I’m reading a book about the Cambridge or Magnificent Five, one of whom was Donald Maclean and one of the most successful KGB agents in the British government. His recruiter’s policy was to pick people specifically from the University. His strategy was to pick “young radicals before they became influential in the careers he hoped they would enter.”
He said “given that the Communist movement in these universities is on a mass scale and that there is a constant turnover of students it follows that individual Communists whom we pluck out of the party will pass unnoticed, both by the party itself and by the outside world. People forget about them. And if at some point they do remember that they were once Communists, this will be put down to a passing fancy of youth, especially as those concerned are scions of the bourgeoisie.”
This is very interesting because many people use the fact that they were students as sort of proof that they were young and naive and this KGB stuff must be nonsense, and while that still may be true, here is proof that they specifically target students. What do we know about the political beliefs of the group? I know Lyuda was a staunch communist, and from the book I’m reading now they seem to pick very smart, conscientious people that they think will be elected or can work in high echelons. That makes me think any of them could have been KGB recruits, perhaps especially those from wealthier backgrounds (Rostem?) Do we know the political beliefs of the group?