title: Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess, gay spies.
abstract: Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess were prominent figures in the Cambridge spy ring operating on behalf of the USSR from the 1930s into the 1960s. The essay describes the complex personalities of Blunt and Burgess, whose homosexuality and communism were related aspects of a rebellious, antibourgeois culture in 1930s leftist Britain. The focus is on male homosexuality, and the question is put whether, and in what sense, Blunt and Burgess served the left, and whether they can be role models for gays at the end of this century.
authors.affiliation: Department of History, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sommer
mesh_terms: D003148:Communism / Q000266:history; D005197:Famous Persons; D049673:History, 20th Century; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011057:Politics; D014586:USSR; D006113:United Kingdom