The Sealed Train

The sealed train gets mentioned from time to time without much comment. It got to the Finland Station in Saint Petersburg carrying Lenin who got a tumultuous reception in 1917. It was a high risk operation that paid off for the Bolsheviks and the German Emperor. It also led to the murder of millions by Bolshevik fanatics. It is worth knowing about which is why Michael Pearson wrote a readable account, now on line at The Sealed Train

Jon Halpenny tells us that idea of using Comrade Lenin to attack Russia from the inside came from a Jew:-

He commented @ The Bolshevik Revolution And Its Aftermath
QUOTE
July 23, 2018 at 7:23 am GMT • 5.0 years ago   ↑
One important historical figure who is unknown in the west is Alexander Parvus, aka Israel Helphand. He was the man who persuaded the German Generals to send Lenin to Russia in the sealed train. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Parvus#Russian_Revolution
UNQUOTE
See also Chapter 14 - During 1917 for mention of mention is made of “two famous trains that crossed hostile Germany without hindrance and brought to Russia nearly 200 prominent individuals, 30 in Lenin's and 160 in the train of Natanson and Martov [ both Jews ], with Jews comprising an absolute majority. …They represented almost all Jewish parties, and virtually all of them would play a substantial role in the future events in Russia”.

It happened between the February Revolution of 1917 which happened when the professional subversives were absent and the  October Revolution when they were there. The second,  caused by those professionals was in fact a coup d'etat, a take over of a fledgling democracy which might have made Russia a better place rather than the force for evil that it became. Importing Lenin the chief trouble maker was deadly effective and carried out with the approval of Kaiser Wilhelm The point was to break the Russian army's effectiveness on the Eastern Front so that the German army could break though in the west. Karl Radek [ Tobiach(?) Sobelsohn ], a Jew and nasty bit of work was there. He claims there were 40 bodies. The idea came from Alexander Parvus another Jew, another cunning very influential rogue. The Metapedia has a summary at Sealed Train.

Chapter 1
Setting the scene:
Lenin was living in Zürich with his wife when the revolution happened. He had worked for it most of his life which is why he was in exile. He didn't believe the news when it arrived. It was something spontaneous. Real people did it; honest people, not politicians, subversives or mercenaries.

 

Chapter 2
Exile:
Lenin was exiled internally so it was easier for him to operate from foreign parts. His weapon was Iskra [ Russian for the spark that lit the flame of revolution - Editor ], a subversive magazine which was smuggled into Russia by fellow travellers.
QUOTE
At first, Lenin too had been a Narodnik until, like many other young radicals, he began to read Karl Marx.  Marx theorized that capitalism—a stage that all industrial nations, including back­ward Russia, must go through—would inevitably disintegrate because it carried within it the forces of its own destruction.  Socialism would then emerge through power being grasped, not by the peasants, but by the proletariat, the workers, the fast growing numbers of men and women who were exploited by capital.

Social Democracy, based on Marxism, had little use for terror since its whole theory was rooted in social development.  Force in the form of an uprising might have to be employed at a final stage of the revolution—when a lingering power might still be held by the old order—but the conditions, the setting, must already have matured.  Education of the masses, not assassina­tion of the Tsars, was the keynote of its philosophy—as it was, of course, of Iskra.

Lenin had only known Martov a few weeks before his arrest—they had met in Petersburg to discuss a merger of their two very small groups—but he had warmed to him immediately, which was strange, for they were very different types of men.
UNQUOTE

Chapter 3
Arrange for train
Get on train
Into Germany
Berlin & the big idea
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Afterword

 

The Sealed Train
Michael Pearson The Sealed Train Lenin Leninism German High-Command ... The sealed train. New York: Putnam, [1975] ISBN 0399112626 "

 

The Sealed Train As  Reported By The New York Times
Karl Radek explains all. This is a real time source so to speak. It helps confirm that it is all for real or that Karl had an agenda.

 

Lenin And The Sealed Train - ex Wiki
QUOTE
After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Lenin realized that he must return to Russia as soon as possible, but this was problematic because he was isolated in neutral Switzerland as the First World War raged throughout neighbouring states. The Swiss communist Fritz Platten nonetheless managed to negotiate with the German government for Lenin and his company to travel through Germany by rail, on the so-called "sealed train". The German government clearly hoped Lenin's return would create political unrest in Russia, which would help to end the war on the Eastern front, allowing Germany to concentrate on defeating the Western allies. Once through Germany, Lenin continued by ferry to Sweden; the remainder of the journey through Scandinavia was subsequently arranged by Swedish communists Otto Grimlund and Ture Nerman.
UNQUOTE
It is in the Wiki so it must be true??? Mustn't it? Maybe.

Errors & omissions, broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis, malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever; if you find any I am open to comment.
 
Email me at Mike Emery. All financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep it private, use my PGP Key.  Home Page

Updated on 15/06/2023 11:50