The (Actual) Communist Agents Who Lurked Among Us
American Fears About Soviet Spycraft Never Seemed to Match Reality
Russian spies held a morbid fascination in the minds of Americans dating back to the Red Scare in 1919, following the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of the Communist International, of which the Communist Party of the USA became a constituent member, subject to extra-territorial discipline imposed from Moscow. Global domination was indeed Moscow’s declared aim, the issue, however, was whether this goal was at all practicable. Jonathan Haslam, George F. Kennan Professor in the School of Historical Studies, discusses this notion in his piece which originally appeared in Zócalo Public Square.