Klaus Fuchs: a spy for the atomic age

Fuchs was like almost every other soviet spy in WW2 and post-war / pre-cold war action - a useful idiot who refused to believe the reports at the end of the war of the mass wave or rape and pillage that the Soviets unleashed on Germany, or the political terror that Stalin unleashed. This was understandable, given that spreading such information (until Khrushchev legendary denunciation of Stalin after his death) was a great way to kill your career, and/or your life.

There was a unbelievable amount of naivete among the atomic scientsts, that worked across all different parts of the political spectrum. Many were openly talking about a government that would replace democratically elected institutions with a technocracy where only the informed civil servents would make centrally planned decisions for the good of all mankind. Many bought the idea that the USSR’s actions in Europe were justified because it was the only path to true communism. Many became the monsters that they fought - willing to justify anything to roll back fascism and later communism.

Regardless, the idea that Fuchs was only moved by a rational actor theory is very hard to support.