144. These developments were reported by Diaz, the Spanish Communist party head, via Comintern channels to Kaganovich as symptomatic of Popular Front internal tension. Kudriashov, SSSR i grazhdanskaia voina v Ispanii, 44–5 (APRF, f. 3, op. 65, d. 221, l. 74), 45 (l. 78).
145. Khlevniuk et al., Stalin i Kaganovich, 666 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 94, l. 53–4). Precisely when Stalin ordered and approved contingency planning for Soviet military assistance to Spain remains uncertain. On Aug. 13, he had received Vladimir Gorev and Semyon Uritsky together for twenty minutes. Na prieme, 191. Around the time of the Sept. 6 telegram, Stalin was also exchanging instructions with Kaganovich about Soviet protests to the Norwegian government about Trotsky’s political activities.
146. Meshcheriakov, “SSSR i grazhdanskaia voina v Ispanii,” 85.
147. Banac, Diary of Gerogi Dimitrov, 27 (Aug. 28, 1936); Richardson, Comintern Army, 30–46; Thomas, Spanish Civil War, 439–50; Eby, Comrades and Commissars; Kudriashov, SSSR i grazhdanskaia voina v Ispanii, 115, 162 (APRF, f. 3, op. 65, d. 222, l. 90–1, 187). An international brigade training base was set up near Albacete, where the first 500 volunteers commenced their service on Oct. 14, 1936, and as many as 35,000 foreigners would be trained. Novikov, SSSR, Komintern, II: 100 (citing RGASPI, f. 495, op. 76, l. 33, l. 18).
148. Krivitsky, In Stalin’s Secret Service, 95.
149. On Aug. 21–22, 1936, with the trial in Moscow climaxing, the politburo had formally approved the dispatch of a group of military and intelligence personnel, as well as the diplomats, to Spain. Kowalsky, Stalin, chap. 2, note 21 (citing RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 980, l. 308; d. 981, l. 213), 65, d. 217, l. 20, 22).
150. Kuznetsov, Na dalekom meridian, 8–15. Kuznetsov got to Spain Sept. 5.
151. On Gorev in the United States, see Ulanovskaia and Ulanovskaia, Istoriiia odnoi sem’i, 101.
152. Krivitsky, In Stalin’s Secret Service, 96–9.
153. Pospelov, Istoriia Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny, I: 113; Rybalkin, Operatsiia “X,” 11n6.
154. Primakov, Ocherki, III: 132; Kowalsky, Stalin, paragraph 462, citing Aleksandr Orlov, “Answers to the Questionnaire of Prof. S. G. Payne” (unpublished, 1968), 1–3.
155. Fischer, Men and Politics, 361.
156. Sudoplatov, Special Tasks, 45; Costello and Tsarev, Deadly Illusions, 349; Volodarsky, Stalin’s Agent, 129. The assistant was Galina Voitova.
157. Volodarsky, Stalin’s Agent, 153 (citing stamp in Orlov’s diplomatic passport, a copy of which is at LSE’s Cañada Blanch Centre).
158. Kudriashov, SSSR i grazhdanskaia voina v Ispanii, 48–50 (APRF, f. 3, op. 65, d. 221, l. 103–6).
159. Steiner, Triumph of the Dark, 215–6; Girard de Charbonnières, La plus evitable de toutes les guerres, 114–22; Gromyko and Ponomarev, Istoriia vneshnei politiki SSSR, I: 321.
160. Edwards, British Government and the Spanish Civil War, 137.
161. Isserson, “Zapiski sovremennika o M. N. Tukhachevskom,” 73–5.
162. Ovchinnikov et al., Krasnoznamennyi Belorusskii voennyi okrug, 119–20; Sovetskaia voennaia entsiklopediia, V: 121.
163. Martel, Russian Outlook, 21–4; Erickson, Soviet High Command, 436–7. See also Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 91. Major General Archibald P. Wavell, head of the British delegation, spoke Russian.
164. DDF, 2e série, IV: 510–4 (Daladier to Delbos, Oct. 13, 1936, reference to Schweisguth report Oct. 5). Schweisguth had traveled to Czechoslovakia (Aug. 15–Sept. 1) on his way to the USSR (Sept. 5–23).
165. Colton, Leon Blum, 211; Young, In Command of France, 147–8, 288n50.
166. DDF, 2e série, III: 511–4 (“Rapport du General Schweisguth, Chef de la Mission française,” included in note from Daladier to foreign minister Delbos, Oct. 13, 1936); Dreifort, “French Popular Front,” 218–9; Young, In Command of France, 145. See also Ragsdale, Coming of World War II, 32–3.
167. Yakir had visited France (August 19–September 2, 1936) accompanied by the Soviet military and aviation attachés and the air force officer Khripin, flattered his hosts, but back in the USSR quietly offered a negative assessment. Le Temps, Aug. 21, 26, 29, and Sept. 4, 1936; Pravda, Aug. 21 and Sept. 9, 1936; Orlov, “V poiskakh soiuznikov,” 51.
