BLOOD-BESPA TTERED YEARS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29602, 26 August 1961, Page 3

BLOOD-BESPA TTERED YEARS

The Conspirators. By Geoffrey Bailey. GoUanex 269 pp. Index and Notes. The author of this masterly w-ork has sought to give recognisable shape and continuity to the events which formed the destinies of Russia from the time of the Revolution to the beginning of the war. The book covers the fortunes of the White Russian resistance —carried on after their military defeat mainly by intrigues in Paris —and the progress of affairs in Russia itself culminating in the climax of Stalin’s rule of terrorism during the purges of 1936, 1937, and 1938. The connecting thread of underground activities is never lost, and certain of the conspirators, such as the contemptible General Skoblin, and his wife, the singer, Nadyezhda Plevitzkaya—bo'h of them scheming double crossers-=-are seen, probably for the first time as fulllength portraits. The early part of the book deals with the White Russian hopes and plans, under the leadership of General Kutyepov of exploiting the known misery of the Russian peasants by infiltrating agitators into their midst. Unfortunately Yakushev, an able civil servant from the Czarist regime was the organiser of the “Trust” which comprised all the dissident elements, including Monarchists, ultimately proved to be a Soviet spy. As a consequence of his machinations such experienced professional agents of the White Russians as Boris Savinkov and Sidney Reilly were to vanish tor ever behind the Iron Curtain during assignments which but for betrayal from within the “Trust" itself, should have been foolproof. Numerous others on similar errands met the same fate, and by 1927 the “Trust” had ceased to function, though General Kutyepov still dreamed of leading an army against the Communists. This dream was finally dissolved when he was kidnapped in broad daylight in Paris, and never seen again. His successor, General Miller, was seven years later to share

the same fate, for no apparent reason (since the White Russian by that time had ceased to be an active menace) except that from Stalin’s viewpoint he knew too much about the military rebels in Russia, who had lately been executed during the infamous “General's purge.” The kidnap story of the 71-year-old General Miller is given in circumstantial detail derived from a large number of sources, and is as exciting to read as any thriller. It put paid Anally to hds underling General Skoblin's intrigues, for he and his wife were deeply involved. Skobhn escaped, but was probably'-shot by his masters, the Russian Secret Police, for having muffed his job. His wife was sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour by a Paris Court.

The anatomy of the most cold-blooded example of power politics probably ever known in human affairs is mercilessly probed and dissected by Mr Bailey’s painstaking researches. There are few surmises. All the material is based on known and published facts. Stalin’s successive purges, often carried out on the vaguest and most unsubstantial suspicions cost literally millions of lives and served only to establish his own supremacy. The systematic slaughter of the kulaks so disgusted the army that the elimination of most of their leaders was bound to follow. To round off the programme of organised murder the accusers in one set of trials served as the victims of those which followed.

Ten pages of closely written notes, and a bibliography citing over 30 sources, plus innumerable press-files, is proof enough of the author’s capacity for taking pains, and this book should have a place in international archives as a record of ten blood-bespattered years in this most unquiet century.