No Other Choice: An Autobiography

by George Blake

When George Blake, a Senior Officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service, was sentenced in 1961 to forty-two years' imprisonment for spying for the KGB, the judge said he had undone most of the work done by British Intelligence since the war. Blake said nothing. When Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison five and a half years later, the British press said it was the escape of the century and that the KGB must have masterminded it. Blake was not around to comment. When some of Blake's fellow prisoners who had helped his escape later wrote books on their role, Blake himself kept silent.

When spy writers, fascinated by his treachery, pyschoanalaysed the forces which drove him, Blake did not defend himself. Now at last, Blake has decided to speak. Blake describes how he as eventually brought down; recalling his arrest and interrogation, his life in prison, his sensational escape, assisted by Limerick man, Sean Bourke, and his new life in Moscow. George Blake emerges as a most unusual personality, one determined to face the reality of a damaged world, but still coming to terms with the fact that the side he chose was not the communist paradise he had imagined. The book, like its author, will arouse powerful emotions, whether at the end of ti you revile Blake for his calculated treachery, or admire him for being a man who stuck to his beliefs because he says he had no other choice)

Genres: Espionage, Nonfiction, History, Biography

286 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 1990

About the author

George Blake, né Behar, (1922 - 2020) was a spy who worked for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and became a double agent for the Soviet Union. Captured during the Korean War, he was imprisoned by North Korean forces and became a communist, deciding to work for the Ministry of State Security (MGB). Upon returning to the United Kingdom, he resumed work with MI6 while secretly passing classified information to the Soviets, betraying dozens of agents working on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain.

Blake was eventually discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, one of the longest terms ever imposed for espionage in Britain. In 1966, with the help of fellow inmates and outside supporters, he escaped from HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in West London. He fled the country and made his way to the Soviet Union, where he was received as a hero.

Although not part of the Cambridge Five, Blake later associated with members such as Donald Maclean and Kim Philby after arriving in Moscow. He continued to live in the Soviet Union and, after its dissolution in 1991, remained in Russia. Blake was granted citizenship and lived out the rest of his life there, defending his actions until his death in 2020 at the age of 98.

Reviews

[Laurie B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt to me like this autobiography was purely about defending the author’s decision to become a double agent, and turn against the country (the UK) that had taken him in as a war refugee. While I read this book because I wanted to learn why someone in this position would not feel any sense of loyalty to their country (which he did explain quite well), I was expecting more reflection on whether it was a wise decision, given the fact that a large bit of time had passed from the time the author was charged with treason to when he wrote this book.

[Derek Nudd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The question at the back of my mind while reading this was, how honest is it? This man made his living by deception and must have been writing with the KGB's reaction in mind even if, as he claims, he didn't show it to them before publication.
It's an important question because every biography I have seen leans heavily on this work. Some writers (most recently Kuper for The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake have secured interviews but independent witnesses and documentary sources are very thin on the ground.
My feeling at the end was that the bones of the narrative are accurate, within the limitations of memory, but there are gaps. Some of the vagueness around dates and durations is no doubt due to fading recall but it can also conveniently obscure bits he wants to leave out.
Much of the book is taken up by his political and ethical musings which give an insight into his motivation. Since the pressures of sex, money and blackmail don't seem to apply I think we can take them as genuine. I can understand some of them, agree with almost none. Might have been material for a fascinating discussion.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a number of books on George Blake, including the account of his dramatic escape from Wormwood Scrubs so I thought I would read his own account of his life and his spying escapades.

And at the very least we learn in his own words why he took the path to spy for the Russians. Having reflected on his upbringing and issues that he had faced as he developed his knowledge and gained experience of world affairs, and dabbled in them, too. As a youngster in Holland, where he was born, he had, during the Second World War, delivered messages around the country for the Dutch underground despite being aware of the consequences of being caught and, with his reputation well known, later he was recruited by the British Secret Service.

He served in Korea, was captured and was imprisoned in a communist prisoner of war camp where his feelings for the east were fine tuned. On his release he went back to his Secret Intelligence Service post where his career blossomed. He was well thought of, promoted and played a part in what became known as the famous Berlin tunnel operation and his main objective in his day to day work was trying to recruit Communists to spy for the West. But nobody was ware that by then he had been recruited as a KGB agent.

And back to his reasons for becoming so, having very carefully weighed up the options, he writes, 'So I made my choice, fully aware of its implications. I realised that I would be betraying my friends and colleagues in the Service. I realised that I would be betraying the country to which I owed allegiance. I weighed all this up and, in the end, felt that I should take this guilt upon me, however heavy. To be in a position to render assistance to so great a cause [as communism] and not to do so, would be an even greater wrong.' He wanted to gt this out because he was fed up with people believing that he had turner spy for the money but in fact he never took a penny for his work in this direction.

So he wrote a note in Russian to the Soviet Embassy and, after a long delay in which he thought the Russians were not interested in him, things began to move and he was eventually recruited and given a contact man. That was it, he was a KGB man from then on but he does write, 'I am often surprised myself how I could, then and later, keep up the deception so successfully.' He added, 'Once one had started with it, one has to go on with it, whether one like s it or not. I couldn't very well one day start saying to people, "You know, I am really a Soviet agent." If I had the odds are no one would believe me, though they would have certainly have thought I certainly had a screw loose.'

And so his KGB career was underway and he pursued it avidly, working out the best ways to photograph documents and devious ways to meet up with his KGB contacts. He tells plenty of stories of his escapades which continued until word leaked out that there was a spy in the MI6 camp.. And the finger eventually pointed at him so he was tried and sentenced to 42 years in prison, supposedly one year for each of 42 agents that had been killed due to his treachery. But he swears that he never took a penny *or a rouble!) for his work.

He then writes bout his time in prison where he appears to have been very kindly treated by both prison wardens and inmates. But all the time he was determined to escape and with the help of a former prisoner and some very loyal friends he did. Then it was how to get out of the country, an operation that the same friends arranged. Then he was eventually smuggled into Russia and his new life began. He had left behind his wife and sons and began a new life with the likes of fellow spies Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Kim Philby as his Moscow friends.

He describes life in Moscow in detail, writes of his new wife after his first wife divorced him and his adjusting to having a new family and the rewarding job that he was given within the Russian establishment. A Moscow apartment a dacha in the country were two of his awards for his espionage work and some of the last words in this engrossing autobiography are 'the years in this country, living among the Russian people as one of them, have been the happiest and most stable period in my life.' Well I never ...

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating autobiography by one of the Cold War spies. George Blake managed to spend much of his early life engaged in "Boys Own" adventures albeit some of these he may have preferred to have avoided. A teenager during the Second World War he escaped from occupied Holland to England where he joined the intelligence service. After the war he was sent to the Far East where he was caught up in the Korean War and spent time as a prisoner of the North Koreans. It was during this time that he embraced Communism and offered himself as a double agent to the Russians. When released he spent several years working for the British intelligence service in Berlin whilst photographing sensitive documents which he passed on to the Russians. He was finally uncovered when another agent whom he had dealings with was captured. Sentenced to 42 years in prison he then managed to escape with help from Wormwood Scrubs and get smuggled out of the country making his way to East Berlin and freedom. He has since lived in Moscow and is regarded as a Soviet hero.

Threaded through the book is also an account of his family life which throughout has been a source of comfort and strength. He discusses his religious and ideological beliefs as the justification for his actions. In truth he was a traitor, betraying the country who had taken him in as a refugee, provided him with further education, a career and a wife and family. In the book he states that his actions did not lead to any deaths of those agents in the field whom he betrayed to the Russians. Published in 1990 revelations from Soviet intelligence officers have since refuted this claim. At the time of writing George Blake had settled into Russian life enjoying a privileged lifestyle as a result of his work. He recognised that Soviet style communism had not delivered the socialist utopia he and others had imagined but still felt his actions had been justified - hence the title of the book. Although not part of this autobiography it may be that this has since been tempered by the knowledge that his actions did lead to the deaths of others.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather remarkable and easy to read autobiography from George Blake, a former British spy who worked as an agent for the Soviet Union. He became a Communist and decided to work for the KGB while a prisoner during the Korean War after warming to the ideology as he fought against it in the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during WWII in the Dutch Section. Later, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1966 and fled to the USSR. The rather exciting prison break and flight is detailed here. He was not one of the "Cambridge spies", concluding material is fascinating about life in Soviet retirement with comrades Donald Maclean, Kim Philby, and others that also reached the USSR. Her comes across as committed to Communism, despite some criticisms of Soviet life. He offers a Christian predestination theory (hence the title) while being an unabashed apologist for both Communism and his espionage activities against his adopted country of Britain.

[Vladimir · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really nice autobiography spy story.

[LaiYee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into the world of spying.