…A man of acute
discernment, thoroughly devoid of moral scruples, Krasin knew exactly what
Lenin wanted, and was ready to oblige. It was he who suggested Mikoyan to Lenin
for Lenin’s special assignment. Soviet Russia needed more men like this clever
young Armenian. Lenin, of course, had many wonderful friends in the Caucasus.
But, alas, after the Bolshevik takeover in Russia, most of them had egregiously
outlived their usefulness.
Following Lenin’s lead,
many revolutionary leaders in Transcaucasia had declared themselves Bolsheviks.
They staunchly strove to make popular Lenin’s unpopular blusterings about the necessity
of Russia’s defeat in World War I, in order to precipitate the collapse of the
old czarist administration.
On the thin surface of
things, these Transcaucasian Bolshevik nationalists appeared to have the same
agenda as Lenin. It was true in several respects, particularly, in so far as
the disintegration of the Russian Empire was concerned. In their specific
agendas, however, such disintegration meant setting the Caucasus free from the
Russian domination, allowing themselves to go their parallel, but separate ways
with Soviet Russia. As the leaders of their respective independent nations, they
would be looking forward to a close cooperation with their Comrade Lenin, and together,
democratically (one voice=one vote), decide the future of the rest of the
world.
As long as they had been
fighting czarism together, things had been going fairly well. But in the wake
of the Revolution, Lenin did not want to find himself soon in a situation,
where some provincial Bolshevik despot, like, say, Comrade Shaumyan, would be
telling Lenin how he, the leader of the world’s proletariat, ought to be
conducting his business. The time had definitely come to change the Bolshevik
guard in Transcaucasia: from the nationalistic independents, like
Shaumyan, to the unquestioning loyalists.
It had to be done
quickly. The year was 1918. There were currently British occupation troops in
control of Transcaucasia. They were supporting the local Moslem separatists
calling themselves Mussavat. Because of the religious animosity, the
Christian population was ready to rally behind the Bolsheviks, and to help them
to achieve victory. When that should happen, the Bolsheviks who would be
assuming power must be of the right kind: not those who wanted to secede, but
those who did not mind to be reattached back to Russia, and even better,
welcomed it with all their internationalist heart.
That was why Lenin needed
Mikoyan now. With a man known for so many shady deals, Lenin did not
have to mince words. Another shady deal would not make much difference except
that this time it would be done for a good cause.
Lenin’s unpublicized 1918
meeting with Mikoyan, was arranged by the prodigiously resourceful Comrade
Krasin, who managed to bring Mikoyan to Moscow and whisk him back to Baku without
a hassle and, even more importantly, with very little notice.
Comrade Mikoyan’s mission
was simple. His Bolshevik Comrades (they were all, including Mikoyan, part of
the Baku Soviet Commune, which actually counted a number of
non-Bolsheviks among them) had gone underground, apparently planning to
escape Transcaucasia for now, to come back victorious. He must find a way to
tip off the British authorities, as to what underground exactly meant.
Names, locations, etc. Then the British would pull their rabbits out by their
ears: Bang! Bang! Whack! Smack!... Naturally, dear Comrades would forever be
inscribed in the “Red Book of Soviet Communist Martyrs,” a much-much
better way to go than to be shot as traitors by their Russian Bolshevik
Comrades...
(This is the end of Part
II. Part III will be posted tomorrow.)
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