Britain Confronts the Stalin Revolution: Anglo-Soviet Relations and the Metro-Vickers Crisis

225 Pages·1995·15.71 MB·English

by  Gordon W. Morrell

ritain Confronts the
Relations and the
Stalin Revolution;
Anglo-Soviet
Relations and the
Metro-Vickers
Crisis
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ritain Confronts the
B
Stalin Revolution;
Anglo-Soviet
Relations and the
Metro-Vickers
Crisis
Gordon W. Morrell
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
PWLLJQ
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Morrell, Gordon W., 1958-
Britain confronts the Stalin revolution: Anglo-
Soviet relations and the Metro-Vickers crisis
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88920-250-8
1. Electric power-plants - Soviet Union.
2. Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co. 3. Trials
(Sabotage) - Soviet Union. 4. Great Britain -
Relations - Soviet Union. 5. Soviet Union -
Relations - Great Britain. I. Title.
DK266.3.M67 1995 947.084 C94-932344-6
Copyright © 1995
WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L3C5
Cover design: Jose Martucci, Design Communications
Cover illustrations, clockwise: Anna Kutuzova; Soviet and British accused in
the dock; Andrei Vyshinskii, the Public Prosecutor. Photos supplied by the
owners of the Strang Papers, the Master and Fellows of Churchill College
Cambridge, and reproduced courtesy of SOVFOTO/EASTFOTO.
Printed in Canada
Britain Confronts the Stalin Revolution: Anglo-Soviet Relations and the Metro-
Vickers Crisis has been produced from a manuscript supplied in electronic
form by the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon
may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic,
or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any
request for photocopying, recording, taping, or reproducing in information
storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writ-
ing to the Canadian Reprography Collective, 214 King Street West, Suite 312,
Toronto, Ontario M5H 3S6.
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Perspectives and Sources 1
1 Building Lenin's Dream: The MVEEC and
Soviet Electrification, 1922-27 13
2 The MVEEC and the Stalin Revolution, 1927-33 29
3 The Politics of Crisis Diplomacy 47
4 In the Bowels of the Lubianka 97
5 The Metro-Vickers Show Trial 113
6 Crisis Contained 153
7 Conclusions 177
Appendices 181
Bibliography 189
Index 199
v
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Illustrations
Following page 125. All photos supplied by the owners of the Strang
Papers, the Master and Fellows of Churchill College Cambridge, and
reproduced courtesy of SOVFOTO/EASTFOTO.
1 Five of the six accused Metro-Vickers engineers, 1-r: Thornton,
Nordwall, Monkhouse, Gregory, Cushny.
2 V.V. Ulrich: the presiding Judge.
3 Anna Kutuzova, Secretary at Metro-Vickers and co-accused.
4 Thornton in the dock.
5 The Public Prosecutor: Andrei Vyshinskii.
6 Allan Monkhouse giving testimony.
7 Assistant Prosecutor G.K. Roginskii.
8 Kaganovich and Josef Stalin.
9 MacDonald and Thornton.
10 All of the accused, both Soviet and British, in the dock at the
Metro-Vickers trial.
vn
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Acknowledgements
I have incurred a host of professional and personal debts in the re-
search and writing of this study and would like to acknowledge them
here. My mentors at Michigan State University, especially Donald
Lammers and Lewis Siegelbaum, have continued to offer advice and
support over the course of my project and I count myself fortunate to
have had their guidance to draw upon. I would also like to thank my
other friends and colleagues at Michigan State University, Denison
University, the University of Waterloo, and the University of British
Columbia for their support and friendship over the past few years as I
made my way from one teaching assignment to another.
The archivists and staff at the Public Record Office in Kew, Cam-
bridge University Library, Birmingham University Library, Churchill
College Archives, the Arts Faculty Library at the University of Water-
loo, and the Michigan State University Library have all facilitated my
research in many varied and important respects.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the So-
cial Science Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
My editor at Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Maura Brown, and
the Press's Director, Sandra Woolfrey, have been encouraging through-
out the process which has been a most enjoyable experience for me.
Finally, I would like to thank publicly my family and, most impor-
tantly, my wife, Kathy, who has provided me with the love and friend-
ship necessary to see this project and our many other challenges
through. This book is dedicated to her.
IX