KGB

Résumé du livre

Mikhail Gorbachev was hailed as the herald of a new era of international cooperation. This uncompromising book argues that Gorbachev might not have been as revolutionary as we would like to believe. The authors show how Soviet foreign policy in fact stemmed from the leaders' struggle for internal power--and therefore how the KGB's operations abroad were afforded the highest priority. The true function of the organization was to keep the Party in power, whatever the human cost. It is estimated that while the population of the USSR only doubled between 1905 and 1990, the repressive apparatus of the KGB increased eightfold. Whereas other books on the KGB emphasize its subversive role in foreign countries, this book, uniquely written from an insider's viewpoint, focuses on its dominant role within the Soviet system. In the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the activities of the KGB to date, the authors look back to its founding in 1917, and also put recent events in perspective. Most importantly, they provide sound guidelines by which Western observers can distinguish fundamental from superficial change.--Adapted from jacket.