Amy W. Knight - The KGB: Police and Politics in the Soviet Union

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: COLD WAR SECURITY STUDIES

Volume 28

First published in 1990 by Unwin Hyman, Inc.

This edition first published in 2021

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ISBN: 978-1-00-312438-2 (Set) (ebk)

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ISBN: 978-1-00-310475-9 (Volume 28) (ebk)

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Police and Politics in the Soviet Union

Revised Edition

AMY W. KNIGHT

Copyright 1990 by Unwin Hyman, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Unwin Hyman, Inc.,

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Published by the Academic Division of

Unwin Hyman Ltd,

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Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd,

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Allen & Unwin (New Zealand) Ltd, in association with the Port Nicholson Press Ltd

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First published in 1988

First published in paperback in 1990

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Knight, A. W., 1946

The KGB, police and politics in the Soviet Union /

Amy W. Knight. Rev. ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-04-445718-9

1. Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnostiHistory.

2. PoliceSoviet UnionHistory. 3. Soviet UnionPolitics and

government1945- . I. Title.

HV8224.K571990

363.2830947-dc20 89-21459 CIP

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Knight, Amy W. 1946

The KGB: police and politics in the Soviet Union. Rev. ed.

1. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Komitet gosudarstvenno i

bezopasnosti

I. Title

327.120927

ISBN 0-04-445718-9

Set in 10 on 12 point Palatino by Computape (Pickering) Ltd

and printed and bound in Great Britain by

Biddles Ltd, Guildford and Kings Lynn

I am deeply indebted to a number of persons whose generous help has made this study possible. I particularly want to thank Robert Slusser and George Leggett. Their own excellent scholarship on the Soviet political police served as an inspiration to my work; both painstakingly read my manuscript in its entirety and provided invaluable source materials. I am also grateful to my former teacher at the London School of Economics, Peter Reddaway, who read and commented on the manuscript and whose work on the dissident movement stimulated my initial interest in the KGB. Harry Rigby, Graeme Gill, Werner Hahn, George Breslauer, Robert Sharlet, and Robert Stephan were also kind enough to read and comment upon portions of the manuscript.

A number of other scholars have given advice, expertise, and help. Special thanks are due to Barbara Chotiner, Martin Dewhirst, Rose Gottemoeller, Thane Gustafson, Eugene Huskey, Ellen Jones, Bruce Parrott, and Elisabeth Robson.

My colleagues at the Library of Congress have provided much support. Albert Graham, David Kraus, and George Bogounoff were especially helpful in my efforts to locate sources. I am also grateful to the staff at Radio Liberty in Munich, in particular Keith Bush, Elizabeth Teague, Peter Kruzhin, Herwig Kraus, and Peter Dornin, and to the Centre for International Studies at the London School of Economics for assistance when I served there as a Visiting Fellow. My editor, Lisa Freeman, and her assistant, Peggy McMahon, efficiently and enthusiastically coordinated the production of this book.

Finally, I owe deepest gratitude to my husband, Malcolm, and my daughters, Molly, Diana, and Alexandra for their unfailing support and patience.

With the decline of the Brezhnev regime in the early 1980s the Soviet Union entered a period of political upheaval unequaled except by that which followed Stalins death. In fewer than three years three successive general secretaries took power; unprecedented turnover occurred in party and state cadres; and now, amid signs of heated Kremlin debate, what could be substantial political and economic reforms are being introduced. These developments, which are in sharp contrast to the conservatism and stagnation of Soviet politics in the 1970s, have prompted Western scholars to look anew at the Soviet system and to reassess assumptions about the nature of Kremlin politics, just as they did during what seemed to be a turning point in Soviet history after Stalin died. Much of the scholarly debate has centered on the role of Soviet institutions in the political process and on the question of how Soviet leaders gain power and authority. Did Gorbachev, for example, rely on support from a specific group of party cadres to consolidate his power, or did he appeal to institutions outside the party? Where have the various interests lined up over key issues, such as economic reform and relations with the West, and how do they exert their influence?