A Death in Washington by Gary Kern

Author:Gary Kern [Kern, Gary]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780982491157
Publisher: Enigma Books

28

IN HIS MAJESTY’S SERVICE

Life for Krivitsky was pure calculation. The world was a battleground of competing ideologies, governments and intelligence agencies. Every individual, if not an enemy, was a source, conduit or leaky faucet of information. Every word was a little bomb that could change a viewpoint, motivate an action or affect a third party. He had to calculate what he could say to whom, when and how, and how what he said would travel down the line and branch off in a dozen directions. In regard to the Soviet Union, where his mind and his heart were conflicted, he had to make a strict division between the future promise, which he retained, and the present reality, which he abhorred, and to protect the first while damaging the second. This task was very much like Trotsky’s, but without the Old Man’s messianic conviction in the Fourth International. He also had a strong sense of personal allegiance, despite reports to the contrary, so that when making strategic strikes against Stalin he had to avoid hitting friends. The challenge when giving out secrets to the West was therefore rather tricky.

Nevertheless, the tally for damage done during his one year in America was considerable. In his popular articles he had exposed past Soviet operations, such as the American counterfeiting scheme and the Spanish gold heist, which possessed little intelligence value, yet reflected poorly on Stalin’s intentions and trustworthiness. He also had written about the bloody purges and assassinations, history more recent, which reflected poorly not only on the chief assassin, but also on all of his admirers and advocates abroad. He had warned of the future pact with the devil, which drew out all sorts of little demons, and then, once it was made, fixed them in a spotlight. As Shmelka Ginsberg, he had disgraced the New Masses and its ilk. As former spy, he had discredited the incoming Soviet ambassador. As government consultant, he had detailed the use of false documents by the OGPU and Fourth Department, prompting the State Department to invalidate all American passports likely to be in Moscow’s possession and setting in motion the arrest of passport violators such as Nicholas Dozenberg and Earl Browder. Both were convicted on passport fraud: the first went to the federal penitentiary at Lewisburg early in 1940 with a one-year sentence; the second went to the federal penitentiary at Atlanta in March 1941 with a four-year sentence. As private citizen, so to speak, he had empowered men like Levine and Waldman, who would continue to fight the Communists, and Chambers, who would cause them big trouble in the future. And as accidental friend to the English, unbeknown to himself, he had exposed a critical foreign agent before he could subvert British war communications. Now he was headed toward a comprehensive debriefing by British intelligence experts. There would be little room to hide.482

The Duchess of Richmond docked in Liverpool on Friday, January 19, 1940. “Mr. Thomas” was met at the port by a man named Major Alley and possibly by a Major A.

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