The Lockhart Plot: Love, Betrayal, Assassination and Counter-Revolution in Lenin's Russia

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Jonathan Schneer

The Lockhart Plot

Love, Betrayal, Assassination and Counter-Revolution in Lenin's Russia

Jonathan Schneer

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English

Oxford University Press
13 August 2020

History; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; First World War; Marxism & Communism; Espionage & secret services

During the spring and summer of 1918, with World War I still undecided, British, French and American agents in Russia developed a breathtakingly audacious plan.

Led by Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart, a dashing, cynical, urbane 30-year-old Scot, they conspired to overthrow Lenin's newly established Bolshevik regime, and to install one that would continue the war against Germany on the Eastern Front. Lockhart's confidante and chief support, with whom he engaged in a passionate love affair, was the mysterious, alluring Moura von Benkendorff, wife of a former aide-de-camp to the Tsar.

The plotters' chief opponent was 'Iron Felix' Dzerzhinsky. He led the Cheka, 'Sword and Shield' of the Russian Revolution and forerunner of the KGB. Dzerzhinsky loved humanity - in the abstract.

He believed socialism represented humanity's best hope.

To preserve and protect it he would unleash unbounded terror.

Revolutionary Russia provided the setting for the ensuing contest.

In the back streets of Petrograd and Moscow, in rough gypsy cabarets, in glittering nightclubs, in cells beneath the Cheka's Lubianka prison, the protagonists engaged in a deadly game of wits for the highest possible stakes - not merely life and death, but the outcome of a world war and the nature of Russia's post-war regime.

Confident of success, the conspirators set the date for an uprising, September 8, 1918, but the Cheka had penetrated their organization and pounced just beforehand. The Lockhart Plot was a turning point in world history, except it failed to turn. At a time when Russian meddling in British and American politics now sounds warning bells, however, we may sense its reverberations and realize that it is still relevant.

By: Jonathan Schneer
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 217mm, Width: 143mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 466g
ISBN: 9780198852988
ISBN 10: 0198852983
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 13 August 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction I: Lockhart before the Fall 1: The Making of Bruce Lockhart 2: The Education of Bruce Lockhart 3: The Temptations of Bruce Lockhart II: Defenders of the Faith 4: Iron Felix Dzerzhinsky 5: Tender Jacov Peters 6: The Cheka III: Towards the Fall 7: The 'Ace of Spies' 8: First Steps Towards the Counter-Revolution 9: The Question of Moura 10: Why Lockhart turned to the Latvians 10 11: Dzerzhinsky Counters 12: Intrigue and Romance in Revolutionary Russia 13: The Lockhart Plot Takes Shape IV: The Fall 14: The Lockhart Plot 15: The Defeat of the Lockhart Plot 16: Dénouement 17: Epilogue 18: Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Index

Jonathan Schneer was born in New York City. He earned his doctorate from Columbia University and has taught at Yale University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The recipient of numerous academic fellowships and awards, he has written seven previous books, one of which, The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of Arab-Israeli Conflict, (2010), won a National Jewish Book Award. His books and articles have been translated into German, French, Turkish and Chinese. Now an emeritus professor, he divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia and Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

Reviews for The Lockhart Plot: Love, Betrayal, Assassination and Counter-Revolution in Lenin's Russia

Bruce Lockhart, debonair British secret agent, and Felix Dzerzhinsky, ruthless mastermind of the Soviet security service, face off in a deadly duel of smoke and mirrors. At stake: the fate of the Russian Revolution itself. It's an incredible story and Jonathan Schneer tells it with wit, panache and a razor-sharp historical sensibility. A brilliant examination that finally uncovers the mysteries of the Lockhart Plot. * Marc Mulholland, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University and author of The Murderer of Warren Street *