Roman Malinovsky Roman Vatslavovich Malinovsky ( , 1876 – 1918 ) was a prominent Russia n Bolshevik politician before the revolution , while at the same time working as the best paid agent for the Okhrana . They codenamed him ' Portnoi ' ( the tailor ) . He was a brilliant orator , tall , red haired , yellow eyed and pockmarked . Early life . In 1899 , he was convicted of theft , rape and burglary , and sentenced to jail . In 1901 - 1905 he served as a private in the Russian army . Politics . In 1906 Malinovsky joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ( RSDLP ) and worked for the St . Petersburg metalworkers union . In 1910 , he was arrested by the Okhrana but soon released : he then became a Tsarist spy , and infiltrated the Bolshevik party . He was the best paid Tsarist agent . earning 8 , 000 rubles a year , 1 , 000 more than the Director of the Imperial Police . In January 1912 , he joined the Central Committee with Vladimir Lenin ' s support at the Prague Party Conference . On October 25 , 1912 , he was elected at the Duma by the workers electoral college of Moscow Governorate . He led the six - member Bolshevik group ( two of whom were Okhrana agents ) and was deputy chairman of the Social Democrats in the Duma . As a secret agent , he helped send ( unbeknownst to them ) several important Bolsheviks ( like Ordzhonikidze , Joseph Stalin , and Yakov Sverdlov ) into Siberian exile . When Menshevik leader Julius Martov first denounced Malinovsky as a spy in 1913 , Lenin refused to believe him , and stood by Malinovsky . The accusing article was signed Ts , short for Tsederbaum , Martov ' s real name . Stalin threatened Martov ' s sister and brother in law , Lydia and Fedor Dan , saying they ' d regret it if the Menshevik s denounced Malinovsky . In November 1912 he visited Lenin in Cracow where he was urged not to unite with the Mensheviks . Malinovsky ignored this , reading a conciliatory speech in the Duma . On December 28 , 1912 he attended a Central Committee meeting in Vienna . He persuaded Lenin to appoint an Okhrana agent , Chernomosov , as editor of " Pravda " as opposed to Stalin ' s candidate Shaumyan who was too soft on the Mensheviks . The Tsarist regime was determined to keep the RSDLP split so conciliators were targeted . Due to Malinovsky ' s efforts , the Okhranka arrested Sergo Ordzhonikidze ( April 14 , 1912 ) , Yakov Sverdlov ( February 10 , 1913 ) and Stalin ( February 23 , 1913 ) . The latter was arrested at a Bolshevik fundraising ball which Malinovsky had persuaded him to attend by lending him a suit and silk cravat . Malinovsky was talking to Stalin when detectives took him , even shouting he would free him . In July 1913 he betrayed a plan for Sverdlov and Stalin to escape , warning the police chief in Turukhansk . By now he was the only Bolshevik leader not in foreign or Siberian exile . Resignation , exile and death . On May 8 , 1914 he was forced to resign from the Duma . By now he was an alcoholic , drinking vodka from teapots . His real identity was unveiled by his ex - mistress Elena Troyanovskaya , and he went into exile in Germany . When World War I broke out , he was interned into a POW camp by the Germans . Lenin , still standing by him , sent him clothes . He said : " If he is a provocateur , the police gained less from it than our Party did . " This refers to his strong anti Menshevism . Eventually , Lenin changed his mind : " What a swine : shooting ' s too good for him ! " In 1918 , he tried to join the Petrograd Soviet , but Grigory Zinoviev recognized him . In November , after a brief trial , Malinovsky was executed by firing squad . According to British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore his successful infiltration into the Bolsheviks helped fuel the paranoia of the Soviets ( and more specifically , Stalin ) that eventually gave way to the Great Terror . Some speculate that Lenin had always known about Malinovsky ' s connections to the Okhranka and that was the reason for him to be hopeful of being acquitted after the Revolution . However , faced with the consequences of admitting to the existence of such double agents and the possibility of exposing those of them who remained valuable to the party ( one of them possibly being Stalin ) , Lenin had to give up on him .