money. It was a relief to them when Wilhelm Pieck was retained in the new Central Committee, for both Piatnitsky and Mirov-Abramov trusted this veteran labor leader.
Mirov-Abramov, whom I knew for many years, was the O.M.S. representative in Germany from 1921 to 1930. Officially he worked in the press department of the Soviet Embassy in Berlin. Actually he directed the distribution of money and the transmission of Comintern instructions throughout Germany and the greater part of Central Europe. At the height of the Comintern’s German drive, Mirov-Abramov employed a staff of more than twenty-five assistants and couriers. Later he was recalled to Moscow to work as Piatnitsky’s assistant. When the old Bolshevik general staff of the Comintern was liquidated by Stalin, Mirov-Abramov together with Piatnitsky were removed. Because of his exceptional underground contacts in Germany, Mirov-Abramov was then transferred to the Soviet Military Intelligence where he served until 1937, when he was shot in the great purge. Absurdly enough, when Yagoda, the fallen chief of the Ogpu, was tried the following year, he declared on the witness stand that he had sent large sums of money through Mirov-Abramov to Trotsky.
Managing the finances of the Comintern and its foreign section is only a small part of the tasks of the O.M.S. It functions also as the nervous system of the Comintern. Envoys dispatched by Moscow as political commissars to the Communist Parties of foreign countries establish all their contacts through the O.M.S., which furnishes them with passports, directs them to “reliable” addresses, and generally acts as the permanent liaison staff between the home offices in Moscow and these political agents abroad.
A notable Comintern Commissar for the United States some years ago was the Hungarian Communist, Pogany, known in this country as John Pepper. His primary mission here was to remove Lovestone and Gitlow, the leaders of the American Communist Party, after they had won a vote of confidence from the vast majority of the party members. Pogany-Pepper carried out his orders, and installed a new high command for the American Communist Party. Pepper himself was arrested in Moscow in 1936 and shot.
The passport division of the O.M.S., unlike the Ogpu and Military Intelligence, does not actually manufacture passports. It gets genuine documents whenever possible and doctors them according to requirements. In obtaining passports it draws upon the fanatical zeal of Communist members and sympathizers. If the O.M.S. representative in the United States requires two American passports for Comintern agents in China, he communicates with his man in the American Communist Party. This latter obtains genuine United States passports from party members or sympathizers. The O.M.S. staff then removes the photographs, substitutes others and skillfully makes the other necessary changes.
Moscow has always been fond of American passports. In another connection I have described the part they played in the Spanish Civil War. It is not unusual for the O.M.S. representative or Ogpu agents to send batches of American passports to Moscow, where the central O.M.S. office has a staff of about ten people engaged in fixing such documents according to the Comintern’s needs.
In 1924 the Berlin police raided the O.M.S. headquarters there, and seized a batch of German passports, together with files listing the names of their original owners, the true names of the Comintern agents then using them, and the fictitious names with which they were traveling. For such reasons of course a genuine passport is much preferred.
In 1927 the Comintern and the Ogpu sent Earl Browder to China. I do not know why Browder was chosen for the mission, but I believe the main reason was his American passport. I am reminded in this connection of a conversation I had with Piatnitsky. He had a man working for him named Lobonovsky, whose incompetence was always the subject of anecdotes in our circle. I would often run into Lobonovsky in one of the capitals of Europe as he scurried about on seemingly important missions. Later I had occasion to discuss him with Piatnitsky.
“Tell me frankly, Comrade Piatnitsky,” I said, “why do you keep that idiot on your staff?”
The veteran Bolshevik leader smiled tolerantly and replied:
“My dear young Walter, the question here is not Lobonovsky’s capability. What is important is that he has a Canadian passport and I need a Canadian for the missions on which I send him. No one else will do.”
“Canadian!” I exclaimed. “Lobonovsky isn’t a Canadian. He’s a Ukranian born in Shepetovka.”
Piatnitsky bellowed.
“What do you mean, a Ukranian born in Shepetovka! He has a Canadian passport. That’s good enough for me. Do you think it’s so easy to find a real Canadian? We’ve got to make the best of a Canadian born in Shepetovka!”
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