This episode provides a useful and instructive history lesson for non-Russian specialists about a matter that the average well-informed person knows little to nothing about. What exactly was The Trust? Who created it and why? How did it manage to be so accepted by brilliant spies like Sidney Reilly that they were easily seduced into subordinating their reasonable doubts about The Trust's legitimacy and credibility?
The Trust may have been one of the most successful counter-intelligence operations in history. The "brain child" of Felix Dzherzhinsky, head of the Cheka, it was such a well-kept secret that Stalin himself was reputed to have been unaware of its existence for a considerable period of time. Stalin's reaction upon learning about The Trust was a combination of disbelief and anger toward both its enablers and participants, even though the organization's stunning embrace by non-Bolsheviks actually worked to support the Communist Revolution.
Reilly was skeptical of The Trust's bona fides, but nonetheless allowed himself to believe that it could be manipulated to British advantage, and eventually used to overthrow Stalin, get Russia to join the Allied Powers in opposing Germany and install a new non-Bolshevik government to rule an unstable Russia. Why? Reilly's analysis was obviously faulty (with the wisdom of hindsight), but it also reflects the thinking of many visionary adventurers---I.e. To believe as true what they want to so believe. It was an astonishing miscalculation by someone who rarely if ever made such a mistake.
Meanwhile, intrigue abounds! Reilly's best friend Savinkov is lured by The Trust back to Russia, Reilly attempts to enlist industrialist Henry Ford into becoming a major financial supporter of Bolshevik counterinsurgency, and in the midst of all this he meets and is smitten by an alluring woman who becomes his third wife!
Reilly's many years away from Russia seem to have taken the edge off his well-crafted spying instincts. In any event, the stage is being set for the climax of this intelligent and absorbing series.
The Trust may have been one of the most successful counter-intelligence operations in history. The "brain child" of Felix Dzherzhinsky, head of the Cheka, it was such a well-kept secret that Stalin himself was reputed to have been unaware of its existence for a considerable period of time. Stalin's reaction upon learning about The Trust was a combination of disbelief and anger toward both its enablers and participants, even though the organization's stunning embrace by non-Bolsheviks actually worked to support the Communist Revolution.
Reilly was skeptical of The Trust's bona fides, but nonetheless allowed himself to believe that it could be manipulated to British advantage, and eventually used to overthrow Stalin, get Russia to join the Allied Powers in opposing Germany and install a new non-Bolshevik government to rule an unstable Russia. Why? Reilly's analysis was obviously faulty (with the wisdom of hindsight), but it also reflects the thinking of many visionary adventurers---I.e. To believe as true what they want to so believe. It was an astonishing miscalculation by someone who rarely if ever made such a mistake.
Meanwhile, intrigue abounds! Reilly's best friend Savinkov is lured by The Trust back to Russia, Reilly attempts to enlist industrialist Henry Ford into becoming a major financial supporter of Bolshevik counterinsurgency, and in the midst of all this he meets and is smitten by an alluring woman who becomes his third wife!
Reilly's many years away from Russia seem to have taken the edge off his well-crafted spying instincts. In any event, the stage is being set for the climax of this intelligent and absorbing series.