John Le Carre
John Le Carre’s novels about the infighting and turncoating within MI6 (the British secret service) during the early cold war years feature the antagonist Bill Hayden, based on life’s Kim Philby, the most spectacular of Russia’s moles within.
Le Carre was himself an agent of MI6, until Philby outted him to the Reds. He then turned to writing.
In the novels, George Smiley of MI6 (based perhaps on Peter Wright, author of the spectacular memoir Spycatcher) manages to nab Hayden in the end, and then subjects him to genteel debriefings as to how and why.
One can read Philby’s own account of his motives in his memoir, My Secret War.
But, more briefly in Le Carre, Hayden explains to Smiley why he decided to support Moscow:
“Do you know what’s killing western democracy, George? Greed. And constipation. Moral. Political. I hate America very deeply. The economic repression of the masses, institutionalized. Even Lenin couldn’t foresee the extent of that.
“Britain? Oh dear. No viability whatsoever in world affairs. Until the mid 50s I still had hopes. Lingering loyalty to what we represented. Self delusion, of course. We were already America’s streetwalkers.”
In life Philby avoided arrest and lived out his golden years in Moscow, loyal to the end.
2. Â I see that le Carre published an opinion in 2003 about the American invasion of Iraq.
