- Roman Malinovsky
Roman Vaslavovich Malinovsky (1876-1918) was a Russian Bolshevik politician.
In 1899, he was convicted of theft and burglary, and sentenced to jail. In 1901-1905 he served as a private in Russian army.
In 1906 Malinovsky joined
RSDLP and worked for the St. Petersburg metalworkers union. In 1910, he was arrested byOkhrana but soon released: he became thus a Tsarist spy, and infiltrated theBolshevik party. In 1912, he joined the Central Committee withLenin ' support. Afterwards, he was elected at the Duma by the workers electoral college ofMoscow Governorate , and led the 6-member Bolshevik group. As a secret agent, he helped send (unbeknownst to them) several important Bolsheviks (likeJoseph Stalin andYakov Sverdlov ) into Siberian exile. When Menshevik leaderJulius Martov first denounced Malinovsky as a spy in 1913, Lenin refused to believe him, and stood by Malinovsky.In 1914, his real identity was unveiled, and he went into exile in Germany. When World War I broke out, he was interned into a POW camp by the Germans. Lenin, still standing by him, send him clothes to the camp.
In 1918, he tried to join the
Petrograd Soviet , butGrigory Zinoviev recognized him. After a short trial, he was executed by firing squad.According to British historian
Simon Sebag Montefiore his successful infiltration into the Bolsheviks help fuel the paranoia of the Soviets (and more specifically, Stalin) that eventually gave way to theGreat Terror .See also
*
Yevno Azef Further reading
* Ralph Carter Elwood: "Roman Malinovsky, a life without a cause", Oriental Research Partners, 1977
* Simon Sebag Montefiore: "Young Stalin", 2007
*Bertram Wolfe : "Three who made a revolution", 1948
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