Gouzenko: The Untold Story

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

On September 5, 1945, Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, walked away from his desk carrying a sheaf of secret documents that provided conclusive evidence of Soviet spy operations involving Canadian citizens. Though his proof was at first received with disbelief or scepticism, the truth of the allegations was soon proven, and various persons implicated were arrested and convicted. The Cold War was on, and some people believed it had been launched by Gouzenko’s actions.

He became a man of mystery, living under assumed names and RCMP protection, appearing in public with a pillowcase over his head, forever in fear for his life and his family’s safety. His fear of exposure, however, contrasted sharply with his avid desire for publicity and fame, to say nothing of his absolutely compulsive craving for more and always more money. It ran through his fingers like water. His book Fall of a Titan was a bestseller, but in no time at all he was penniless again. He instituted numerous lawsuits; he would sue almost every time his name appeared in print, and he usually collected. His was a fascinating life story, never fully examined until now, after his death.

The full significance of his defection is still the subject of debate. Here he is revealed in an oral history of his Canadian years as remembered by neighbours, RCMP bodyguards, journalists, publishers, friends — and enemies.