Blacklisted by History is excellent. I think I’ve just been introduced to my next book purchase.
One of the most fundamental misconceptions people have about Soviet spies is that they were people who furtively photographed military bases, defense plants etc. to acquire information about our weapons, strategies and so forth. While this certainly did happen, far and away the greatest effort of theirs was in the promulgation of propaganda and misinformation into the organs of the American public with the intent of manipulating public opinion and corrupting our culture. There was a man named Willi Munzenberg, who was a part of Lenin's inner circle (the only non-Russian I believe) who became something of a propaganda czar, who, working through the COMINTERN established what he called "innocents clubs" (front groups comprised of the same people Lenin called "useful idiots") in non-communist counties. He himself worked primarily in Europe, but he had a huge budget from the Kremlin (laundered through the COMINTERN), and was very successful in establishing his "innocents clubs" in this country. His right-hand man in America was a guy named Otto Katz, and he was very good at hob-nobbing with Hollywood and New York glitterati at the time...seducing many of them, wittingly and unwittingly into various "anti-facist" front groups. Munzenberg understood that while a military domination of this country wasn't possible then, our media, education establishment and popular culture, what he called "The transmission belts of our society" were easy prey. His effectiveness at infiltration, and manipulation of powerful and influential members of American society is nothing short of breathtaking. Frustratingly, few people in our country have even heard his name. There is a book by Stephen Koch titled Double Lives that I was unable to put down. It describes the "Munzenberg Trust" and the ways that Soviet Intelligence manipulated American culture. The more I've learned about this aspect of Soviet espionage, the more I believe that our 'economic victory' over the Soviet empire was a Phyrric victory, because of what they did very much by design to our culture and society. I see Munzenburg's ghost standing at the shoulders of modern American talking heads in our media, modern celebrity leftists and modern American educators.