Editing Arthur Ransome (section)

==Foreign correspondent==
In 1913 Ransome left his first wife and daughter and went to Russia to study [[Slavic mythology|its folklore]]. In 1915, Ransome published ''The Elixir of Life'' (published by [[Methuen Publishing|Methuen, London]]), which was to be his only full-length novel apart from the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series. It is a [[gothic romance]] concerning a youth who chances upon an alchemist who has discovered the titular [[elixir of life]], whose powers must be renewed by the spilling of human blood. He published ''[[Old Peter's Russian Tales]]'', a collection of 21 folktales from Russia, the following year.

After the start of the [[First World War]], in 1914, he became a foreign correspondent and covered the war on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] for a radical newspaper, ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]''. He also covered the [[Russian Revolution]]s of 1917 and came to sympathise with the [[Bolshevik]] cause, becoming personally close to a number of its leaders, including [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Karl Radek]]. He met the woman who would become his second wife, Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, who then worked as Trotsky's personal secretary.<ref>Brogan (1984), p 153</ref>

Ransome provided some information to British officials and the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], which gave him the code name S.76 in their files.<ref name=MS2011/> [[R. H. Bruce Lockhart|Bruce Lockhart]] said in his memoirs: "Ransome was a [[Don Quixote]] with a walrus moustache, a sentimentalist who could always be relied upon to champion the underdog, and a visionary whose imagination had been fired by the revolution. He was on excellent terms with the Bolsheviks and frequently brought us information of the greatest value."<ref name="pallister">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/mar/01/uk.books|title=Still an enigma, our Petrograd correspondent|last=Pallister |first=David |author-link=David Pallister|date=1 March 2005|work=The Guardian|access-date=12 January 2010 | location=London}}</ref> Nonetheless, in March 1919, on one of his return visits to the United Kingdom, the authorities interviewed him and threatened him with exposure as an agent.<ref>Brogan (1984), p 235</ref> In October 1919, Ransome met [[Reginald Leeper]] of the Foreign Office's [[Political Intelligence Department (1918–1920)|Political Intelligence Department]], who required Ransome privately to submit his articles and public speaking engagements for approval. Ransome's response was "indignant". Unbeknown to Leeper, Ransome's "near treason[ous]" articles were written to buttress his exceptional access to the Bolshevik leadership.<ref name=MS2011>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Smith (newspaper reporter) |title=The Real James Bonds 1909-1939 |date=24 May 2011 |isbn=9781906447007 |chapter=15 |publisher=Dialogue |quote=Many of his articles were written in order that he would not be compromised with the Bolshevik leaders.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kettle|first=Michael |title=Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco: November 1918 – July 1919|url=https://archive.org/details/churchillarchang00kett|url-access=limited|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=1992|pages=[https://archive.org/details/churchillarchang00kett/page/n243 225]–228|isbn=0-415-08286-2}}</ref> [[MI5]], the British Security Service, was suspicious that Ransome and his fellow journalist, [[M. Philips Price]], were a threat because of their opposition to the [[Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War]].<ref name="pallister" />

In October 1919, as Ransome was returning to Moscow on behalf of ''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'', the [[Government of Estonia|Estonian foreign minister]] [[Ants Piip]] entrusted him to deliver a secret armistice proposal to the Bolsheviks. At that time, the Estonians were fighting [[Estonian War of Independence|their War of Independence]] alongside the [[White movement]] of counter-revolutionary forces. After crossing the battle lines on foot, Ransome passed the message, which, to preserve secrecy, had not been written down and depended for its authority only on the high personal regard in which he was held in both countries, to diplomat [[Maxim Litvinov]] in Moscow. To deliver the reply, which accepted Piip's conditions for peace, Ransome had to return by the same risky means, but now, he had Evgenia with him. Estonia withdrew from the conflict, and Ransome and Evgenia set up home together in the capital [[Tallinn]].<ref>Brogan (1984), pp 242–248</ref>

After the Allied intervention, Ransome remained in the Baltic states and built a cruising yacht, ''Racundra''. He wrote a successful book about his experiences, ''[[Racundra's First Cruise]]''. He joined the staff of ''[[The Guardian|The Manchester Guardian]]'' when he returned to Russia and the Baltic states. Following his divorce, he married Evgenia and brought her to live in England, where he continued writing for ''The Guardian'', often on foreign affairs, and also writing the "[[Country Diary]]" column on fishing. On the Ransomes' return to England, ''Racundra'' was sold to the yachting author [[Adlard Coles|Kaines Adlard Coles]], who sailed her back to England.