I haven't seen a thread on Alexander Helphand (Parvus) so I thought i would start one.
Parvus is probalby the most important figure in the downfalll of the Romanovs. It was Parvus who filnanced the 1905 revolution and masterminded it and Parvus who kept Lenin fed in Switzerland and it was Parvus who negotiated with the Germans both for the train that brought Lenin into Russia and for the financing of the 1917 Bolshevik strategies. He did this at the German embassy in Constantinople.
The folllowing is from wiki pedia
Early life
Israel Lazarevich Gelfand, (Russian: Израиль Лазаревич Гельфанд[1] best remembered by his pseudonym, Alexander Parvus, was born of ethnic Jewish parents on September 8 [O.S. August 27] 1867 in the shtetl of Berezino, now part of Belarus. He was raised in Odessa (today's Ukraine), where he began associating with the Jewish revolutionary (The Bund) circles.[2]
[edit] Revolutionary
At age nineteen he left for Basel, where he continued his studies, becoming a doctor of economy in 1891 (his dissertation dealing with "work recovery"). By this time he openly became a Marxist. He moved to Germany, joined the Social Democratic Party and befriended German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. In 1900, he met Vladimir Lenin for the first time, in Munich, each admiring the other's theoretical works. Parvus encouraged Lenin to begin publishing his revolutionary paper Iskra.[3]
Parvus' attempts to become a German citizen proved fruitless. He once commented in a letter to his German friend Wilhelm Liebknecht that "I am seeking a government where one can inexpensively acquire a fatherland."[4] Consequently for many years he attempted to immigrate to the United States.[citation needed] His socialist revolutionary compatriots were already busy establishing a network of mostly Jewish revolutionaries in the United States,[citation needed] including Leon Trotsky who briefly moved to New York City.
However, German counter-intelligence had penetrated part of the socialist revolutionary network and upon reading his writing in the socialist press during the Russo-Japanese War, found Parvus had predicted that Russia would lose the war, resulting in unrest and revolution. When this proved to be the case, Parvus' prestige among his socialist and other German comrades increased. Thus, German intelligence soon estimated he would be useful in efforts against the Russian Empire.
During this time he developed the concept of using a foreign war to provoke an internal revolt within a country. It was at this time that Parvus revived, from Marx, the concept-strategy of "permanent revolution". He communicated this philosophy to Trotsky who then further expanded and developed it. Through Trotsky, the method was eventually adopted by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Lenin's April Theses in 1917.[3]
[edit] Russian Revolution of 1905
In 1905, Parvus arrived in St. Petersburg with false Austro-Hungarian papers. Parvus was regarded among European Marxists of the day as an authority on political and financial questions;[5] consequently when he authored a provocative article In December entitled The Financial Manifesto, which described the Russian economy as being on the verge of collapse it received broad play in the press.
In combination with this propaganda, Parvus coordinated an agitation of locals to feign a run on the banks. As the news of the article and the subsequent "rush" was spread, the consequent hysteria managed to upset the economy and enrage prime minister Sergei Witte, but did not cause a financial collapse.
In connection with this provocation and Parvus' involvement in the organization of anti-government actions during the 1905 revolution, Parvus (together with other revolutionaries such as Leon Trotsky) was arrested by the Russian police. While in prison he became close with other revolutionaries, and was visited by Rosa Luxemburg.[citation needed] Sentenced to three years exile in Siberia, Parvus escaped and emigrated to Germany, where he published a book about his experiences called In the Russian Bastile during the Revolution.
A. Parvus (left) with Leon Trotsky (center) and Leo Deutsch (right) in prison.[edit] The Maxim Gorky affair
While in Germany, Parvus struck a deal with Russian author Maxim Gorky to produce his play The Lower Depths. According to the agreement, the majority of the play's proceeds were to go to the Russian Social Democratic Party (and approximately 25% to Gorky himself). Parvus' failure to pay (despite the fact that the play had over 500 showings) caused him to be accused of stealing 130,000 German gold marks. Gorky threatened to sue, but Rosa Luxemburg convinced Gorky to keep the quarrel inside the party's own court. Eventually, Parvus paid back Gorky, but his reputation in party circles was scathed.
[edit] Istanbul period
Soon afterwards Parvus moved to Istanbul in Turkey, where he lived for five years.[6] There he set up an arms trading company which profited handsomely during the Balkan War. He became the financial and political advisor of the Young Turks. In 1912 he was made editor of Turk Yurdu, their daily newspaper. He worked closely with the triumvirs known as the Three Pashas - Enver, Talat and Cemal - and Finance Minister Djavid Bey. The triumvirs of Three Pashas planned and executed Armenian Genocide in 1915. His firm dealt with the deliveries of foodstuffs for the Turkish army and he was business partner of Krupp concern and Vickers Limited of famous arms dealer Basil Zaharov.[7] Arms dealings with Vickers Limited at war time gave basis to the theory that Alexander Parvus was also a British intelligence asset.
[edit] Russian Revolution
While in Turkey, Parvus became close with German ambassador Baron Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim who was known to be partial to establishing revolutionary fifth columns among the allies. Consequently, Parvus offered his plan via Baron von Wangenheim to the German General Staff: the paralyzing of Russia via general strike, financed by the German government[8] (which, at the time, was at war with Russia and its allies). Von Wagenheim sent Parvus to Berlin where the latter arrived on the 6 March , 1915 and presented a 20 page plan titled A preparation of massive political strikes in Russia to the German government. [9]
Parvus' detailed plan recommended the division of Russia by sponsoring the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, encouraging ethnic separatists in various Russian regions, and supporting various writers whose criticism of Tsarism continued during wartime. Basing himself on his 1905 experiences, Parvus theorised that the division of Russia and its loss in the First World War was the best way to bring about a socialist revolution.