Secret Policing and Mistrust

On the evidence, partly qualitative and partly indirect, Soviet society was characterized by low trust. The chapter discusses whether this was a product of communist policies and institutions and, if so, was intended or unintended. By its nature, the Soviet police state drove its enemies underground. To identify and neutralize them, the secret police used undercover informers. A few documents from the Lithuanian KGB archives show how the KGB developed productive informers and illustrate the role of trust in the relationship between case officer, informer, and target. The purpose of winning trust was to carry out covert deception. However, the penetration of society by informers was an open secret. Private citizens learned to distrust strangers, especially those that sought familiarity. Secret surveillance reduced trust, harming citizens’ willingness to cooperate with the state. Low trust raised the costs of secret surveillance.