The author of this translation of the famous Protocols was himself a victim of
the Revolution. He had lived for many years in Russia and was married to a
Russian lady. Among his other activities in Russia he had been for a number of
years Russian Correspondent of the Morning Post, a position which he occupied
when the Revolution broke out, and his vivid descriptions of events In Russia
will still be in the recollection of many of the readers of that Journal. Naturally
he was singled out for the anger of the Soviet. On the day that Captain Cromie
was murdered by Jews Victor Marsden was arrested and thrown into the PeterPaul Prison, expecting every day to have his name called out for execution. This,
however, he escaped, and eventually he was allowed to return to England very
much of a wreck in bodily health. However, he recovered under treatment and
the devoted care of his wife and friends. One of the first things he undertook as
soon as he was able was this translation of the Protocols. Mr. Marsden was
eminently well qualified for the work. His intimate acquaintance with Russia,
Russian life and the Russian language on the one hand, and his mastery of a terse
literary English style on the other, placed him in a position of advantage which
few others could claim. The consequence is that we have in his version an
eminently readable work, and though the subject-matter is somewhat formless,
Mr. Marsden’s literary touch reveals the thread running through the twenty-four
Protocols. The Summary placed at the head of each is Mr. Marsden’s own, and
will be found very useful in acquiring a comprehensive view of its scope.
It may be said with truth that this work was carried out at the cost of Mr.
Marsden’s own life’s blood. He told the writer of this Preface that he could not
stand more than an hour at a time of his work on it in the British Museum, as the
diabolical spirit of the matter which he was obliged to turn into English made
him positively ill.
Mr. Marsden’s connection with the Morning Post was not severed by his
return to England, and he was well enough to accept the post of special
correspondent of that journal in the suite of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on his
Empire tour. From this he returned with the Prince, apparently in much better
health, but within a few days of his landing he was taken suddenly ill, and died
after a very brief illness.