Henry Noel Brailsford was one of the outstanding commentators both on changes in the emerging new Europe and on the Russian Revolution. Brailsford wrote for British and American newspapers, including the Herald (later the Daily Herald), the Manchester Guardian, the New Republic and the Baltimore Sun, as well as producing many books aimed at influencing British and American opinion. As an adherent of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), Brailsford was well placed to articulate socialist opinion, and as one of the most respected journalists of the Left he found himself funded to make important journeys, not least to occupied Central Europe between February and May in 1919, and to the Russian Workers’ Republic between July and October in 1920. As a sometime advocate of the League of Nations and keen student of the reformulation of the international order, as well as a visitor to the new Soviet state with a good grasp of economic and political questions, Brailsford was one of the most important contributors to the discourse of internationalism. As a linguist with a good knowledge of German and French, who also acquired a basic knowledge of Russian, he was in an excellent position to operate effectively in the variety of environments to which his journalistic credentials gave him access. Brailsford therefore exemplifies a type of authorship and presence in the public sphere which stood at the fore of cultural, political and general intellectual discourse. To compare Brailsford's account of the emergent Soviet state to those offered by Wells and Russell (see Chapter 4) is to be reminded of the convergence of the disciplines of literature, philosophy and journalism, not only because Wells and Russell at this time both sought to construct popular and accessible personae in the public sphere, but because Brailsford himself had a background in literature and philosophy, and had preferred a career in journalism to the academic career which was open to him. Brailsford's philosophical preparation began at Glasgow University where he took a degree in Greek and Latin and was influenced by the Hegelian Edward Caird.