
Displaced Comrades
Politics and Surveillance in the Lives of Soviet Refugees in the West
Ebony Nilsson(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic (Publisher)
Published on 26. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-350-37842-1 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the 2025 Marilyn Lake Prize for Australian Transnational History
This book explores the lives of left-wing Soviet refugees who fled the Cold War to settle in Australia, and uncovers how they adjusted to life under surveillance in the West. As Cold War tensions built in the postwar years, many of these refugees happily resettled in the West as model refugees, proof of capitalist countries' superiority. But for a few, this was not the case. Displaced Comrades provides an account of these Cold War misfits, those refugees who fled East for West, but remained left-wing or pro-Soviet.
Drawing on interviews, government records and surveillance dossiers from multiple continents this book explores how these refugees' ideas took root in new ways. As these radical ideas drew suspicion from western intelligence these everyday lives were put under surveillance, shadowed by the persistent threat of espionage. With unprecented access to intelligence records, Nilsson focuses on how a number of these left-wing refugees adjusted to life in Australia, opening up a previously invisible segment of postwar migration history, and offering a new exploration of life as a Soviet 'enemy alien' in the West.
This book explores the lives of left-wing Soviet refugees who fled the Cold War to settle in Australia, and uncovers how they adjusted to life under surveillance in the West. As Cold War tensions built in the postwar years, many of these refugees happily resettled in the West as model refugees, proof of capitalist countries' superiority. But for a few, this was not the case. Displaced Comrades provides an account of these Cold War misfits, those refugees who fled East for West, but remained left-wing or pro-Soviet.
Drawing on interviews, government records and surveillance dossiers from multiple continents this book explores how these refugees' ideas took root in new ways. As these radical ideas drew suspicion from western intelligence these everyday lives were put under surveillance, shadowed by the persistent threat of espionage. With unprecented access to intelligence records, Nilsson focuses on how a number of these left-wing refugees adjusted to life in Australia, opening up a previously invisible segment of postwar migration history, and offering a new exploration of life as a Soviet 'enemy alien' in the West.
Reviews / Votes
Underpinned by meticulous research, but always circumspect in drawing conclusions where the evidence is elusive, this book is essential reading for scholars interested in the early Cold War, the Russian diaspora, and the wide range of migrant experience. It is superbly copyedited and engagingly written. * History Australia * This work represents a solid, stylish academic undertaking, with intricate analysis across a spectrum of elusive and challenging sources ... A timely contribution done with much care on a topic that seems to reinvent itself, just like its characters did. * The Russian Review * The book is an important contribution to studies of leftist communities in the West during the Cold War Period. * Ab Imperio * 'Nilsson makes an original and distinctive contribution to multiple fields, including Cold War history and diaspora studies, with her choice of an unusual vantage point: the transnational lives of left-leaning emigres from the Soviet Union in Cold War Australia. Her engagingly written and insightful portraits of her individual characters pay close attention to their particular personal and political choices, and the work as a whole sheds an unusual and intriguing light on how these travellers from war-torn and revolutionary backgrounds negotiated with the very different world of post-war Australia, making their own mark on its political and cultural fabric. A highly readable and often surprising study.' * Judges of the Marilyn Lake Prize for Transnational History (2025 winner) *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
10 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
421 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-37842-1 (9781350378421)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Ebony Nilsson
Displaced Comrades
Politics and Surveillance in the Lives of Soviet Refugees in the West
E-Book
11/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download

Ebony Nilsson
Displaced Comrades
Politics and Surveillance in the Lives of Soviet Refugees in the West
E-Book
11/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€31.99
Available for download
Person
Ebony Nilsson is a research fellow in the Centre for Refugee, Migration and Humanitarian Studies at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2020.
Content
Introduction
1. The Russian Social Club
2. Boris: 'I am a Soviet Citizen and so I will stay'
3. Jerzy: Pied Piper of Discontented Workers
4. Juris: From Latvian Legionnaire to Kolkhoznik
5. Sasha: KCB Residents and Orthodox Priests
6. Natalia & Lydia: Harbin Women Abroad
7. Jacob: 'A Jew First and Foremost'
8. Surveillance, Spies and Informants
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
1. The Russian Social Club
2. Boris: 'I am a Soviet Citizen and so I will stay'
3. Jerzy: Pied Piper of Discontented Workers
4. Juris: From Latvian Legionnaire to Kolkhoznik
5. Sasha: KCB Residents and Orthodox Priests
6. Natalia & Lydia: Harbin Women Abroad
7. Jacob: 'A Jew First and Foremost'
8. Surveillance, Spies and Informants
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index