The son of a wealthy British peer, Ivor Montagu broke away from his privileged background to fight for the working class. A leftwing activist, he lobbied for Trotsky to be granted asylum in the UK, later becoming a leading propagandist for the anti-fascist and Communist cause. Under the nose of MI5, who kept him under constant surveillance, he worked as a secret agent of the Comintern and a Soviet spy. This talk will profile a true believer blind to the atrocities of Stalin’s regime.
Dr Russell Campbell is an adjunct professor at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of Codename Intelligentsia: The Life and Times of the Honourable Ivor Montagu, Filmmaker, Communist, Spy (The History Press, 2018) and other books including Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) and Investigating Simenon: Patriarchy, Sex and Politics in the Fiction (McFarland, 2022). As a documentary filmmaker his work includes Wildcat (co-directed, 1981), Rebels in Retrospect (1991) and Sedition: The Suppression of Dissent in WWII New Zealand (2005). His current project is a book entitled Down Tools! A History of Strikes, Lockouts and Occupations and Their Depiction on Screen.
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Event Proceedings:
6:00 pm – Doors Open
6:30 pm – Introductions
6:40 pm – Presentation from Russell
7:20 pm – Intermission
7:30 pm – Audience Q&A
For those unable to attend we will have a live-stream on the Wellington Socialist Society Facebook page.
Drinks and food will be available to order from the bar. As always, we are thankful to Bedlam & Squalor for hosting us.
Also check out other Workshops in Wellington, Arts events in Wellington, Literary Art events in Wellington.
