Traitors and Spies

Product Description

The history of Australia's intelligence operations in the early 20th century reveals the dark underside of Australian politics, including early infiltration by Russian agents, persecution of innocent civilians, and corruption, right up to the prime minister's office.The history of Australia's intelligence operations in the early 20th century reveals the dark underside of Australian politics, including early infiltration by Russian agents, persecution of innocent civilians, and corruption, right up to the prime minister's office.
'Deeply researched with keen judgements, it is a devastating indictment of Australia's security services and their political masters in the decades before the formation of ASIO.' - Professor David Horner, author of The Spy Catchers: The Official History of ASIO 1949-1963

Dozens of Russian anarchists, socialists and communists arrived in Australia from 1905, fleeing repression in their homeland. Finding work in the Queensland cane fields, Russian activists recruited in working men's groups for their revolutionary cause, laying the foundations for infiltration by Soviet intelligence services of the unions and Communist Party of Australia decades later.

This is just one of the many fascinating stories former intelligence officer John Fahey has uncovered in the archives of Australia, MI5 and the CIA. He shows that Australia was under sustained attack from external threats as early as 1908, threats the country consistently failed to address effectively. He identifies the first German spy in Australia, as well as a highly respected Jewish businessman in Melbourne who was a Soviet agent, and an Australian woman who worked for Soviet military intelligence in the US.

Internal security work is dirty work, never more than when ruthless politicians and police use intelligence services for their own ends. Fahey has discovered old boys' networks at the highest levels enabled security agencies to spy on members of parliament and other bureaucrats, mislead judicial inquiries, and persecute innocent citizens in the interwar years.

Traitors and Spies tells the story of Australia's intelligence operations before ASIO was established, and reveals a dark side of Australian politics in the first half of the 20th century.