In the 1920s and 1930s, hundreds of mid-level office workers served in the Communist International, or Comintern. And while we know a lot about famous communists, historians have mostly overlooked the personal experiences of these minor radicals. A good place to begin uncovering those lives is to look into Hotel Lux, the dormitory for foreign communists in Moscow. Because it is in the Lux, Maurine Casey says, where you can better understand the motivations, social networks and intimate relationships of Comintern staff. What did they think of living in Soviet Russia? How did their experiences change between the 1920s and 1930s? And how did their personal dramas dovetail with their political beliefs? And why are their stories so important anyway? To learn more, the Eurasian Knot spoke to Maurice Casey about this “lost world” of international communism in his book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals published by Footnote Press. Guest: Maurice J. Casey is a Research Fellow in History at Queen’s University Belfast. He is the author of Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals published by Footnote Press. It is available now in bookstores and online as an ebook and audiobook.