Catalogue description Russian Files

These documents deal with events in the Soviet Union in the years immediately following the revolution.They are divided into two volumes.

Volume 1

i)The Kerensky Reports 1920

ii)Reports from the Russian regions in the Civil War 1919-20.

iii)Articles by B.F.Sokoloff on post-revolution Russia.

iv)Speeches by M.P.Tomski at the XIVth Party Congress of the Russian Communist Party 1925.

v)Isvestia and Nasha reports of the XIVth Party Congress of the Russian Communist Party 1925.

Volume 2

Trial of members of the Social Revolutionary Party in Moscow. Correspondence, printed material and verbatim reports.

The first two files probably belong to a reference in the index of the Labour Party Advisory Committee on International Questions as "Russian Documents left by A.Kerensky".According to this there are no duplicates and in 1924 they were handed to Christine Howie,secretary to William Gillies, Labour Party International Secretary from 1920 to 1944. Alexander Kerensky (1881-1970)was,of course,the Premier of Russia during the Provisional Government of 1917.I am not certain if the reports from the Russian regions come from this same Kerensky file.They do display the same attitude to the events in the Civil War.

The third file contains articles by B.F.Sokoloff,a member of the Social Revolutionary Party and a delegate to the Russian Constituent Assembly in 1921.According to the index they were brought in by Dr.Sokoloff in November 1920 and handed to Christine Howie in 1924.As with the Kerensky file,there are no duplicates extant.

The fourth and fifth files contain translations of speeches by M.P.Tomski (1880-1936),the President of the Russian Trades Unions,addressing the XIVth Congress of the Russian Communist Party in 1925,Tomski had headed a Russian delegation to the Trades Union Congress in Hull in 1924.This might have stimulated interest in what they had to say afterwards.They were sent by Walter Citrine to Gillies in 1926.

The sixth file is allied to the previous two with reports of the same congress in Isvestia and Nasha,the Russian Trades Unionist paper.

Volume 2 of the Russian Files concerns the trial of members of the Social Revolutionary Party in Russia in 1922 and the action taken on their behalf. It consists of correspondence relating to the trial,printed material of the Social Revolutionary Party and a verbatim report of the trial.

File 1 Reports by A.F.Kerensky 1920 LP/ID/RUS/KER/1-2

File 2 Reports from the regions during the Russian Civil War LP/ID/RUS/RCW/1-29

File 3 D.Sokoloff's Documents on post-revolution Russia LP/ID/RUS/SOK/1-12

File 4 Translations of P.Tomski's speeches at XIVth Party Congress LP/ID/RUS/TOM/1-5

File 5 Originals of Tomski's speeches at XIVth Party Congress as reprted in Pravda, with translations LP/ID/RUS/TOM/1-12

File 6 Isvestia Reports of XIVth Party Congress LP/ID/RUS/14C/1-5