57 min

Canadian Author and Journalist Joyce Wayne Rolls Up the Soviets and Local Members of the Cold War’s Ottawa Spy Ring The Live Drop

    • History

Joyce Wayne has written a historical novel called The Last Night of the World  about a Soviet female operative, a key player in the Gouzenko Affair.  When Igor Gouzenko defected from the GRU to the RCMP in September of 1945 the west would see for the first time the extent of Soviet espionage activity in North America.   His 200 pages of documents would reveal a covert ring of dozens of operatives working for Soviet military attaché and GRU Rezident Nicholai Zolotkin in the capital city.  
In this interview Joyce lays out the setting of wartime Ottawa, the unassuming spy city just north of the American border.  Aside from diplomatic and government centers, a target of intelligence collection was an hour and a half north of Ottawa at the atomic  facility called Chalk River, which is still  in use today as an active research facility.
Joyce’s fiction has the haunting credibility of a first-hand account. Her father was a member of Zolotkin’s ring and managed to avoid detection and prosecution throughout his life. He left the communist party in 1947, disillusioned with Stalin’s brutality. She explains the attraction of Communism in the 1930s and 40s and how this period, and the Gouzenko Affair, is not talked about much in Canada.

TRANSMISSION 029

More about the author at Joycewayne.com
Her book The Last Night of the World is available on Amazon.
Other works cited in this interview:
How the Cold War Began, by Amy Knight
The Fall of a Titan, by Igor Gouzenko
The Spy Who Changed the World: Klaus Fuchs, Physicist and Soviet Double Agent  by Mike Rossiter

The Sound of Neutrons - Deep River Players - Chalk River, Ontario

Spybrary Episode with Joyce Wayne

Joyce Wayne on Spycast

Live Drop theme on electric cello by Danica Pinner danicapinner.com
More available at show notes on  thelivedrop.com

Hello Listener,

If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary, and content.  A $10 a month donation will really keep us going ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop
Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season Three operational you could offer a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop
Thank you for listening and your support,
Mark Valley
Creator/Host




Get bonus content on Patreon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joyce Wayne has written a historical novel called The Last Night of the World  about a Soviet female operative, a key player in the Gouzenko Affair.  When Igor Gouzenko defected from the GRU to the RCMP in September of 1945 the west would see for the first time the extent of Soviet espionage activity in North America.   His 200 pages of documents would reveal a covert ring of dozens of operatives working for Soviet military attaché and GRU Rezident Nicholai Zolotkin in the capital city.  
In this interview Joyce lays out the setting of wartime Ottawa, the unassuming spy city just north of the American border.  Aside from diplomatic and government centers, a target of intelligence collection was an hour and a half north of Ottawa at the atomic  facility called Chalk River, which is still  in use today as an active research facility.
Joyce’s fiction has the haunting credibility of a first-hand account. Her father was a member of Zolotkin’s ring and managed to avoid detection and prosecution throughout his life. He left the communist party in 1947, disillusioned with Stalin’s brutality. She explains the attraction of Communism in the 1930s and 40s and how this period, and the Gouzenko Affair, is not talked about much in Canada.

TRANSMISSION 029

More about the author at Joycewayne.com
Her book The Last Night of the World is available on Amazon.
Other works cited in this interview:
How the Cold War Began, by Amy Knight
The Fall of a Titan, by Igor Gouzenko
The Spy Who Changed the World: Klaus Fuchs, Physicist and Soviet Double Agent  by Mike Rossiter

The Sound of Neutrons - Deep River Players - Chalk River, Ontario

Spybrary Episode with Joyce Wayne

Joyce Wayne on Spycast

Live Drop theme on electric cello by Danica Pinner danicapinner.com
More available at show notes on  thelivedrop.com

Hello Listener,

If you've enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, please consider signing up as a contributing patron and join the community for exclusive commentary, and content.  A $10 a month donation will really keep us going ---> https://www.patreon.com/thelivedrop
Alternatively, if you would like to help make Season Three operational you could offer a one time donation of any amount right here ---> https://www.paypal.me/thelivedrop
Thank you for listening and your support,
Mark Valley
Creator/Host




Get bonus content on Patreon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

57 min

Top Podcasts In History

The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
American Scandal
Wondery
Throughline
NPR
You're Wrong About
Sarah Marshall
American History Tellers
Wondery
Dark History
Audioboom Studios