On June 20, 1917, a British Secret Agent - though better
recognized as the outstanding writer, Somerset
Maugham - was assigned on a mission in Russia.
On
the personal order of Sir William Wiseman, Head of the British Secret
Intelligence Service, Maugham’s goal was to keep the Provisional Government in
power and encourage Russia’s further participation in WWI, primarily by
cracking down on the German pacifist propaganda.
According
to declassified data from August to November of 1917, Maugham appeared to be
practically the top resident agent in Russia. With an allowance of 21,000
English pounds, an immense sum of money at the time, Maugham was planted in
Russia as an American journalist, his true purpose kept secret even from the
British Ambassador to Russia.
One
of Maugham’s objectives was to secure the support of multiple Czech political
organizations, based in Russia and having close ties to British Intelligence.
Their total number was estimated at 70 thousand members. The Czech garrisons
were stationed in Russia on alert, if need be, to lend military support to
counter-revolutionary activity.
Maugham
was also expected to set up a wide intelligence and propaganda network in
Russia, to encourage unrest and extend Russia’s consumptive mission in WWI. The
network was comprised of groups of professionals trained to deliver speeches at
workers’ meetings in plants and factories, and to work up disturbances and
unsanctioned protests in the military and industrial sectors.
Maugham
placed emphasis on the importance of the visual media to better influence the
target audiences, but he admitted their futility when created by British or
American specialists, suggesting that Russian writers be attracted to write
texts. The total cost of these propaganda activities was worth an estimated
$500,000 a year.
On October 18, 1917, Maugham was summoned by Aleksandr Kerensky, the Prime Minister in the Provisional Government, with a request to appeal to London for additional help, namely extra armaments, food supplies, and the supportive tone of the English press. Kerensky’s Provisional Government was already suffocating from the looming Bolsheviks. However, by the time he got to the office of Britain’s Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Maugham learnt that Bolsheviks had already taken over the power. Ergo, his mission had failed.
The
job was probably always impossible, but Maugham subsequently claimed that, had
he been able to get there six months earlier, he might have succeeded.