Left to the wolves : Irish victims of Stalinist terror / Barry McLoughlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McLoughlin, Barry, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communists--Ireland--Biography.

Communists.

Irish--Soviet Union--Biography.

Irish.

Political prisoners.

Soviet Union--History--1925-1953.

Soviet Union.

History.

Political prisoners--Soviet Union--Biography.

Ireland.

Political prisoners--Ireland--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xviii, 294 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Dublin ; Portland, OR : Irish Academic Press, [2007]

Summary:

Between the end of the Russian Civil War in 1921 and Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet secret police sentenced over 4 million people on political grounds. Over 800,000 were shot and millions died in the slave camps of the Gulag system. At the height of the massrepression - the Great Terror of 1937/38 - foreigners were in great jeopardy. Knowing that a major war was coming, Josef Stalin and his cohorts decided to rid Soviet society of all perceived or potential 'enemies'. Among the putative 'Fifth Columnists' were non Russian ethnic minorities, political refugees from fascism and foreign-born Communists. At least three of these countless victims were of Irish nationality.

This book describes their social background, how and why they entered the semi-clandestine world of Communism and the reasons for their residence in the USSR. Patrick Breslin was a graduate of the International Lenin School who turned to journalism and translating. Brian Goold-Verschoyle's visits to Moscow were periodic until his masters in the Soviet espionage service sent him to the Spanish conflict in 1937. Finally, Sean McAteer was given political refugee status in the new Russia in 1923 after his flight from Scotland Yard. He used his language skills to proselytize sailors for the world revolution or to teach students the rudiments of English in exotic Odessa. Each man in turn knew by the time of arrest that the NKVD (secret police) rarely released or acquitied anybody; and the fabricated charges they were faced with increased their sense of isolation and hopelessness. This realisation was all the more bitter considering the faith they had placed in the Soviet experiment.

Contents:

Part I Patrick Breslin

Youth in Dublin 11

The International Lenin School, 1928-30 22

Life with Katya, 1929-36 40

Life with Daisy 53

Patrick Alone 71

Interrogation 87

Transit and Terminus 104

Part II Brian Goold-Verschoyle

Youngest Son of the Manor House 117

Insistent Recruit 132

With Lotte in Moscow 150

Spanish Imbroglio 168

Prisoner No. 500 177

Lotte in Trouble 197

Part III Sean McAteer

Border Man 219

'Going Up' in Liverpool 239

Sailor's Friend 253

Last Twist 266.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780716529149

0716529149

9780716529156

0716529157

OCLC:

86069682