Contents
Guide
Cover Illustrations
Front: Ivor Montagu at the time of his wedding, 1927, photograph by Sasha. (Getty Images/Hulton Archive)
Back:Left: With George Bernard Shaw in Melodie der Welt, 1929 (frame): Montagu seated on a handy pile of bricks, concealing the fact that my old grey flannel trousers had a big hole in the seat through which my shirt projected. (Private collection)
Centre: Montagus Daily Worker press pass, 1939: when the Soviet Union invaded Finland the paper asked him to go to Russia as a war correspondent, but he was refused an exit permit. (By permission of the Labour History Archive, Manchester)
Right: Montagu in a lighter moment: he had a warm and certainly idiosyncratic charisma. (By permission of the Peoples History Museum)
First published 2018
The History Press
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www.thehistorypress.co.uk
Russell Campbell, 2018
The right of Russell Campbell to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.
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ISBN 978 0 7509 8844 5
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Codename Intelligentsia required a great deal of research. I am first of all deeply indebted to the archivists who eased my way and made much of the work a joy. I would like to thank especially Darren Treadwell at the Labour History Archive, Jonny Davies of BFI Special Collections, and Kathleen Dickson and Steve Tollervey at the BFI National Archive. I would also like to acknowledge the help of Anja Gbel at the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek. Susan Halpert at Harvard Universitys Houghton Library was of great assistance, as were the interloan staff at the Victoria University of Wellington Library.
With respect to film history, Charles Barr has been a constant source of suggestions and information. Others who have generously contributed their knowledge are Jo Botting, Bert Hogenkamp, Richard Taylor, David Bordwell, Terence Dobson, John Sedgwick, Hiroshi Komatsu and Paul Hammond.
In the fields of political and intelligence history I am most grateful for the advice and collaboration of David Burke, Emily Lygo, Timothy Shenk, Bill Logan and Barry Pateman.
For help with translation I would like to warmly thank Galya Brockie, Steve Marder, Jeremy Macey, Gerd Pohlmann and Bert Hogenkamp.
For his knowledge of the cinema, assistance with illustrations, and expert advice regarding publication I am particularly grateful to Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light.
I am highly appreciative of the commitment of Mark Beynon at The History Press, who enthusiastically took on a project at which many other publishers had baulked.
Finally, for their hospitality and ongoing support and encouragement, I am very grateful to Win Campbell (who put me up in London), Bob Tristram (who dutifully read the manuscript chapter by chapter as it emerged), Andrea Bosshard, Gerd Pohlmann, Svenda Strm, Rachel Juniot, and my daughter Camille Wrightson.
Russell Campbell
Wellington, September 2017
GLOSSARY
AP | Associate Producer |
BBFC | British Board of Film Censors |
BSP | British Socialist Party |
BUF | British Union of Fascists |
CC | Central Committee (CPGB) |
CI | Communist International |
CNT | Confederacin Nacional del Trabajo, Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions |
Comintern | Communist International |
CP or CPGB | Communist Party of Great Britain |
CPSU | Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
CPUSA | Communist Party of the United States of America |
ECCI | Executive Committee of the Communist International |
FBO | Film Booking Offices |
FSU | Friends of the Soviet Union |
FWFS | Federation of Workers Film Societies |
G-B | Gaumont-British Picture Corporation |
GPU | Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie (State Political Directorate), Russian/Soviet security intelligence service and secret police, 192223 |
GRU | Glavnoye razvedyvatelnoye upravleniye (Main Intelligence Directorate), Soviet military intelligence agency |
IAH | Internationale Arbeiterhilfe, International Workers Aid or Workers International Relief |
ILD | International Labour Defence |
ILP | Independent Labour Party |
KPD | Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany) |
LBC | Left Book Club |
LCC | London County Council |
LP | Labour Party |
LWFS | London Workers Film Society |
MI5 | Military Intelligence, Section 5, common name for the UK Security Service |
MI6 | Military Intelligence, Section 6, common name for the UK Secret Intelligence Service |
NCLC | National Council of Labour Colleges |
NMM | National Minority Movement |
OGPU | Obyedinyonnoye gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye (All-Union State Political Directorate), Soviet security intelligence service and secret police, 192334 |
OMS | Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies |
NKVD | Narodnyy komissariat vnutrennikh del (Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs), Soviet law enforcement agency incorporating security intelligence service and secret police, 193443 |
NUSW | National Union of Scientific Workers |
PCF | Parti communiste franais (French Communist Party) |
PFI | Progressive Film Institute |
SA |