Posted by Peter H on January 20, 2002 at 15:26:07 from 213.122.130.105:
In Reply to: Re: Ransome in Russia - Evgenia's gems? posted by Adam Quinan on January 19, 2002 at 20:26:44:
Thanks, Adam. The document posted on the 'Diamond Smuggling' link seems to indicate that the gems were being taken to England to order - 'according to the instructions given to me by Comrades Chicherin and Karakhan'.
Did the Ransomes smuggle diamonds out of Russia to help finance the Communist Party of Great Britain? It looks like it! I can't find anything about this in the TARS literature published so far (I may be wrong). Are we refusing to face the facts? I detect an ominous silence . . .
except perhaps for Paul Foot, who expressed a view, in a talk to TARS in 1993, that AR was far more keen on the Russian Revolution than other writers (including Hugh Brogan) have made out. Hmmm.