Dzerzhinsky had been made Commissar for Transport in the first place to deal with internal troubles among the railwaymen, many of whom had opposed the Bolsheviks in 1917 and nearly brought Lenin’s government to its knees after the October Revolution.
It took a rare combination of management failure, over-ambition and bad luck to bring such a business to its knees. By accident as much as design the Ashleys created a remarkable international brand, tapping a worldwide nostalgia for the English country cottage look. Sales boomed during the mid-1980s.
In the past China had been plundered by westerners eager to exploit large markets and in doing so they brought the nation to its knees. The contemporary open door was to be for the benefit of the Chinese, not their disadvantage.