'A Bolshevist Agent of Some Importance': Aleksandr Zuzenko's Autobiographical Notes and British Government Records

Abstract

Aleksandr Zuzenko (1884-1938), a sailor and revolutionary who lived in Australia from 1911 until his deportation to Russia in April 1919, made a return visit in 1922 as an agent of the Communist International. He was again deported and spent the rest of his career, until his death in the purges, as a Soviet sea captain. Late in his life he wrote an account of his work for the Comintern in 1920-23. This article examines that unpublished account in the light of British Home Office files. Other sources, notably the Comintern archive and the records of the Australian government, are also considered.