'A Bolshevist Agent of Some Importance': Aleksandr Zuzenko's Autobiographical Notes and British Government Records

Abstract

Aleksandr Zuzenko (1884-1938), a sailor and revolutionary who lived in Australia from 1911 until his deportation to Russia in April 1919, made a return visit in 1922 as an agent of the Communist International. He was again deported and spent the rest of his career, until his death in the purges, as a Soviet sea captain. Late in his life he wrote an account of his work for the Comintern in 1920-23. This article examines that unpublished account in the light of British Home Office files. Other sources, notably the Comintern archive and the records of the Australian government, are also considered. Show more