Maurice J. Casey
@mauricejcasey.com
Historian of intimacy and revolution in 1920s-40s Europe. New project: anti-Nazi vegetarians.
Author of Irish Book Awards shortlisted HOTEL LUX — about a hotel in 1920s Moscow — and radical history newsletter Archive Rats:
archiverats.substack.com
Author of Irish Book Awards shortlisted HOTEL LUX — about a hotel in 1920s Moscow — and radical history newsletter Archive Rats:
archiverats.substack.com
Maynooth! Join me for the story of a training school for revolutionaries, a bestselling recipe book and a vegetarian cook who parachuted from a Lancaster bomber into Nazi Germany in 1944.
November 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Maynooth! Join me for the story of a training school for revolutionaries, a bestselling recipe book and a vegetarian cook who parachuted from a Lancaster bomber into Nazi Germany in 1944.
When I talk about how the history of progressive/radical movements is tied to a history of intimacy this is what I mean.
Socialism is always both a theory of economic redistribution and a chance to hang out!!
Socialism is always both a theory of economic redistribution and a chance to hang out!!
November 6, 2025 at 9:37 AM
When I talk about how the history of progressive/radical movements is tied to a history of intimacy this is what I mean.
Socialism is always both a theory of economic redistribution and a chance to hang out!!
Socialism is always both a theory of economic redistribution and a chance to hang out!!
In 1917 a foreign-born socialist ran for Mayor of New York City.
Morris Hillquit, born in Latvia, stood on a platform that included opposition to war, economic redistribution and support for a burning global issue: Irish freedom.
Morris Hillquit, born in Latvia, stood on a platform that included opposition to war, economic redistribution and support for a burning global issue: Irish freedom.
November 5, 2025 at 7:57 PM
In 1917 a foreign-born socialist ran for Mayor of New York City.
Morris Hillquit, born in Latvia, stood on a platform that included opposition to war, economic redistribution and support for a burning global issue: Irish freedom.
Morris Hillquit, born in Latvia, stood on a platform that included opposition to war, economic redistribution and support for a burning global issue: Irish freedom.
A truly wild time.
October 30, 2025 at 1:49 PM
A truly wild time.
I'm doing a side project linked to the cultural history of video games in 1980s Ireland and I'm finding exactly what I expected to find
October 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I'm doing a side project linked to the cultural history of video games in 1980s Ireland and I'm finding exactly what I expected to find
Irish-American organiser Elizabeth Gurley Flynn speaks on "The Fascisti and the Klan" - June 1924
October 28, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Irish-American organiser Elizabeth Gurley Flynn speaks on "The Fascisti and the Klan" - June 1924
October 21, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Today was my first official day working on my AHRC catalyst project — the story of a vegetarian, Esperanto-speaking, anti-fascist organisation.
Grateful for the opportunity to spend three years down these historical rabbit holes
Grateful for the opportunity to spend three years down these historical rabbit holes
October 1, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Today was my first official day working on my AHRC catalyst project — the story of a vegetarian, Esperanto-speaking, anti-fascist organisation.
Grateful for the opportunity to spend three years down these historical rabbit holes
Grateful for the opportunity to spend three years down these historical rabbit holes
Finished up a fascinating and surprising few days of research in the wonderful @wienerlibrary.bsky.social - I went down all kinds of unexpected anti-Nazi rabbit holes.
September 3, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Finished up a fascinating and surprising few days of research in the wonderful @wienerlibrary.bsky.social - I went down all kinds of unexpected anti-Nazi rabbit holes.
back at it*
*sitting in the British Library Newsroom reading obscure left wing pamphlets
*sitting in the British Library Newsroom reading obscure left wing pamphlets
August 28, 2025 at 12:14 PM
back at it*
*sitting in the British Library Newsroom reading obscure left wing pamphlets
*sitting in the British Library Newsroom reading obscure left wing pamphlets
So great to see Hotel Lux in the window of Hodges Figgis today as Non-Fiction Book of the Month — and in the bestseller chart too.
August 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
So great to see Hotel Lux in the window of Hodges Figgis today as Non-Fiction Book of the Month — and in the bestseller chart too.
Thank you to readers and booksellers for the continued support even a year after publication. I am still always amazed.
August 8, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Thank you to readers and booksellers for the continued support even a year after publication. I am still always amazed.
This photograph from 1919 sums up the dangerous choices facing the museum director.
A photograph of Lenin at the founding congress of the Comintern? How could you not feature it.
Well, on either side of Lenin is Hugo Eberlein (left) and Fritz Platten (right).
A photograph of Lenin at the founding congress of the Comintern? How could you not feature it.
Well, on either side of Lenin is Hugo Eberlein (left) and Fritz Platten (right).
August 8, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This photograph from 1919 sums up the dangerous choices facing the museum director.
A photograph of Lenin at the founding congress of the Comintern? How could you not feature it.
Well, on either side of Lenin is Hugo Eberlein (left) and Fritz Platten (right).
A photograph of Lenin at the founding congress of the Comintern? How could you not feature it.
Well, on either side of Lenin is Hugo Eberlein (left) and Fritz Platten (right).
Some months previously the NKVD arrived at Platten's apartment and arrested his wife. He wrote to a Party Commission that same evening to ask why his partner of 13 years was arrested.
August 8, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Some months previously the NKVD arrived at Platten's apartment and arrested his wife. He wrote to a Party Commission that same evening to ask why his partner of 13 years was arrested.
The second individual named, Fritz Platten, was a Swiss Communist living in Moscow. The blue pencil marker appears unsure of Platten's status.
August 8, 2025 at 8:40 AM
The second individual named, Fritz Platten, was a Swiss Communist living in Moscow. The blue pencil marker appears unsure of Platten's status.
Someone has written "Arrest" in blue pencil under the name of Hugo Eberlein, founding member of the German Communist Party.
Eberlein was arrested in the summer of 1937 and sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag. Shot by firing squad in 1941.
Eberlein was arrested in the summer of 1937 and sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag. Shot by firing squad in 1941.
August 8, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Someone has written "Arrest" in blue pencil under the name of Hugo Eberlein, founding member of the German Communist Party.
Eberlein was arrested in the summer of 1937 and sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag. Shot by firing squad in 1941.
Eberlein was arrested in the summer of 1937 and sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag. Shot by firing squad in 1941.
The dangers of museum curation in the Stalin era - 1937
A museum director in Belarus is organising an exhibition about the first Comintern Congress. He writes to the Comintern to ascertain the fates of two individuals who feature in a group photograph from the Congress.
A museum director in Belarus is organising an exhibition about the first Comintern Congress. He writes to the Comintern to ascertain the fates of two individuals who feature in a group photograph from the Congress.
August 8, 2025 at 8:31 AM
The dangers of museum curation in the Stalin era - 1937
A museum director in Belarus is organising an exhibition about the first Comintern Congress. He writes to the Comintern to ascertain the fates of two individuals who feature in a group photograph from the Congress.
A museum director in Belarus is organising an exhibition about the first Comintern Congress. He writes to the Comintern to ascertain the fates of two individuals who feature in a group photograph from the Congress.
In another GREAT reputational win for the taste of Irish booksellers, Hotel Lux is also an Eason's Book of the Month for August!
August 7, 2025 at 12:10 PM
In another GREAT reputational win for the taste of Irish booksellers, Hotel Lux is also an Eason's Book of the Month for August!
A huge thank you to @hodgesfiggis.bsky.social for choosing Hotel Lux as their Non-Fiction Book of the Month for August!
August 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM
A huge thank you to @hodgesfiggis.bsky.social for choosing Hotel Lux as their Non-Fiction Book of the Month for August!
Know Your Commissars!
A guide to identifying commissars distributed to International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, 1937.
A guide to identifying commissars distributed to International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, 1937.
August 4, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Know Your Commissars!
A guide to identifying commissars distributed to International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, 1937.
A guide to identifying commissars distributed to International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, 1937.
Friends, my book HOTEL LUX is currently available for £0.99 on the Kindle Store. An intimate view of the revolution that changed the world, based on 7 years of research in archives across the globe.
Please do check it out! www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Lux-In...
Please do check it out! www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Lux-In...
August 1, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Friends, my book HOTEL LUX is currently available for £0.99 on the Kindle Store. An intimate view of the revolution that changed the world, based on 7 years of research in archives across the globe.
Please do check it out! www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Lux-In...
Please do check it out! www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Lux-In...
A Spanish Civil War scene. A painting by an unknown International Brigade volunteer that somehow found itself preserved in the Comintern archives.
August 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
A Spanish Civil War scene. A painting by an unknown International Brigade volunteer that somehow found itself preserved in the Comintern archives.
An adventurous few days in Galicia working with @markburman.bsky.social and a newspaper handmade by the children of a 1930s anti-Nazi power couple. Part of an upcoming radio doc.
July 24, 2025 at 10:52 AM
An adventurous few days in Galicia working with @markburman.bsky.social and a newspaper handmade by the children of a 1930s anti-Nazi power couple. Part of an upcoming radio doc.
Back in Santiago de Compostela to work on a radio documentary about the most extraordinary set of documents I've ever uncovered.
July 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Back in Santiago de Compostela to work on a radio documentary about the most extraordinary set of documents I've ever uncovered.
A huge thank you to everyone who has said nice things about my book over the last year. It’s been a great adventure.
July 17, 2025 at 6:34 PM
A huge thank you to everyone who has said nice things about my book over the last year. It’s been a great adventure.