Belated book review (again) -- Andrew and Gordievsky, 1990.

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Belated Book Review -- text by Andrew and Gordievsky, 1990.

This non - fiction historical / political KGB spy bureau story has to do with the workings of the international espionage and other Cold War games mostly between the bureaus in U.K. and the K.G.B. as based then in Moscow, U.S.S.R. from about the time of the soviet civil war to the 1980's.  The beginning of the text gives a brief summary of security services under the Tsar that their own terror(s), deportations, exiles, and the like.  As the K.G.B., the Tsarist espionage bureaus were oriented to foreign operations and intelligence.  The Tsarist spies at the revolution were followed by the Chekists who, with a utopic vision as their license, worked hard to confiscate property, conduct foreign and domestic spying, resolve the loose ends from the civil war, battle capitalists and their secret services, find wreckers and traitors, etc., and so on.  By the end of 1920, the Chekist Feliks Dzerzhinsky promised the soviet leadership the Cheka was in control of all aspects of life in U.S.S.R., and Cheka in 1922 was subsumed into the GRU that later was incorporated into the Internal Affairs Commission. The GRU became a soviet federal agency with the formation of the soviet union.  The text goes into the various personalities and cast of characters respectfully portrayed therein, but nonetheless in illustrating the dangerous traits of soviet espionage over the years.
Soviet institutions such as the Comintern and others are shown in the book as established to further first Cheka, ... , and then K.G.B. aims.  Western surveillance of these is also discussed, and the crossing as well that went from one side to the other over the years, however infrequently and the resulting political developments.  The Stalin years were portrayed as particularly mortal concerning soviet spy successes, gangsterism, even setbacks with respect to world events and the communist spy heads at the time -- Yagoda, Yezhov, Beria, ... .  Through all this, and possibly and probably into the Khrushchev and Brezhnev times, soviet spying traditionally was done with military goals in mind.
After allowing the reader some formation into soviet spying organizations, the authors proceed to tell how the communists in Eastern Europe on the state level proceeded over time to expand and empower their range and operation locations through administrative penetration and political and other influences.  This included groups assigned to Poland and Eastern Europe, Western European targets, and this in America (Northern and in Latin areas), Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the far East, the island nations, and so on.  As the organizational networks were built and were successful apparently, and continued to grow, more people, departments and directorates were added in Moscow and in the various operational fields.  The text examines many cases of spying activity in which there were clearly soviet successes including from the founding of the K.G.B
through the years of the Great Depression and WWII with the allies, and later against adversaries.  The effectiveness, for example of the soviets in defensive - type spying and in the area of ciphers is illustrated as remarkable given what people were working, and had to work with in the day.  It is important to note the most effective spying by the K.G.B. in its time, domestic and especially abroad had to do with people who were lax with security, whose guard was down, and who frequented Moscow and the other U.S.S.R. capitols. 
After the defeat of the Nazis, the Cold War themes of penetration and influence were used in obtaining things like military and spy / intelligence secrets, of which the apparent and frequent duplication of U.S. and U.K. military and nuclear projects during the 1950's and thereafter.  Destalinization of the U.S.S.R. at the time nor abated nor accelerated this process.  The text goes on to discuss 1956 Hungary, Yugoslavia's Tito, Cuban missile crisis, 1968 Prague, and other soviet policy failures as additional extraordinary cases.  As approaches to Cold War conflict became more and more standardized internationally, soviet spying activity included sponsorship of political / administrative groups and alliances with groups and administrations outside the mainstream and with those having little international administrative participation.  This might be said to be one of the multi - national competencies of the K.G.B. at the time that contrasted with the mishandling of Berlin and Warsaw and appurtenant issues.  The achievements, and the losses acutely as well added to East - West rivalries that began crumbling the U.S.S.R. after its unsuccessful incursion into Afghanistan starting in 1979.  The 1980's including the Gorbachev years are comprised by a laundry list of events, favorable and unfavorable to the K.G.B., that subtracted from its reputation abroad given the winding - up of the Cold War, that in all events had Russian spy jobs at a premium at home.  A long read that depicts soviet adventurism on every page just about, with a good index and summary organizational and other tables.