Codename Intelligentsia: The Life and Times of the Honourable Ivor Montagu, Filmmaker, Communist, Spy

by Russell Campbell

He was the son of a hereditary peer, one of the wealthiest men in Britain. His childhood was privileged; at Cambridge he flourished. At the age of 21 he founded The Film Society, and became a pioneering standard-bearer for film as art. He was a collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock, rescuing The Lodger and later producing his groundbreaking British thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Secret Agent and Sabotage. He directed comedies from stories by H.G. Wells, worked in Hollywood with Eisenstein, and made documentaries in Spain during the Civil War. He lobbied for Trotsky to be granted asylum in the UK, and became a leading propagandist for the anti-fascist and Communist cause. Under the nose of MI5, who kept him under constant surveillance, he became a secret agent of the Comintern and a Soviet spy. A man of high intelligence and moral concern, he was blind to the atrocities of the Stalin regime. This is the remarkable story of Ivor Montagu, and of the burgeoning cinematic culture and left-wing politics of Britain between the wars. It is a story of restless energy and generosity of spirit; of creative achievement and intellectual corruption.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2018

About the author

Raised in the Highlands of Scotland, Russell Campbell has been a university business school lecturer for more than twenty years, including a seven-year spell running a Master’s degree in International Marketing delivered in Scotland and in Athens. He has written for both of Scotland’s leading quality newspapers, The Herald and The Scotsman, and has also contributed to the (Glasgow) Evening Times. Russell has also been a part-time joke writer for the greeting card industry, and a cartoonist, including work for Hallmark USA and contributions to leading newspapers and business publications.
His first novel, Mover and Shirkers, is about insider trading. It was inspired by the notion of ‘greed versus fear’, which of course dominates stock markets in general, but which can also drive individual motivations towards cheating when information is limited. How many of us would use inside information if we felt we wouldn’t be caught? The title of the novel came from a business-themed cartoon strip Russell produced previously for The Herald newspaper, as it neatly summed up the characters in the book and why they might behave as they did.
Russell is married with two children and lives in a small Scottish village where the inhabitants are no less exposed to the fear and greed we associate with the ‘City’...

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting book. Fascinating character who was heavily involved in both early British film and communism. Full of information about Eisenstein Trotsky and how the GB communists viewed Stalin. Even in the 1920s, the UK government was worried about Russian interference and influence. Is a history book rather than a biography so little speculation in his character but thoroughly researched. Montagu was an apologist for Stalin and never really seemed to take note of inconvenient facts that blemished Soviet ideology. Before he joined the CP he was much more critical but once he signed up he supported the regime and refused to consider that the show trials were just that. Exemplifies the intellectual danger of blind faith in a creed and the importance of keeping critical faculties ....very enjoyable.

[Neil Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. A pleasure also to be at the NZ booklaunch at Victoria University Wellington on 25 July

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enthralling. Extensively referenced. Expertly crafted. An academic but entertaining biography. Documents meticulously the journey of Ivor Montagu from critical, revolutionary, social reformer to party sycophant, slavishly toeing the Soviet Line, even in the face of the show trials and execution of many of his old friends during "the terror". The last few lines of the book sum it up: "It is a tale of corruption, but it is not his alone. Codename Intelligentsia is the melancholy story of the havoc wreaked by Soviet Communism on the progressive causes of the twentieth century, and the individuals who espoused them."