In the collection, Contemporary British History 1931-61, reviewed in this issue, there is an essay by Richard Aldrich of Salford University, one of the small but growing numbers of British academics trying to incorporate the activities of the intelligence and security services into post-war British history. In his essay on the Special Operations Executive (SOE) after the end of the Second World War, Aldrich writes that ‘the idea of destabilizing parts of Eastern Europe had clearly achieved a measure of interdepartmental support by November 1948 when the Russia Committee, under Gladwyn Jebb ….’. (p. 206) A little further on he adds: ‘In November 1949 the Cominform began to issue urgent calls for vigilance against enemy agents, at a time when all internal political opposition had been liquidated and there was no sign of the spread of Titoism. Near-hysteria gripped Eastern Europe and alleged Western agents were uncovered by the hundreds.’ The missing causal link for Aldrich is the scattering of covert operations run by the British in the Baltic and the Ukraine, most of which were blown: ‘knowledge of Western efforts seems to have driven Stalin to purge numerous innocent East European proteges on imaginary charges of subversion.’ (p. 207)
For Dr. Christopher Andrew, on the other hand, the purges in this period were the result of the ‘paranoid tendencies’ of Stalin and ‘the Centre’ which constructed a vast but wholly imaginary American conspiracy round the activities of a fellow-travelling American Quaker, Noel Field, who had been in (innocent) contact with many leading figures in the Soviet bloc. (KGB: the Inside Story pp. 336-341)
Neither refers to Stewart Steven’s book, Operation Splinter Factor (London 1974, 76 and 78). Steven’s book is also about Noel Field but in his version, Allen Dulles of the fledgling CIA used Field, his contacts with the Soviet bloc, and a Polish intelligence defector-in-place named Swiatlo, to create the paranoia. Swiatlo discovered ‘plots’ everywhere, their reality was confirmed by other US intelligence assets and Radio Free Europe broadcast messages to a host of non-existent US agents apparently planning mayhem within the Soviet bloc. It was a brilliant deception operation; but it resulted in the deaths of many thousands of people, but also, Steven argues, ensured that the new Soviet satellites experienced the worst aspects of Soviet domination. This, argues Steven was Dulles’ intention. (Those with a simple view of the ideology of British media managers please note that Steve is editor of the Mail on Sunday.)
Although running to three editions in the 1970s, Steven’s thesis has never been taken seriously by either the historians of the cold war or writers on the CIA. The only reference to the thesis I know of is in Leonard Mosley’s biography of the Dulles brothers, Dulles (Dial Press/James Wade, New York, 1978) pp 275-7. Mosley describes the same scheme and personnel, but attributes it not to Dulles but to Frank Wisner and claims that it resulted in the imprisonment or death of 150,000 people in two years. Although written four years after Steven’s book was published, Mosley says that ‘the source of the information about it (British, incidentally) does not wish to be identified.’ (p. 510). Certainly not Steven.
Now that the Cold War is over it may be possible to begin to get a real fix on what was actually going on during the early years. John Le Carre is quoted on the cover of the paperback that Steven ‘has unearthed a dreadful tale’. It certainly is that. But is Steven’s version correct? Although some of his sources are anonymous, many are not. In the paperback (p. 206) Steven states that ‘after I had completed my book I learned that the American writer Robert Deindorfer is due to publish the memoirs of an ex-officer of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, in which not only is the operation featured but its name is revealed..’ I don’t know which book this is. Does anyone else? Information on this and on Splinter Factor would be most welcome.
Robin Ramsay
Steve Dorril adds:
If we assume that Operation Splinter Factor did take place, were the covert MI6 operations in the Baltic and Ukraine during this period part of it? Did the British launch their guerrilla operations with Soviet Bloc emigres knowing that while they had no chance of success, they would bolster the fantasies being spread by Swaitlo and US radio broadcasts? This hypothesis would explain why these operations were so inept.