Roman Malinovsky - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Roman Vaslavovich Malinovsky (1876–1918) was a prominent Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Bolshevik

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

politician before the revolution, while at the same time working as the best paid agent for the Okhrana. They codenamed him 'Portnoi' (the tailor).

He was a brilliant orator, tall, red haired, yellow eyed and pockmarked.

In 1899, he was convicted of theft, rape and burglary, and sentenced to jail. In 1901-1905 he served as a private in Russian army.

In 1906 Malinovsky joined RSDLP and worked for the St. Petersburg metalworkers union. In 1910, he was arrested by Okhrana but soon released: he became thus a Tsarist spy, and infiltrated the Bolshevik

Bolshevik

party. He was the best paid Tsarist agent. He got 8,000 rubles a year, 1,000 more than the Director of Imperial Police.
In January 1912, he joined the Central Committee with Lenin' support at the Prague Party Conference

Prague Party Conference

The Prague Party Conference was the sixth party conference of Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. It was in Prague January 5-17 1912, 18 Bolsheviks attended. Stalin and Sverdlov were in exile at the time and couldn't attend. Georgi Plekhanov claimed he...

. On October 25, 1912, he was elected at the Duma

State Duma of the Russian Empire

The State Duma of the Russian Empire was a legislative assembly in the late Russian Empire, which met in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It was convened four times between 1906 and the collapse of the Empire in 1917.-History:...

by the workers electoral college of Moscow Governorate

Moscow Governorate

Moscow Governorate , or Government of Moscow, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire, which existed in 1708–1929....

. He led the 6-member Bolshevik group (2 of whom were Okhrana agents) and was deputy chairman of the Social Democrats in the Duma. As a secret agent, he helped send (unbeknownst to them) several important Bolsheviks (like Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze may refer to:People:*Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze , a Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet political leader*Sergei Ordzhonikidze‎, a Russian diplomat*Iosif Ordzhonikidze‎ , a mayor of Moscow...

, Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

and Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Mikhaylovich Sverdlov ; known under pseudonyms "Andrei", "Mikhalych", "Max", "Smirnov", "Permyakov" — 16 March 1919) was a Bolshevik party leader and an official of the Russian Soviet Republic.-Early life:...

) into Siberian exile. When Menshevik leader Julius Martov

Julius Martov

Julius Martov or L. Martov was born in Constantinople in 1873...

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

Fedor Dan

Fyodor Ilyich Dan was one of the leaders of Menshevism.Fyodor Dan was born to a Jewish family in St. Petersburg. His original surname was Gurvitch. While still a young man he joined the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. He was arrested in 1896 and exiled in Oryol for...

, saying they'd regret it if the Menshevik

Menshevik

The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...

s denounced Malinovsky.

In November 1912 he visited Lenin in Cracow where he was urged not to unite with the Menshevik

Menshevik

s. Malinovsky ignored this, reading a conciliatory speech in the Duma. On December 28, 1912 he attended a Central Committee

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...

meeting in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. He persuaded Lenin to appoint an Okhrana agent, Chernomosov as editor of Pravda

Pravda

Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....

as opposed to Stalin's candidate Shaumyan

Shaumyan

Shaumyan may refer to:*Shaumyan, Dashkasan, Azerbaijan*Shaumyan, Goygol, Azerbaijan*Aşağı Ağcakənd, Azerbaijan - formerly called Shaumyan*Xankəndi, Shamakhi, Azerbaijan - formerly called Shaumyan...

who was too soft on the Menshevik

Menshevik

s. The Tsarist regime was determined to keep the RSDRP split so conciliators were targeted.

Thanks to him, the Okhrana arrested Sergo Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze may refer to:People:*Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze , a Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet political leader*Sergei Ordzhonikidze‎, a Russian diplomat*Iosif Ordzhonikidze‎ , a mayor of Moscow...

(April 14, 1912), Yakov Sverdlov

Yakov Sverdlov

(February 10, 1913) and Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

(February 23, 1913). The latter was arrested at a Bolshevik fundraising ball. He hadn't wanted to go but Malinovsky persuaded him by lending him a suit and silk cravat. Malinovsky was talking to Stalin when detectives took him, even shouting he would free him. In July 1913 he betrayed a plan for Sverdlov and Stalin to escape, warning the police chief in Turukhansk

Turukhansk

Turukhansk is a village in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located 1474 km north of Krasnoyarsk, at the confluence of the Yenisei and Lower Tunguska rivers. The Turukhan River joins the Yenisei about 20 km northwest. Population: 4,849 ; 8,900 ; 200...

. By now he was the only Bolshevik leader not in foreign or Siberian exile.

On May 8, 1914 he was forced to resign from the Duma. By now he was an alcoholic drinking vodka

Vodka

Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

from teapots. 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!"

In 1918, he tried to join the Petrograd Soviet

Petrograd Soviet

The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , usually called the Petrograd Soviet , was the soviet in Petrograd , Russia, established in March 1917 after the February Revolution as the representative body of the city's workers.The Petrograd Soviet became important during the Russian...

, but Grigory Zinoviev

Grigory Zinoviev

Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...

recognized him. In November, after a brief trial, Malinovsky was executed by firing squad.

According to British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian and writer.-Family history:Simon's father, a doctor, is descended from a famous line of wealthy Sephardic Jews who became diplomats and bankers all over Europe...

his successful infiltration into the Bolsheviks help fuel the paranoia of the Soviets (and more specifically, Stalin) that eventually gave way to the Great Terror

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

Further reading