Forging the Faithful: The British at the International Lenin School

The International Lenin in School in Moscow trained British Communists for leadership positions from 1926 to 1937. This article relates the school and its programmes to their context, the development of Stalinism in Russia and the Russification of the Third International and its affiliates. It explores the organization and regime of the school, its purposes, pedagogy and curriculum. It provides for the first time a detailed listing of British students and explores their background and experience before entering the school. It proceeds to sketch the subsequent careers of a sample of the graduates. The paper pays particular attention to women students. The conclusion is that the training was far from successful in creating Marxist theorists or leaders. But it had a substantial impact in cementing loyalty to the British party and the Russian regime.