Customer Reviews

My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy

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Although reviewers are correct in stating that this "autobiography" reveals very little about the author, it should be said that a Philby "expert", who spent a week in Moscow interviewing Philby for the Sunday Times, admitted that even he was not sure who the infamous spy really was. Perhaps Philby himself was doubtful. Philby remains, in essence, a chameleon throughout the book, and his "autobiography" fails to satisfy those who want the answers to two questions: why and how Philby managed to betray his country and bring down an entire intelligence service. There are great gaps in this book. It entirely skips over Philby's recruitment by Soviet agents at Cambridge, and although it begins with an exciting episode in Spain, it describes almost nothing about Philby's "other" work. In fact, there is so little mention of Philby's work as a double agent, that I began to forget that this man, while making great inroads in Turkey and Spain for his service, was betraying it at the very same instance. It is difficult to believe that Philby was a double agent when he shows obvious pleasure in the success of his plans, even when they work against the very people he is supposedly loyal to: the Soviets. At least one thing may be garnered from this autobiography: that Philby was not, as Nigel West pointed out, an "ideologue", but rather a theorist, and a manipulator, who was willing to sacrifice nearly everything to play his complex games of espionage.

If, however, you are content to read about the endless political manoeuvring and intriguing inherent in the British intelligence service, along with its restructuring and development during WW2 and post-war years, then this is the book for you. Just don't expect any gripping accounts of Philby's deception. This isn't what Philby's book is about: rather, it's an insider's look into the British intelligence service, with the gloves off.

"My Silent War" is, however, well-written, and is certainly not a piece of Communist propaganda, although the reader would do well to remember that the author's prejudice falls heavily on the side of that particular ideology, and therefore his account of several historical figures and events is rather suspect. Philby's arrogance is not altogether off-putting, and in some passages, he can be quite charming, even funny. Still, it is hardly a satisfying autobiography.

*I would instead recommend John Le Carre's novel, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", for those looking for a true tale of espionage. Though Le Carre's book is fictional, it is based on the Philby case, and shows the true devestation a "mole" can cause. Le Carre himself was a member of the SIS, and was even an acquaintance of Philby's, and therefore his novel is extremely true to life and makes for fascinating reading.

The autobiography of Kim Philby, minus the last years (25) he spent in the Soviet Union, after his defection in 1963, is STILL a great read, his influncing US spy Hanssen, or not, notwithstanding. Mind you, a great deal of what he states is misinformation, based on fact, but that in itself makes for an even better read, for it is precisely at that game, that of misinforming, that Philby had no peer in the world of intelligence, ever. Moreover, his crafty use of the English language should also provide readers with a clue, or two, about the use of it, as should his former MI6 colleage and friend Graham Greene's brilliant prologue. Philby's unremorsefulness, disdain for his Queen and Country, and true allegiance to the communist cause ( which had already lasted nearly 35 years by the time the book was written), is not really the point here. After his defection, he knew what sort of people would buy his memoirs, and that was for the most part the MI6, MI5, FBI and CIA crowd he'd worked so hard to penetrate, and desinform, through the long years. And, in 1967, he wanted to inflict an even bigger damage on them. In this regard, he only partly succeeded. For a complete overview in the life of this, the most intriguing of all British traitors, interested readers should turn, first and foremost, to "Treason in the blood" ( tracing both Kim's and his famous father St John's lives). In addition, American readers could explore "The Cambridge Spies: The untold story of McLean, Philby and Burgess in America", for a detailed, and harrowing account of how much did Philby and their cohorts achieve, in as little as a seven-year period at the dawn of the Cold War (from McLean's arrival in Washington, in 1944, to Philby's departure from the US, in 1951, and including Burgess' short, but deadly D.C. stay, at the start of the Korean War in 1950), in the penetration of the US intelligence establishment, on Moscow's orders.

"My Silent War" presents a witty and literate glimpse into the subtle mind of one of the KGB's most successful spies, Kim Philby. The Cambridge graduate had thoroughly penetrated MI6 and was being groomed to be "C", or head of British Intelligence (although some writers including Nigel West dispute this) during World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, when he was finally unmasked because of the flight of his fellow Cambridge spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess.

Kim Philby, according to Seale and McConville, has become a "caricature" of "Western demonology," a "byword of reproach," the deadly "viper" in the "trusting bosom of his country" ("Philby: The Long Road to Moscow," 1978, 13). Nigel West's characterization of "My Silent War" as a "vitriolic" memoir illustrates this (even though his assessment of Philby in "The Friends" [1988, 51-68], is otherwise balanced). As evidence of "vitriol" he presents Philby's judgment ("MSW,"109) of Sir Stewart Menzies ("C" of MI6) as an intellectually "unimpressive . . . fairly cloistered son of the upper levels of the British establishment" whose attitudes [as far as counterespionage was concerned] were "schoolboyish-- bars, beards, and blonds"--an assessment that West himself confirms in "The Friends" (117). "Vitriol" in this instance and truth do not seem to be mutually exclusive. Was Menzies truly "hounded" by Philby's words? In retrospect, they seem rather mild when compared to those of John Le Carre (a.k.a. David Cornwell of MI5--eternal rival of MI6) in respect to Philby in the MI5-agent-turned-best-selling-author's introduction to Page, Leitch, and Knightley's "Philby: The Spy who Betrayed a Generation" (1969, 24). Le Carre writes: "In ten year's time [Philby] may be stopping British tourists in the Moscow streets. Imagine that leaky-eye and whisky-voice, that hesitant, soft-footed charm [.]"

Now THAT is vitriol!

Demonizing only impedes historical truth, as far as it can ever be discerned. Yes, Philby wrote in Moscow under the noses of the KGB, and was therefore selective in his reminiscences, but "My Silent War," written in lucid prose, never ceases to fascinate. Raising as many questions as it answers, the book never sinks to Communist Propaganda-- Philby is too clever by far, and too competent a writer. An absorbing read, Kim Philby' s autobiography fully deserves its niche in the "Modern Library" series.

Treason tends to get rather an unflattering press, however successful and elegant-minded the traitor. The basic question of loyalty goes back, I guess, to time immemorial. Moral philosophers have flailed at it incessantly, all to no purpose whatsoever in my own view. The issue comes down to this - each and every one of us recognises different, and often conflicting, loyalties. Socrates let himself be framed in court on a nonsensical charge and accepted the death penalty in the name of upholding the Law. More fool Socrates, I can only reflect, for all my general enthusiasm for the Rule of Law. Under what circumstances would any of us denounce others for what we would agree was wrongdoing? That would vary, I guess, but I never heard of anyone whose answer was `under any and all circumstances'. In particular, where national laws are involved, they are all in the last resort, as Britain's eminent late Lord Chancellor Quintin Hogg Lord Hailsham observed, `a con'. Nations are not some be-all nor yet any end-all unless we decide for ourselves that they shall be so.

The case of Philby is one where I find the opinions of the Great and the Good more enlightening and useful than I usually find them. Graham Greene goes straight to the main point - Philby has a chilling and unshakable certainty in his adopted communist faith. He offers no apologia for Stalin's atrocities, he just presents the faith to himself as more important and lasting; and that, as Greene says, is what Catholics have done for centuries. What did Philby have against his native land? Frankly, little or nothing that I can see. He is the English of the English. He despises Baldwin and Chamberlain, but so did many without giving their main loyalty to the Soviet Union as Philby did. John le Carre is too outraged to talk sense or fact (?Philby had `no women'? Apart from his being married four times, just read Muggeridge on Philby's proclivities as a womaniser. ?Philby had `no faith'? Well done Philby, if I understand that). Le Carre acknowledges some primacy of patriotism, whereas Greene does not. Nigel West has a different slant, and one that I find interesting. Philby, says West, was fundamentally an ego-tripper, embracing communism by way of exercising his superiority complex. That could be right, but I wouldn't bet much on it.

I simply cannot assess the `sincerity' of Philby's communist convictions: indeed I would not claim to know what I mean by that term. What I do say is that I find the personality put across in Philby's way of expressing himself to be enormously attractive and engaging. In another context, this might be the absolute exemplar of the English public-school product - articulate, elegant, witty, showing a sense of proportion and a delightful sense of the ridiculous. About his private life there is absolutely nothing in this book. He was widowed on one occasion, for all you could tell from this narrative - I found this fact out from the brief curriculum vitae at the back - and I can only wonder what it can have been like to live with a man living this kind of double life, indeed how he slept at all, let alone with someone else. The story-line is as good as Greene says it is - completely riveting and better than most spy novels (Mr le Carre please note). He got away with it all for 11 years after his elite Cambridge lefty friends from the 30's Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess fled to Russia on being unmasked as spies, and they never brought him to trial because he had gone to Moscow via Beirut when the rumbling suspicions were finally confirmed, never to leave.

Philby never really made the headlines in the way Burgess and Maclean did, partly because their discovery was at the height of the early cold war and the baleful era of Joseph McCarthy; partly because they were both homosexual, Maclean of the closet variety, Burgess a complete roarer. After their disappearance I still recall the cartoon by Bud Neil in the Glasgow Evening Times. Two workmen in flat caps were emerging from a manhole in the street, and one of Bud Neil's shapeless women says to another `It widnae be them?' Distance lends enchantment to the view, but Philby has brought a lot of the enchantment back. Eleu loro.

The book has thirteen chapters and the first ten are painfully boring. The last three chapters, although somewhat interesting, lack significant detail to ever recover from the three and a half hours of your life you just waisted. Philby has much more to say about every day office politics than anything about espionage. If I was writing a book and had nothing to say this is the book I would write. At the end there is a four page chronology on Philby's life. Take two minutes in the book store and read the chronology and you will get more out of it than the 202 pages that came before it. The best part will be putting it back on the shelf and moving on to something more interesting.

I just love his humour, the book is straightforward, without any political bull.... The guy only once and very shortly explains his motivation behind "converting" and then goes on to tell it all (or sort of). In this business it is quite impossible to tell it all of course.
As a homo sovieticus myself, I was quite impressed about the information in this book. I would have betted for more censorship, after all it was written in Soviet Union!

Very good book. Well written. Simply put, Philby was true to the cause he believed in. How wrong was this really? Makes you wonder. Before I read the book my opinion of Philby was cut and dried: TRAITOR! After reading his autobiography I am left with questions as to how mistaken were his loyalties to the "wrong"(in our opinion) philosophy. Be as it may, he was loyal to the very end, and with no material gain (unlike other spies). Make no mistake, he will always be a monster and a spy, but he was doing his job, one he believed in and dedicated all of his life to. He should not, and cannot ever be forgiven for what he did, but perhaps better understood for his motivation.

Whereas, Philby is extremely circumspect in his story, and reveals almost no details of his traitorous actions, this short text, fully describes the chaos of the early British secret service. This book is almost written tongue-in-cheek, as though Philby is poking fun at his former colleagues. The book borders on catty. He describes some of the people he betrayed with strange affection, and others with old-style British disdain.

What is revealed, and quite lucidly, is the utter chaos of the formation of the British Secret Service in the early years of WWII. He makes it clear how easy it was to manipulate the Service on behalf of his Soviet handlers. His rise to head of the Soviet counter-intelligence group was facilitated by the petty rivalries within the various divisions, each seeking its own funding and personnel.

As his old school education, Cambridge education, and clear articulation reveal, he was moved forward mostly because of his ability to write briefs clearly in a world of petty bureaurocrats who relied on men who were either frankly inept or more concerned with politics than solving problems.

As this book is a quick read (as long as you skip quickly over the various explanations of divisional structures), it is worth a look. I had this book sitting on my shelf for years, but decided to read it after watching "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Le Carre has taken much of the Philby betrayal and created his superb spy thriller from actual events of the day.

One interesting footnote, is that Grahame Green remained friends with Philby until his death. Green visited Philby after he removed to Moscow before being arrested.

If you're looking at this book, you are likely familiar with Kim Philby's CV, so I won't discuss that. Rather than buying this book, I suggest you check it out from your local library, and not waste your money. All of the things that would make this autobiography worth reading are simply not there. Instead, you get Philby's smug account of his career in the most general, broad-brush terms. Egotistical, self-absorbed, self-impressed -- the author's writing style, and personality, makes for a very dull book. But, that gives you an idea of why he was so successful for so long -- he obviously thought he was the smartest kid in the classroom and could outwit everyone else. Other than that insight, I kept waiting for him to say something revealing and was disappointed. I'm really not sure who would find this book interesting.

If you're looking for any understanding of why Kim Philby betrayed his country for so many years you won't find it here. The book is more a series of chapter length anecdotal stories about events we already have learned more about elsewhere. What does show through though is his ego centric disdain for the rest of the "players" in his world.

Don't expect to read about his early years, his many marriages, his motivations or his reaction to Khruschev's 1956 lifting the veil on Stalin's terror years. Not here.

For a better understanding of Philby and his co conspirators - read "My Cambridge Friends" by Yuri Modin. Modin was his KGB handler and the handler of most of the other Cambridge crew : Cairncross, Burgess, McClean and Blunt. McClain apparently was the most destructive of the 5 for he provided strategic political insight to Soviet leadership. Philby, though devastating to western spy networks and the longest serving of the 5 (except perhaps for Blunt), didn't so much alter the course of world politics and power but the way the "game" was played.

I don't know who the royalties for this book go to. But I wouldn't be wanting to make charitable contributions to them. It wasn't in Philby's nature to be charitable.