Reilly and wanted the British to investigate the possibility of Reilly betraying Lockhart (239). All of this came up after Poole found out that Reilly enacted completely different things from what Lockhart originally discussed with Poole. Was Reilly a double agent? Lockhart never believed in this rumors and continued to trust Reilly. Commander Ernest Boyce, an old Russia intelligence hand was given Reilly’s investigation and the only conclusion the commander came to was that this is a “perky man with a chaotic personal life” (240). For further investigation Commander Boyce went to a lunch with Lockhart and his wife Jean. He wanted to question Jean on his own and asked her to come earlier than her husband and the only thing he got out of her about Reilly was that Lockhart believed Reilly would always “work for the highest bidder” (240). So, it is unknown if Reilly was a double agent, but it was obvious that he could never be a reliable double agent because his first loyalty was his financial interests
So they decided to get out of the Bolsheviks game and fight for their own benefit. Reilly brought Latvian representatives to Lockhart, who later proposed to finance the Latvians in order to overthrow Bolshevism and arrest Soviet leadership (152). However, Lockhart denies this and said that the Latvians approached him first. The Latvians occupied high positions of power in Moscow and the British saw an opportunity with connections like these. After Cheka’s raids Lockhart felt that he might be asked to leave Moscow, so he asked Reilly to handle the agreement with the Latvians. This plan with the Latvians turned out to be a complete disaster and “the Lockhart plot became on open secret at the top of the communist leadership” (155). The next morning our British agent had been arrested, he found out shocking newspaper claims which said that he was the head of the Allied conspiracy, which included the murder of the Communist leaders Lenin and Trotsky and buying up the Latvians. Lockhart was arrested at the time when the Chekist leader was assassinated and later that day few shots were fired at Lenin after he gave a speech to factory workers. The events played out in a way that the British decided to break contacts with French and the US agencies in hopes of being …show more content…
As an enemy of almost every other state around the world they knew that every step they take in foreign activities is observed (239). Surprised Cheka’s raid, which resulted in the destruction of western intelligence network, threw a shadow at Sidney Reilly. DeWitt Poole, consul-general for the Americans in Moscow, formed a poor opinion about Reilly and wanted the British to investigate the possibility of Reilly betraying Lockhart (239). All of this came up after Poole found out that Reilly enacted completely different things from what Lockhart originally discussed with Poole. Was Reilly a double agent? Lockhart never believed in this rumors and continued to trust Reilly. Commander Ernest Boyce, an old Russia intelligence hand was given Reilly’s investigation and the only conclusion the commander came to was that this is a “perky man with a chaotic personal life” (240). For further investigation Commander Boyce went to a lunch with Lockhart and his wife Jean. He wanted to question Jean on his own and asked her to come earlier than her husband and the only thing he got out of her about Reilly was that Lockhart believed Reilly would always “work for the highest bidder” (240). So, it is unknown if Reilly was a double agent, but it was obvious that he could never be a reliable double agent because his first loyalty was his financial interests