KGB
Some facets of KGB of USSR
Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosty or KGB for short, was the intelligence service of the Soviet Union, which functioned from 1954 to 1991. It was a successor institution to Cheka, OGPU, NKGB and the likes which were functioning as intelligence units earlier.
All sovereign states have their own intelligence units, to gather information and to spread information or misinformation. They are primarily responsible for providing the state executive with important details pertaining to other friendly and unfriendly sovereign states. The KGB was formally abolished in 1991 and now its different activities are carried on by different agencies.
Soviet Union (U.S.S.R)
Soviet Union (U.S.S.R): The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics came into being after the successful October 1917 Revolution of Bolsheviks in Russia. Inspired by Marxism, it was the first Workers’ State of the modern times. Lenin was architect of USSR and the new state faced a number of internal and external difficulties. It was thought that only in advanced capitalist economies, the industrial proletariat would be able to seize political power. However, as it turned out, the revolutionary fervour in Russia under the able leadership of Lenin succeeded in establishing the first worker’s government.
The four years of war and three subsequent years of civil war had drained the economic resources of the Soviet Union. The hostility of Western Powers who would not tolerate a communist government had to be taken care of. Nevertheless, the new state began to function. But it had to wage severe battles within and without to consolidate its position.
Problems of the new state
Problems of the new state: At the end of the First World War even the victorious nations had to face great economic hardships. The losing nations were forced to pay enormous war indemnities which wiped out their resources and added to the bitterness.
In course of time it would lead to hardening in the attitude of the people towards the victorious nations and fascism would raise its head in Germany, a defeated nation and Italy a victorious nation! In terms of gains the victors did not have much to boast of . It is no surprise that Soviet Union was under grave threat to protect its sovereignty. The problem was compounded by the fact that theoretically isolated socialist movement in one country alone could not succeed when it is surrounded on all sides by capitalist states. Even within the Soviet Union socialism was not accepted by all and a sustained effort had to be taken to bring all factions together so that the country could march ahead in reforms and progress.
Soviet experiment
Soviet experiment: The new way of life sought to be introduced by the Bolshevik party laid stress on state ownership of all means of production and control of distribution of goods and services. It was believed that private ownership and pursuit of profits led to exploitation of not only labour but also general resources of the country. It was thought that proper management of production to meet all the basic needs of the people must be given first priority before producing goods for comfort or luxury. When the ownership is sought to be abolished, the government has to take care of the requirements of all the citizens from birth to death. This would naturally involve planning of unimaginable magnitude and execution of the same and utmost cooperation of the people. Naturally the possessing class would not voluntarily relinquish its rights.
In theory, the state has to assume the responsibility of food, clothing, residence, education, health, work, recreation and every aspect of the individuals life. The idea was no doubt to bring total elimination of inequalities. Whether wage differences were abolished, whether all sections of people could rise up to their potential, whether the disabled or disadvantaged had their due share were all pertinent questions. Above all, the capitalist order everywhere was not sympathetic to this new and bold experiment, where there would be no private property and collectivism in all aspects of life would be the order of the day.
Precursors to KGB
Precursors to KGB: We stated that KGB functioned from 1954 to 1991. Cheka was the organisation founded within weeks after the formation of the Soviet Union. The new government faced internal and external threats and an intelligence agency to inform the political executive of the happenings and take measures to fight against counter-revolution was a must.
Cheka was committed to do that. “The Cheka underwent several name and organizational changes over the years, becoming in succession the State Political Directorate (OGPU) (1923), People’s Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) (1941), and Ministry for State Security (MGB) (1946), among others. In March 1953, Lavrentiy Beria consolidated the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the MGB into one body-the MVD; within a year,” All these bodies were in theory answerable to the executive but in Soviet Union as the single party was in total control of all state activities, these were wholly controlled by the party. In other words the party used these and subsequently KGB to entrench itself strongly and ruthlessly hunt out the dissidents. So when we talk of the activities of the KGB, it has to include the deeds of its earlier forms as well. We shall briefly state its role in helping the government till 1954.
Years of consolidation
Years of consolidation: From 1917 to 1954, in the 37 years of functioning the secret service had rendered great service to the Communist party in the USSR. In the first years when White Army had to be subdued and the Secret Service had its agents every where.
All these years were the years of Joseph Stalin: After 1924 when Lenin had passed away, only Trotsky remained to challenge the authority of Stalin. But Stalin was a past master in the art of organisation and Trotsky was reduced to fight for his own survival, eventually exiled from the Soviet Union. The absolute loyalty of the secret service during the life of Stalin was unequivocal and remarkable. Rather, the personal rule of Stalin shaped the power and prestige of his secret services. In fact his word was law and anyone who dared to question his authority would lose ground sooner or later.
Stalin’s supremacy
Stalin’s supremacy: Joseph Stalin exercised the control over Communist International, subordinated aspirations of the communist parties of different European nations to that of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. He proclaimed that he would experiment with the concept of “Socialism in one country” which was against the tenets of Marxism. But he had to maintain peaceful relations with powerful states like Britain and U.S.A. His advocacy of ‘peaceful co-existence’ was thus a ruse to maintain intact at least the sovereignty of the U.S.S.R. It has been alleged that be betrayed the interests of the working class people in Europe to make the survival of the Soviet Union easier. It has also been alleged that his pact with Hitler also had this end in purpose. But everything changed when Hitler invaded USSR and had to beat a retreat. The Soviet Union helped the cause of Allied Powers greatly during the second world but extracted its own price at the end of the war when for all practical purposes it began to exercise hegemony over East Germany, Poland Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and some smaller states as well. Despite many shortcomings, it cannot be denied that Soviet Union became reasonably industrialized and concentrated on scientific advancements as well. The end of the war saw temporary uneasy truce between the capitalist powers and the Soviet Union. Both wanted to gain time till each one thought that it could wipe out the other.
The advantage of US having atom bombs was short -lived as the USSR too soon acquired the know-how to produce atomic weapons. The USA, by virtue of its strong economy decided to strengthen capitalist system in Europe and accordingly through Marshal Plan for strengthening economies and military treaties like NATO helped Western Europe to rebuild the economies after the shattering impact of the Second World War. As the Soviet Union was prepared to sacrifice comforts and luxuries so that it could military pose a challenge to capitalist counties, for a period of thirty years from 1950s the world witnessed what is referred to as “Cold War”. The KGB played a significant role during all these years.
KGB 1954 to 1991
KGB 1954 to 1991: Now, we shall see the structure and functioning of KGB from 1954 to 1991. The KGB was a very vast organisation employing literally thousands of people. Its head enjoyed the rank of a Soviet Minister. It had its presence in all government departments, universities, manufacturing units, railways, airways, virtually everywhere.
There was not a single area in the land which was outside its purview. The primary purpose was to detect if there were any serious ‘dissenters’ who could influence others. As the country had only a single party system and legally no other political party was permitted to function, the danger of subversion of party discipline had to be carefully monitored. The KGB units were functioning in all the constituent republics of the Soviet Union but the administration of the constituent units did not have any control over the functioning of the KGB in their states.
Directorates
There were as many as 16 directorates within the KGB. The first one was dealing with Foreign Affairs. From that many divisions were carefully designed and brought under a particular directorate so that nothing escaped the iron-clad grip of this organization. Internal security, military structure, the communications net work and every major and minor activities of the state functioning was under the scrutiny of the officers of the KGB.
The hierarchy of officials in the different directorates ensured that indoctrination of state ideology went on and that there would be no place for dissensions. In fact even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union the outside world has always wondered at the extraordinary manner by which KGB was able to strike terror in the minds of the ordinary citizens in the country. There is no doubt about three generations of the people from 1917 onwards were subjected to one of the rigorous state controls of all time. The KGB was entrusted with the power “to investigate the political crimes of treason, espionage, terrorism, sabotage, anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, divulgence of state secrets, smuggling, illegal exit abroad, and illegal entry into the Soviet Union.” It arranged prosecution through regular state agencies but the latter were mere handmaids of it.
Foreign Activities
There were as many as 16 departments within the KGB dealing with different nations in the world. They covered geographically the whole of the earth. Of course the primary concentration had always been the U.S.A., Britain, Germany, France and some important European Countries. However, during the “cold war” times a number of other states were given special importance. But in important states like the USA, there were two streams of officials. Those with diplomatic immunity worked from embassy and consulates and a number of official agencies. Though some were specifically entrusted with espionage, they had diplomatic immunity. However, there were a number of recruits who were special assets but were not entitled to diplomatic cover. They were either lured by the ideological appeal of the Soviet system or the money that came in their way. From 1945 to 1955 there was immense hatred of the communist system in the USA and there was almost witch-hunting. Then there was Senator McCarthy whose vituperation against communism was sustained. Writers, thinkers, liberals and even actors were not spared from the scrutiny of monitoring by the US State.
But the KGB has its own way of doing things. Government documents, sensitive information, details regarding military strength all surprisingly were copied and sent to KGB headquarters. Apart from this very able agents of KGB could penetrate into the research activities of the government and the universities. The result was a remarkable updating in the scientific progress of the Soviet State. In fact the first artificial satellite was launched by the USSR!
From the 1980s much use was made of electronic surveillance: satellites began to play a significant role in espionage. Technological growth in advanced economies were carefully noted and attempts made to copy them as much as possible.