Hidden agendas: Spies, lies and intrigue surrounding trotsky’s American visit of january–april 1917

Abstract

Trotsky’s short stay in the USA in early 1917, and his subsequent detention in Canada, has spawned many stories and left lingering questions. This article is basically a sequel to the author’s ‘Interrupted Journey: British Intelligence and the Arrest of Leon Trotskii, April 1917’, which appeared in this journal in 2000. 1 What follows substantially expands the scope of the earlier article and presents much new information drawn from recent releases by MI5, as well as new American, French and Russian sources. It shows that Trotsky was surrounded by a web of intrigue and agents of various stripes throughout, and even before, his American stay. He became a pawn, knowingly or not, in assorted plots. Above all, the article strengthens the conclusion that Trotsky was the target of a scheme by elements of the British intelligence services to secure his cooperation in revolutionary Russia. © 2008, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.