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cine gee eee Sn HE a AP le A pl eta etait 7 &s Burgess and MacLean: In the mind of the public these two names have become inseparable: Like Laurel and Hardy, Castor and Pollux, Guy Lux and Leon Zitrone, Tintin and Milou, Bouvard and Pecuchet. But, we should not make a joke of it: the names of these two English diplomats, who disappeared from Engiand in May of 1851, and did pot reappear until five years later at Moscow, are still today aynonyrous with shame and embarrassment throughout the British kingdom. Burgess and MacLean are perhaps the first great self- inflicted slap in the face that modern England has received. After that came the Vassal Scandals (a young naval attache defecting under the pressure of Russian blackmail for homosexuality) the Ward - Profumo - Christine Keeler Scandals, - undoubtedly evan greatar than tha dafartinn af tha tun ainloamata Aftar =v wan see ewes wees Base VAY Sawes SSR Bes Ser ey a tree ae eo ; > 8 34 this, England began to say to itself: “Well! All things considered, maybe our citizens are also corruptible and fallible.” THE “DECAYED " ELITE But, until Burgess and MacLean, England believed in loyalty, uprightness, and dignity of the elite which made up ‘the Establishment." Until Burgess and MacLean, in England it was understood that a young man from a very good family, who had gone to very good schools and colleges (Eton, Oxford, Cambridge), who belonged to very good clubs, and who had entered into Her Majesty's Service in the Foreign Service, could not defect. He vould be a gentleman, and gentlemen make up the backbone of giand. | Now, with Burgess and MacLean (who both had each of the qualities required bythe Establishment") the ayth was shattered: there are not gentlemen init: there are weak men, alcoholics, probably homosexuals, chatterers and talkers who betray the nation without a shade of remorse, Wot only is the myth shattered, but it is rapidly transforming itself completely (especially witb the Christine Keeler Affair ten years later): henceforth, it will be said that one must distrust the elite, because it is the most Wecayed” class in all the nation. England today has had some difficulty in finding its balance between these two myths, and will henceforth only place a part of its confidence in the gravest assurances of the most solemn government. And, all this because of - Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean and ... a‘third man.” , - —: - 2 = \