Roman Malinovsky

Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky (Russian: Рома́н Ва́цлавович Малино́вский, 1876–1918) was a prominent Bolshevik politician before the revolution, while at the same time working as the best paid agent for the Okhrana, the Tsarist secret police. They codenamed him 'Portnoi' (the tailor).

Roman Malinovsky. 1913.

He was a brilliant orator, tall, red-haired, yellow-eyed and pockmarked.[1]

Early life

Malinovsky was born in Poland, at the time part of the Russian Empire. His parents were ethnic Polish peasants, who died while he was still a child. He was jailed for several robberies from 1894-1899 and was also charged and imprisoned for rape. In 1902, he enlisted in the prestigious Izmaylovsky Regiment by impersonating a cousin with the same name.[2] Malinovsky began as an Okhrana agent within the regiment, reporting on fellow soldiers and officers. He was discharged from the army at the end of the Russo-Japanese War and relocated to Saint Petersburg.

Politics

In 1906, he found a job as a lathe operator and joined the Petrograd Metalworkers' Union and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). In 1910, Malinovsky was arrested by the Okhrana but soon released; he then became a tsarist spy and infiltrated the Bolshevik party. He was the best-paid agent, earning 8,000 rubles a year, 1,000 more than the Director of the Imperial Police.[3]

In January 1912, he joined the Central Committee with Vladimir Lenin's support at the Prague Party Conference. On October 25, 1912, he was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Empire by the workers electoral college of Moscow Governorate. He led the six-member Bolshevik group (two of whom were Okhrana agents) and was deputy chairman of the Social Democrats in the Duma. As a secret agent, he helped send several important Bolsheviks (like Ordzhonikidze, Joseph Stalin, and Yakov Sverdlov) into Siberian exile.

When Menshevik leader Julius Martov first denounced Malinovsky as a spy in 1913, Lenin refused to believe him and stood by Malinovsky. The accusing article was signed Ts, short for Tsederbaum, Martov's real name. Stalin threatened Martov's sister and brother-in-law, Lydia and Fedor Dan by saying they would regret it if the Mensheviks denounced Malinovsky.[4]

In November 1912, he visited Lenin in Krakow and was urged not to unite with the Mensheviks. Malinovsky ignored that by reading a conciliatory speech in the Duma.[5] On December 28, 1912, he attended a Central Committee meeting in Vienna. He persuaded Lenin to appoint an Okhrana agent, Miron Chernomazov, as editor of Pravda as opposed to Stalin's candidate Stepan Shahumyan, who was too soft on the Mensheviks. The tsarist regime was determined to keep the RSDLP split so conciliators were targeted.

Malinovsky's efforts helped the Okhrana arrest Sergo Ordzhonikidze (April 14, 1912), Yakov Sverdlov (February 10, 1913) and Stalin (February 23, 1913). The latter was arrested at a Bolshevik fundraising ball, which Malinovsky had persuaded him to attend by lending him a suit and silk cravat. Malinovsky was talking to Stalin when detectives took him and even shouting he would free him.[6]

In July 1913, he betrayed a plan for Sverdlov and Stalin to escape, warning the police chief in Turukhansk. He was then the only Bolshevik leader not in foreign or Siberian exile.

Resignation, exile and death

On May 8, 1914 he was forced to resign from the Duma. His real identity was unveiled by his ex-mistress Elena Troyanovskaya, 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, sent him clothes. He said: "If he is a provocateur, the police gained less from it than our Party did." This refers to his strong anti-Menshevism. Eventually, Lenin changed his mind: "What a swine: shooting's too good for him!"[7]

In 1918, he tried to join the Petrograd Soviet, but Grigory Zinoviev recognized him. In November, after a brief trial, Malinovsky was executed by firing squad.

According to British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore his successful infiltration into the Bolsheviks helped fuel the paranoia of the Soviets (and more specifically, Stalin) that eventually gave way to the Great Terror.

See also

Notes
  1. Montefiore 2007, p. 205
  2. Brackman 2004, p. 66.
  3. Montefiore 2007, p. 224
  4. Montefiore 2007, p. 229
  5. Montefiore 2007, p. 221
  6. Montefiore 2007, p. 231
  7. Montefiore 2007, p. 242

References
  • Brackman, Roman (2004). The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-75840-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Montefiore, Simon Sebag (2007), Young Stalin, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-297-85068-7
  • Radzinsky, Edvard (1997), Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives, Anchor, ISBN 978-0-385-47954-7

Further reading
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