Lenin. A Sealed Train. And 10m Dollars.
Here’s a great read for history fans - and you don’t even have to buy the book. ‘The Sealed Train’ by Michael Pearson is here on the net.
It’s an account of Lenin’s top secret journey from exile back to Russia in 1917.
The funny part about the Russian revolution, when it came, is that Lenin was the last to know.
A neighbour in Switzerland stopped by with the news.
Actually, not such good news at first. Lenin couldn’t scrape together the bus fare back to Russia at the time. Moreover, the rest of Europe was at war. So the story recounts the devious dealing between Lenin, a bunch of secret agents and the German Government.
Eventually, Lenin and his entourage were transported back to St Petersburg via Scandinavia in a sealed carriage. For company, Lenin had 10 million dollars from Germany to bring down the Russian Government and to surrender the Russian army in the process. Yes, this was high treason of course and the story of The Sealed Train was kept from Russians for many years.
Along with some good anecdotes about characters such as Inessa Armand, Lenin’s mistress, the book shows you that the principle of buying revolutions of any colour is nothing new. ‘Revolutionary demonstrators’ in Russia were said to have been paid three roubles each and the total cost of the Russian revolution was estimated at around 10 million dollars. A lot of money in those days.
The Sealed Train was originally published in 1975 and, being a rattling good story, was made into a film in 1987 starring Ben Kingsley. You can still get the VHS from Amazon along with Michael Pearson’s equally revealing book, ‘Lenin’s Mistress’.
I love how the train was sealed because the Germans were worried that Lenin would infect Germans workers along the way. It is a good story indeed.
While a good story and the money certainly helped the Bolshevik effort in 1917, I’m rather cautious about attributing too much weight to its influence. I think Mark Steinberg’s document collection Voices of Revolution, 1917 paints a pretty good picture of how events pushed Russians in Petrograd toward the Bolsheviks rather than Lenin and his money pulled them. It seems pretty clear that Lenin was an astute politician who told the crowds what they already believed.
Hi Sean.
Indeed, the book’s footnote about demonstrators being paid three roubles a hiss related to earlier demos in 1914.
I read that Pearson did a lot of digging about the actual amount at Lenin’s disposal. It was an unimaginable sum of money for those days. Given that Lenin wasn’t buying peak-time TV spots, it appears excessive. Maybe he splashed out on ‘non-revolutionary sundries’. But obviously not clothes
Question :
In that video you mention, did Kingley talk about the credit extended to the bolsheviks by Germany; and did he bring up the subject of Lenin-ism, for which the inspiration came to Lenin during that train ride ?
In 1901 Carnegie sold his steel mills for 300 million dollars
In the Brest-Litovsk agreement Lenin agreed to pay 120 million (gold)rubels to Germany
To: Yamaguchy
I haven’t seen the video yet. I’ll check. About Carnegie - thanks for fascinating fact. It gives another perspective on the available slush funds of the day.
I believe it was actually the other way around: Any contact of Lenin with the Germans could , upon his arrival in Russia, be percieved as high treason. That is why he proposed to give the train the diplomatich status of an embassy. The compartiment the Russians were in were sealed off. A white line on the floor indicated the border so that he could be protected by German soldiers. During the trip through Germany, he refrained from any contact with the outside world, and communicated through agents…
Source : “In Europa”, Geert Mak, 2005. He also claims Pearson as a mjor source, alongside Krupskaya(1959) and Possony(1974)
Generally revolution was done on the money of the American bankers. These money went on Trocki, one relative of them. Lenin was a wedding general Trocki.
(I am sorry for bad English)