Cambridge Five - Fifth Man

Fifth Man

On the basis of the information provided by Golitsyn, speculation raged for many years as to the identity of the "Fifth Man". The journalistic popularity of this phrase owes something to the unrelated novels The Third Man and The Tenth Man, both written by Graham Greene - who, coincidentally, knew and worked alongside Philby during the Second World War.

It is now widely accepted that the spy ring had more than five members, possibly many more, since three other persons are known to have confessed, several more were nominated in confessions, and circumstantial cases have been made against others. The following were certainly Soviet spies.

  • John Cairncross (1913–1995), confessed in 1951; this was publicly revealed in 1990. He was also accused by Anthony Blunt during Blunt's confession in 1964. Cairncross is not always attributed to belong to the 'Ring of five'. He was a fellow student at Cambridge and a member of the Apostles with Blunt, therefore present at the recruitment of the others.
  • Leo Long (later an intelligence officer), similarly accused by Blunt in 1964.

Ludwig Wittgenstein is alleged by Kimberley Cornish, in his 1998 book The Jew of Linz, to have been a Soviet recruiter at Cambridge; but Cornish's theories about Wittgenstein and his influence on Hitler have found little acceptance.

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