Comrade Valentine: The True Story of Azef the Spy-The Most Dangerous Man in Russia at the Time of the Last Czars

by Richard E. Rubenstein

This book makes Azef comprehensible both as a political figure & as a human being. The author has created a singularly compelling & evocative portrait of a man, a way of thinking, & an endlessly fascinating place & time. To friends & followers, Azef was a powerful, steadfast, & impenetrable. They speak of his quiet authority, his master of detail, his patience, determination, & concern for their welfare. But others declare him a repulsive personality. Their Azef is a cold & menacing figure feared for his cruel tongue & distrusted for his inscrutability -- a man in whom some essential human characteristic seemed always to be missing.

Genres: History

316 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Richard E. Rubenstein is an author and University Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at George Mason University, holding degrees from Harvard College, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School.

Reviews

[Eric Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixty years after Boris Nicolaevsky wrote his account of the notorious Ievno Azef — the most infamous police agent to ever infiltrate a revolutionary organisation — Richard E. Rubenstein took a crack at the same subject. His book, published 30 years ago, is very readable and well-researched. It’s probably a better introduction to the Azef case than Nicolaevsky’s. Interestingly, Rubenstein says he learned more about what might have motivated Azef to betray his comrades from John LeCarre’s fiction than from other sources. To me, the Azef case — like those of Roman Malinovsky and Josef Stalin — is endlessly intriguing, and teaches us much about how underground revolutionary parties functioned in tsarist times, and how they were manipulated by the Okhrana, the tsarist police.