JimC
Well-Known Member
Ransome in Russia
I have Ransome's autobiography, published in 1976. He makes no mention of spying, but then he wouldn't would he. As an Englishman resident in Russia with a good command of the language and access to prominent people in the revolution, I think it very likely that people would have wanted to use him in this way; but I suspect that any spying he did would have been of a peripheral nature, undertaken without conviction, and of limited value. As for his personal politics, at one point he says "I did not care in the least about Lefts and Rights".
What originally took Ransome to Russia was in interest in their folklore and cultural history, "Mother Russia" rather than politics. He translated some of their folk tales and fairy stories and authored an anthology of them: "Old Peter's Russian Tales" which is still in print nearly a century later. He became a newspaper correspondent and the knowledge he gained of the various political groups within Russia and their manoeuvres was of interest to figures within the British government. His view that the Russian revolution was a development that ought to be welcomed by the allies made him very unpopular in some circles.
The suggestion that Nancy Blackett was modelled on Lenin is laughable.
I have Ransome's autobiography, published in 1976. He makes no mention of spying, but then he wouldn't would he. As an Englishman resident in Russia with a good command of the language and access to prominent people in the revolution, I think it very likely that people would have wanted to use him in this way; but I suspect that any spying he did would have been of a peripheral nature, undertaken without conviction, and of limited value. As for his personal politics, at one point he says "I did not care in the least about Lefts and Rights".
What originally took Ransome to Russia was in interest in their folklore and cultural history, "Mother Russia" rather than politics. He translated some of their folk tales and fairy stories and authored an anthology of them: "Old Peter's Russian Tales" which is still in print nearly a century later. He became a newspaper correspondent and the knowledge he gained of the various political groups within Russia and their manoeuvres was of interest to figures within the British government. His view that the Russian revolution was a development that ought to be welcomed by the allies made him very unpopular in some circles.
The suggestion that Nancy Blackett was modelled on Lenin is laughable.
