The KGB - Masters of the Soviet Union PDF
Preview The KGB - Masters of the Soviet Union
THE MASTERS E 2£2L UNION SOVIET PETER DERIABIN BAGLEY T.H. $24.95 KGB the OF THE MASTERS UNION SOVIET PETER DERIABIN BAGLEY T.H. Mikhail Gorbachev has been hailed as the herald of a new era of international coopera- tion. This uncompromising book argues that Gorbachev might not be as revolutionary as we would like to believe. The authors show how Soviet foreign policy in fact stems from — the leaders' struggle for internal power and therefore how the KGB's operations abroad are afforded the highest priority. The true function of the organization is to keep the Party in power, whatever the human cost. It is estimated that while the population of the USSR has only doubled since 1905, the repressive apparatus of the KGB has in- creased eight-fold. Whereas other books on the KGB empha- size its subversive role in foreign countries, this book, uniquely written from an insider's viewpoint, focuses on its dominant role within the Soviet system. In the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the activities of the KGB to date, the authors look back to its founding in 1917, and also put current events in perspective. Most importantly, they provide sound guidelines by which Western observers can distinguish fundamental from superficial change. "AWWtANciSco.OA Wloe ' tip W UP KGB WORLD AFI u, UBRARV 8AWFKAWCISCO.OA JM108 KGB Masters of the Union Soviet Peter Deriabin and T.H. Bagley HIPPOCRENE BOOKS New York 1 Copyright © Peter Deriabin and T.H. Bagley All rights reserved. For information, address: Hippocrene Books, Inc. 171 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Library ofCongressCataloging-in-Publtcation Data — Deriabin, Peter, 1921 KGB : masters ofthe Soviet Union / Peter Deriabin and T.H. Bagley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87052-804-1 1. So—viet Union. Komitet gosud—arstvennol bezopasnosti. 2. S—oviet Union Politics and government 1917- 3. Internal security Soviet Union. I. Bagley, T. H. (Tennent H.), 1925- . II. Title. JN6529.I6D47 1990 354.470074^c20 89-2859 CIP Printed in the United States ofAmerica. Every week television has showed the places where victims of mass . . . repressions were buried the burial places of tens of thousands ofour . . . citizens. Undoubtedly, the members ofthe K.G.B. can be ofessential . . . assistance in further searches. But even today, they are shut tight. . . . Withonewing, the K.G.B. defends thepeoplefrom theexternalenemy, and with the other, incomparably more powerful, it fulfills a particular, specific function. No, I don't mean the struggle against corruption. After the hard lessons ofthe past, with millions ofpeople murdered, all ofthis, without exception, with the direct involvement of the Cheka and the K.G.B., the threat to democracy in our present day cannot be considered mythical. The K.G.B. is removed from the control of the people. It's the most tightly closed, the most conspiratorial of all the Government institu- tions. The deep secretiveness which can be explained by the specifics . . . ofits activities insures that the K.G.B. is practically uncontrollable. When coming in conflict with the K.G.B. it is impossible to find the truth, and it is dangerous to seek it. Even now people considered dangerous by the apparatus are threatened with seizure forsupposed mental imbalance. Thedemocratic renewal in the country has not changed thepositionofthe K.G.B. inthepolitical system. This agency exercises all-embracing control over society, over each individ- ual. We are at a critical stage ofdevelopment. One hundred and fifty years ago, afriend ofPushkin's, PyotrChaadayev, wrote about Russia: "Wearean exceptional people. We belong to that number of nations, which do not seem to be part ofhumanity, but which exist for the sole purpose ofgiving afearful lesson to the restoftheworld." There must not beanymorefearful lessons. — Excerpts from the speech of Yuri P. Vlasov, member of the Supreme Soviet, delivered on May 31, 1989, on the role ofthe KGB. New York Times, June 1, 1989. Vlasov is a formerOlympic weight lifter. His fatherwas arrested in 1953 and never returned.
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