Review | Stalin’s superspy in China and Japan: champagne Communist Richard Sorge seen in a new light in An Impeccable Spy
- Despite more than 100 previous biographies, the Soviet secret agent Kim Philby called impeccable has remained an enigma until now
- Shanghai fed the dedicated, disciplined Bolshevik’s appetite for wine, women and song, as Owen Matthews recounts in a new biography
An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent
by Owen Matthews
Bloomsbury
4/5 stars
The title of Owen Matthews’ highly readable biography of Shanghai- and Tokyo-based Russian superspy Richard Sorge opts for the adjective “impeccable”.
British double agent Kim Philby, a man who knew a thing or two about the spy business, first described Sorge this way, but it’s not entirely clear why. Sorge was certainly a successful spy who, in the 1930s, created an unparalleled network of agents in China and Japan – what became known as the “Sorge ring”. But impeccable?
His espionage accomplishments were undeniable, but he took risks that endangered himself and others. His lifestyle was far from impeccable – much crashing of motorcycles, drunken rants and constant womanising – and the bottle and the bedroom repeatedly exposed him and his informants.