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Craig Graham McKay

A glimpse of Borodin...In: Cahiers du monde russe et sovitique. Vol. 27 N1. Janvier-Mars 1986. pp. 107-110.

Rsum

Craig Graham McKay, Un aperu de Borodin...

M.N. Roy a bross un portrait amusant de l'arrive du camarade Borodin au Mexique en 1919. Mais que faisait Borodin avant sa

mission dans le Nouveau Monde avec les bijoux de la Couronne ? En se fondant sur des rapports de la police Scandinave,

l'auteur fournit une pice du puzzle et jette en mme temps quelque lumire sur les activits des bolcheviks en matire de

propagande.

Abstract

Craig Graham McKay, A glimpse of Borodin...

M.N. Roy has given an amusing portrait of Comrade Borodin's arrival in Mexico in 1919. But what was Borodin doing prior to his

mission to the New World with the Crown Jewels? On the basis of Scandinavian police reports, the author supplies a piece of the

puzzle and at the same time throws some light on the propaganda activities of the Bolsheviks.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

McKay Craig Graham. A glimpse of Borodin.. In: Cahiers du monde russe et sovitique. Vol. 27 N1. Janvier-Mars 1986. pp.

107-110.

doi : 10.3406/cmr.1986.2068

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1986_num_27_1_2068

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CRAIG GRAHAM McKAY

A GLIMPSE OF BORODIN.

After the Armistice, the American Minister in Stockholm, Mr.Ira Morris, took a short break in the mountains near Oslo orKristiania as it was then called. One day he received a card froma certain Herr Grusenberg asking for an interview. According to amilitary colleague of Morris, this would be most imprudent. Grusenberg as a notorious Bolshevik agent who had been ordered to leaveNorway the next day and was not at all the sort of person whoshould be granted an audience with an ambassador of the UnitedStates. Nonetheless Morris decided to see him. Grusenberg turnedout to be a "haggard, worried man" with a very human request.Apparently he had a wife an child in Chicago whom he was anxiousto reassure. He asked Morris if he would send a message to them onhis behalf, telling them that he had been expelled from Norway andwould be returning to Russia but that he was safe and well. If theambassador would do this, Grusenberg solemnly promised to pay backthe favour some day, if it were ever in his power to do so. Thisoffer, hardly surprisingly, cut no ice with the ambassador butnevertheless he complied with the request. In due course, a replycame back from the lady in Chicago which Morris dutifully forwardedto his new found friend.Yet life is nothing if not full of surprises. Later, Morriswas to learn that Consul R.S. Treadwell had been arrested by theSoviet authorities and that every effort to have him released fromjail had failed. More or less clutching at any straw, Morris gotin touch with Grusenberg and reminded him of his promise. To hisastonishment and delight, the consul appeared in Stockholm shortlyafterwards. (1)The hero of this tale is of course Mikhail Markovich Grusenberg, better known to posterity as Borodin. But what had he beenup to in Norway in those days after the Armistice ?On Saturday the 23rd of November 1918, the police in Kristiania received a call from the railway customs office, informingthem that a Russian courier with a passport from the SovietGovernment would be arriving with the train from Stockholm. (2) Twodetectives - Skullerud and Brun - were promptly sent down to therailway station to inspect the new arrival as he passed throughcustoms control with his 73 kg of baggage, safe under diplomaticseal. Once through, he was followed and his shadows were able toCahiers du Monde russe et sovitique, XXV II (i), janv.-mars i86. pp. 107-110.

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108 CRAIG GRAHAM McKAYreport that he had checked in at the Park Hotel. The matter was nowtaken up with the head of Kristiania's Detective Bureau whohappened at that moment to be visiting the Ministry of Justice.It was decided that the courier was to be treated as a privateindividual. The Norwegians were no strangers to the idea of takinga tough line with strange couriers, even non-Bolshevik ones. In amuch publicized case in 1917, the baggage of one Walter von Gerich( alias Baron von Rautenfels ) a courier in the service of KaiserWilhelm, had been opened to disclose a small arsenal of explosivedevices.Up in room 19 in the Park Hotel, the guest was now surprisedby a visit from Kristiania's police force. Inside, apart from thecourier, was another Russian - a cobbler called Trzebinski - saidto be a leading light in a Russian revolutionary organization inthe town. The police addressed themselves to the courier. Had he,they enquired, baggage for the Norwegian Ministry of ForeignAffairs or for any of the foreign diplomatic missions in thecapital ? The courier admitted that he had not. The goods in hisbags were intended for a Russian called Grusenberg whom he was tomeet at Folkets Hus.The police now demanded that the sealed baggage be opened forinspection. After some protest, the courier agreed and the twosuitcases and the large packet wrapped in grey paper were openedto reveal a great quantity of revolutionary literature. Convenientlyor the historian, the police recorded the titles, along withthe approximate number of copies of each:1. Vom Sturze des Zarismus bis zum Sturze der Bourgeoisie: 8.

2. Das Angebot eines Schutz-und Trutzbiindnisses an die deuts-chen Arbeiter und Soldaten: 13 .3. Das Program der Kommunistern (Bolschewiki) : 7.4. Zittert ihr Bluthunde und Volksmrder: 15.5. Der Zusammenbruch des Imperialismus und die Aufgaben derinternationalen Arbeiterklasse: 30.6. Manifest des Kriegs-Revolutionsrates der deutschen Ostarmee:14.7. Verfassung der Russischen Socialistischen Fderativen Rte-Republik: 3.8. Der Januarauf stand der sterreichischen Arbeiterschaf t undder Verrat der socialpatriotischen Fiihrer: 19 .9. Was wollen die Kommunisten ?: 4.10 . Note du Gouvernement des Soviets au prsident Wilson: 150.11 . The truth about the Allied Intervention in Russia: 800.12 . Lessons of the Revolution: 300.13 . What is a peace program ?: 400.14 . Decrees, orders and proclamations of the Provisional Workmen's and Peasants' Government of the Russian Republic:1200.15 . Decrees issued by the Revolutionary People's Government:120 .About half of the pamphlets of n 11 had been bound togetherseparately and were intended for delivery to comrade Wijnkoop in

Amsterdam.The courier was now invited to accompany the officers to thepolice station with his collection of literature. At the same time,

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A GLIMPSE OF BORODIN 109Trzebinski was questioned and his premises searched. Here too,there were one or tw o revolutionary pamphlets which the cobblermaintained he had got from Grusenberg.At the police station, the particulars of the courier werenoted down. It turned out that this was not his first trip toNorway. He had come this way once before en route for England. Hisname - so he claimed - was Arvid Vetrek ( diplomatic passport datedMoscow 30.10.1918 and signed by L.Karachan ) and he had been bornon the 1st of November 1896 near Riga. To trade, he was an instrumentmaker and had been employed as such in Moscow until the 1stof August. During the war, he had been in America. On the 14th ofNovember, he had travelled from Petrograd to Stockholm withdiplomatic post for Vorovskii. What had been inside these bags,Vetrek did not know. He had also received instructions to continueto Kristiania with the material for Grusenberg.Some further Light on the Letter's activities was shed whenthe police quizzed a Norwegian who had been employed as an assistant to Grusenberg. The original scheme had been for Grusenberg toset up a Press Bureau in Kristiania. The Norwegian had been giventhe task of translating material in the Nordic languages intoEnglish, which was then translated into Russian by Grusenberg.However this scheme had become superfluous, once the Rosta Bureauhad begun its work.As for Ira Morris, he was to have further dealings withGrusenberg in 1919 after the latter1 s return to Russia. (3) On Marchthe 4th, he received a letter from Grusenberg, now in Moscow,suggesting a deal: if the Americans would permit ProfessorLomonosov and his associates to return to the Soviet Union fromAmerica and if certain "Soviet co-workers" under arrest inVladivostok were released, an American citizen called Kalmatianowould be set free.However this time, things failed to run smoothly. Although,according to Morris, Grusenberg had presented Lincoln Steffens witha memorandum in which it was stated that Chicherin guaranteed therelease of Kalmatiano as soon as Lomonosov was given safe conduct,when Lomonosov eventually arrived in Stockholm, the SovietGovernment refused to release the American. A telegram was receivedfrom Litvinov repudiating the claim that any offer had been madeby Chicherin or anyone else. As for Grusenberg, the SovietGovernment knew nothing of his whereabouts and as far as they wereconcerned, he had no official connections and had absolutely noauthority to negotiate on their behalf.And where indeed was the ubiquitous agent ? Most probably enroute for the New World, entrusted with the delicate mission ofdisposing of some of the Romanov jewels. M.N. Roy has left us witha memorable picture of that particular escapade and of how Borodinarrived more or Less penniless in Mexico City after a number ofreverses and minus the Crown jewels into the bargain. (4)Yet there is a certain happy symmetry between the beginningand the end of our story. Mr. Brantwein ( as Borodin called himselfin Mexico ) had a simple request to make of his Indian host: heneeded to get in touch with Mrs. Grusenberg and family in Chicagoto reassure them that all was well.As Comrade Roy noted: "Even Bolsheviks sometimes fell for