Order 1372207: Cold war Espionage: the cambridge university connection of Kim philby, guy burgess and donald maclean

Running Head: COLD WAR 1

Shabana Prashad

Professor. Abdoo

English 101.5762

November 27, 2018

Cold War Espionage: The Cambridge University Connection of Kim Philby and Guy Burgess.

The title of the paper refers a ring of spies contracted by the Soviet Union to pass intelligence information from the United Kingdom during the World War II and beginning of the cold until early 1950. These men were formerly recognized as “Cambridge Spy ring” since they were all enlisted while they were learners at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1930. The five men who were identified to be the members of this ring were; Harold “Kim” Philby, Anthony Blunt, John Cairncross, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean. These men were able to infiltrate the intelligence structure of the British government and handed much-classified info to the Soviet Union. There is a possibility that they could have been many of them, but the five were successfully uncovered.

It is not clear why these spies decided to betray their country and becoming the worst known traitors of their motherland. However, some of the reasons they gave as to why they decided to turn an enemy of the country include the view of the United States as an enemy to the peace of the world and thought Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the only bulwark against Nazism. Many people at that time viewed that it was just excuses of betraying to one’s country. This paper will concentrate on the lives of the two chief infamous traitors of the British people who include Guy Burgess and Harold “Kim” Philby.

Egotism is the fair view of oneself. It is the bias towards justifying one’s opinion. The “Cambridge Spying Ring” showed significant levels of egotism. At one point, Philby indicated that he did not betray his country. He argued that he only engaged in what he felt was the right thing from his rational thinking. It is clear that his activities amounted to betrayal. Egotism is a common phenomenon in him and among his friends.

The topic of the paper influences a host of other issues. It reflects the cost of national loyalty, international relations, and democracy. Fascism is one of the factors that inspired the betrayers. They believed in the elitism of Russia over other states. The topic reflects the value of international relations, allegiance, and loyalty to one’s government. Disloyal activities commonly lead to unfortunate ends and significant harm on a nation.

Guy Burgess was born in Devonport on April 16, 1911. He was the eldest son of Commander Malcolm Kingsford de Moncy Burgess and Evelyn Mary. “As a youth Burgess attended Eton, the prestigious private school, and then entered the Royal Navy College at Dartmouth” (Craddock 45). His classmate was a man who could get into the root of any question and wrote essays full of insight. Burgess later joined Trinity College where he joined the Cambridge University Socialist Society (CUSS). It was here Burgess was recruited in Communist party by Maurice Dobb in 1932.

“Deutsch was a key figure in assembling the Cambridge Five, of whom Philby and Burgess were the first recruits” (Craddock 45). Burgess became the most influential spy among the Cambridge Five. Burgess placed himself in places of influence where he could get access to same secrets information and passed it to his masters in the Soviet Union. At first, Burgess worked as a BBC correspondent from the year 1936-1938. Then from 1938-1941, he became a member of MI6 an intelligence agency in the United Kingdom. He later worked at the British foreign office from 1944. Using his influence in MI6, he helped to secure a job for Philby at the intelligence agency.

Burgess was also able to influence Russia to recruit Blunt and Cairncross into spy web. No one ever thought that Burgess would be useful as most of the time he appeared to be an embarrassment to the rest of the members. Burgess was known to be the worst drunkard and one who never cared about being scrutinized. A reporter by the name Lownie described Burgess as a natural liar and a person whose story and the account could not be believed as a natural character of a spy.

Another important thing about Burgess is that he always wore his high school tie which appeared to like his badge (Boyle 8). Burgess interacted with very influential people in England, and he even wrote a book which was signed by the famous Winston Churchill. It is reported that Burgess alone handed over to the KGB over 389 secrets in the first six months of the year 1945 and in 1949 he additionally handed over 168 documents (Boyle 265). In 1951 while working as the second secretary in the British embassy in America, he was recalled back home.

Before he could be dismissed from the foreign office, he realized that some investigation was being done on his colleague spy Maclean and that the intelligence agency was closing in on him. Both men fled from England to avoid prosecution. Their whereabouts were not known until 1956 when both appeared in a press conference and announced that they were living in Moscow as communists. His stay in Moscow made him realize that he was no longer in the trappings of power nor access any meaningful connections a life which he found to be intolerable. Eventually, Burgess died of acute liver failure in 1963 at the age of 52.

Kim Philby was born on January 1st, 1912. He joined Cambridge University, and it was there he joined the communist party. He first worked as a journalist up to 1940. Philby was the first in all the five Cambridge spies to be recruited by Arnold Deutsch, and in turn, Philby recruited Burgess. In 1940 Philby was recruited into MI6 by Guy Burgess who also was an agent with the same intelligence agency (Lerner 152). The aim was to place themselves in places where they could quickly get top secret information to pass to their handlers in the Soviet Union.

Toward the end of World War II, “Philby had been appointed the head of counterespionage an operation carried out by the MI6” (Lerner 153). The irony was his primary responsibility was to combat Soviet operations in Western Europe. In 1949 Philby was posted to an MI6 office in Washington to serve as its head and top liaison officer between the British and US intelligence agency. This post enabled Philby to inform his masters a plan that was a hatch to send armed anticommunist to Albania in 1950. This information led to the defeat of the British-US army to Albania. Many of the armed men sent were killed.

Things started to turn against Philby in 1951 when he realized that the FBI was investigating an agent who was considered to be a spy for the USSR (Boyle 153). Philby informed his co-spies Burgess and Maclean, and they fled to France and later to Moscow. After these two double agents fled, Philby was suspected to be the one who passed to information to them, and he was fired from the MI6 in 1955. Philby moved to Beirut where he worked as a journalist. While in Beirut, Philby realized that he was being pursued by the secret agents for prosecution and thus fled to USSR in 1963(Lerner 132). In Moscow, he was hired in KGB which is an intelligence agency and moved to the rank of colonel.

Philby seemed to be devoted communist whose loyalty lay towards USSR rather than his motherland, Great Britain (Lerner 153). Philby was held responsible for many deaths of British intelligence agents whom he betrayed to their enemy. In Britain, he is considered as a traitor while the Russians see him as a hero. Unlike his friend Burgess, Philby had a family, but both had one thing in common; they thrived in alcohol. It did not take long before his wife Pukhova abandoned him due to alcoholism. It is also believed that Philby married other women, and he had children with them, but he abandoned all of them when he ran away to exile. Although Philby was highly respected in Soviet, he felt isolated and lonely. At one time during an interview, Philby said that he went to Soviet with a lot of information, but no one seemed interested with what he had, he felt used (Lerner 152). It is the bottle that provided solace for him

Many people suffered in the hands of Philby including agents who he could send to their death trap (Ron 13). His family also suffered a great deal due to his disappearance, and for a long time, they were not allowed to visit him in exile. Later on his eldest son, Tommy was able to pay him five visits to Russia. Despite Tommy admitting his father committed a felony, he thinks no one died out of the information his father gave to Soviet.

The number of people who lost their lives due to Philby’s betrayal was uncountable. "For a good reason. Kim simply can’t be trusted. He happens to be one of nature’s farouches, a wild man capable of turning the place upside down for his own ends” (Boyle 258).

“On January 10, 1963, Philby’s old friend in MI6 named Nicholas Elliott was sent to him to try to extract some confession” (Boyle 442). Elliott promised him immunity, and that is when he confessed about his activities. He was ordered to report to the British embassy in Moscow, but he suspected it could be a trap, and thus he fled again. Philby lived a hopeless life and even contemplated committing suicide. Eventually, Kim Philby died in Moscow at the age of 72.

Spying activities carried out by the “Cambridge spying ring” did not have a long-term impact on British’s intelligence efficacy. The spies were discovered and rushed to take cover in Russia. However, they lived miserable lives which made them feel abandoned. Betrayal did not bring them peace even after running to exile despite the innumerable persons who died as a result of their disloyalty and changed allegiance.

The “Cambridge Spying Ring” had a significant financial, human, and ecological cost. On the one hand, the US and UK lost many investigative officers due to betrayal. At the same time, the five all died miserably and left their families as desolate social units. Additionally, the spying and intelligence departments in both countries lost loads of funds. They did not succeed in their activities and lost human resource personnel trained at a hefty cost.

We can learn numerous lessons from the five criminals discussed above. Initially, it is evident that the criminals never trust each other. It is documented that after Burgess and Maclean fled away to Moscow, Philby and Blunt turned against each other. Philby wrote to the head of MI6 suggesting it was Burgess who was giving all the material documents to the Soviet. Blunt also visited deputy director of MI5 and pointed fingers to Burgess.

Works Cited

Barnes, Julian E. "The Third Man” U.S News & World Report, vol. 134, no. 3, Jan.2003, p. 61.EBSCOhost,mail.lagcc.cuny.edu/viplogin/default.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=8948521&site=ehost-live.

Boyle, Andrew. "Britain’s Establishment Spies." New York Times (1923-current files).9 Dec, 1979, pp. 5. ProQuest, http://rpa.laguardia.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.rpa.laguardia.edu/docview/123888746?accountid=11946.

Boyle, Andrew. The fourth man: the definitive account of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean and who recruited them to spy for Russia. Bantam Books, 1980.

Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth. “Cambridge University Spy Ring "Encyclopedia of espionage, intelligence, and security. Ed. K. Lee Lerner. Gale, 2004.pp. 151-155.

Ron R. "Kim Philby and the age of Paranoia." New York Times (1923-Current file), 10 July, 1994, pp. 13. ProQuest, https://rpa.laguardia.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.rpa.laguardia.edu/docview/109342648?accountid=11946.

"Burgess, Guy." Encyclopedia of World Biography, edited by James Craddock, 2nd ed., vol. 34, Gale,2014, pp.44-47.GaleVirtualReferenceLibrary, http://link.galegroup.com.rpa.laguardia.edu:2048/apps/doc/CX3788300029/GVRL?u=cuny_laguardia&sid=GVRL&xid=64670272. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.