The Secret History of Operation Trust w/ Richard B. Spence & Recluse (Patreon)

The guest for this outing is making his third appearance on The Farm and his second in the subscriber's section. Richard B. Spence is one of the foremost authorities on secret societies and their ties to intelligence services active today. He is the author of Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly, Wall Street and the Russian Revolution 1905-1925, and of course the classic Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence, and the Occult. He was also the host of "The Real History of Secret Societies" on the History Channel's The Great Courses series.

Richard and I are not talking secret societies or cults in this one for a change. At least not an overt secret society or cult, though Operation Trust bore more than a few traces of such things. Operation Trust has been in the news once again of late. Launched during the early 1920s, "The Trust" is often depicted as a daring undertaking by the fledgling Cheka, one of the earliest incarnations of what became the dreaded KGB. In essence, the Cheka created a monarchist front group within the Soviet Union for the purposes of rounding up the remaining White Russians still working to destroy the Soviet Union. Both Russian and Western sources universally depict it as a rousing success, one that destroyed the remaining White resistance and even led to the capture and execution of the UK's "Ace of Spies," Sidney Reilly.

Or at least that's the official narrative.

Despite being one of the most celebrated intelligence operations of the 20th century, it remains shrouded in mystery nearly a century after Operation Trust was officially wound down. And there many reasons for this, least of all because both the British and Russians have good reason to perpetuate the myth of The Trust. In this outing Richard and I will attempt to set the record straight. As always, I hope you guys enjoy.