! 17!
needed!to!be!brought!to!an!end.!!In!1918,!British,!American,!and!French!servicemen!found!
themselves!re1assigned!to!a!new!front.!!They!were!to!take!part!in!the!on1going!struggle!
between!the!Red!Army!and!the!myriad!of!political!forces!that!opposed!them.!!
The!British!took!the!lead!in!covert!operations!to!bring!down!the!fledgling!Bolshevik!
government.!!The!infamous!Lockhart!conspiracy!of!1918!centered!on!Robert!Bruce!
Lockhart,!the!chief!of!the!British!diplomatic!mission!to!Russia.!!With!the!aid!of!British!spy!
Sidney!Reilly!(born!Georgi!Rosenblum,!to!a!Ukrainian!Jewish!family)!and!American!agent!
Xenophon!Kalamatiano,!the!agents!established!informant!networks!under!Colonel!Fride!to!
collect!intelligence!and!plot!a!restoration!of!the!Romanov!dynasty.!!!
The!Bolsheviks!had!monitored!Lockhart’s!transmissions!for!months,!but!they!did!
not!move!to!roll!up!the!conspiracy!until!domestic!assassins!killed!the!chief!of!the!Petrograd!
Cheka!and!nearly!took!Lenin’s!life!as!well.!!Lockhart,!Reilly,!and!Kalamatiano!managed!to!
flee,!but!were!sentenced!to!death!in!absentia.15!!The!Bolsheviks!later!made!good!on!this!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and!it!only!followed!that!the!new!Russian!government!would!support!these!groups!in!a!
“Germano1Bolshevik”!anti1colonialist!alliance.!See:!Daniel!Brueckenhaus,!“Every!stranger!
must!be!suspected.”!Trust!Relationships!and!the!surveillance!of!Anti1Colonialists!in!Early!
Twentieth1Century!Western!Europe,”!Geschichte0und0Gesellschaft,036,!Jahrg.,!H.!4!(Oktober!–!
Dezember!2010),!5231566;!Daniel!Brueckenhaus,!“The!Transnational!Surveillance!of!Anti1
Colonialist!Movements!in!Western!Europe,!1905—1945,”!Yale!University,!ProQuest,!UMI!
Dissertations!Publishing,!2011.!
15!A!full!account!of!the!affair,!including!the!Cheka’s!manipulation!of!the!entire!network!can!
be!found!in:!John!Costello!and!Oleg!Tsarev,!Deadly0Illusions!(New!York:!Crown,!1993);!Also!
see:!Richard!K.!Debo,!“Lockhart!Plot!of!Dzerzhinskii!Plot?”!The0Journal0of0Modern0History,0
Vol.!43,!No.!3,!September!1971,!4131439;!John!W.!Long,!“Searching!for!Sidney!Reilly:!The!
Lockhart!Plot!in!Revolutionary!Russia,!1918”!EuropeFAsia0Studies,!Vol.!47,!No.!7,!November!
1995,!122511241.!!The!plot!was!part!of!a!larger!effort!by!the!British!and!Americans,!fighting!
against!leftist!radicalism!on!their!own!shores,!to!throttle!the!center!of!world!communism!in!
its!infancy.!See:!David!S.!Foglesong,!America’s0Secret0War0Against0Bolshevism:0U.S.0
Intervention0in0the0Russian0Civil0War,01917F1920!(Raleigh:!University!of!North!Carolina!
Press,!2001).!