This is chapter 3 and the epilogue of Roman Malinovsky: A Life without a
Cause by Ralph Carter Elwood, the footnotes for which can be seen here:
http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/chapter3_epilogue.htm. For those who
remain mystified by Richard Aoki, I would suggest that a study of
Elwood’s book might help clarify things, especially considering the turn
of events described in chapter 3, when Malinovsky no longer had any
connection to the Czarist police:
He, in fact, lived to fight in some eleven battles during the course of
the next year114 until he was finally wounded on Russia’s western front,
captured and put into a German prisoner-of-war camp at Altengrabow near
Magdeburg. In these unusual surroundings, as Malinovsky confessed in
1918, “socialism for the first time became my religion.”115 It is
impossible to determine from the available evidence116 whether this
belated conversion was a result of ideological conviction, boredom,
remorse, or simply a search for an outlet for his considerable energy
and organizational talent. In any case, he contacted the “Commission to
Help Russian War Prisoners” which the Bolsheviks had established in Bern
during 1915 under the direction of Shklovsky and Krupskaya. The
Commission had ties with Russian prisoners in 21 camps in Germany and
Austria to whom, with German acquiescence, it dispatched some 5,000
pounds of defeatist and revolutionary literature. Krupskaya “took pity
on the fallen eagle, sent him linen and food parcels”117 along with
agitational material. Malinovsky reciprocated by becoming one of the
Commission’s most zealous and active agents. During the first half of
1916 he sent Lenin five letters describing the mood and conditions of
the soldiers at Alten-grabow and with his help established a prison
library of some 1,011 books. He also circulated the Commission’s
newspaper, V plenu, read lectures on political economy, and discussed
the Erfurt Program with the Russian prisoners of war.118 “Very
enthusiastic reports” about Malinovsky’s work began reaching Lenin119
who once again sought his advice on political matters.120 Malinovsky
himself later remarked that “the best period of my life was the two and
a half years which I devoted to propaganda among Russian prisoners in
Germany. I have done a great deal during that time for the spread of the
ideas of Bolshevism.”121
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/roman-malinovsky-biography-conclusion/
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
