Podcast Summary: Mark Harrison, "Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity under Soviet Communism" (Stanford UP, 2023)

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Mark Harrison
Date: January 31, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Dr. Miranda Melcher interviews Dr. Mark Harrison about his book Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity under Soviet Communism. The discussion examines the origins, structures, and consequences of state secrecy in the Soviet Union, exploring both historical context and theoretical frameworks. Harrison provides a comprehensive analysis of how secrecy functioned as an instrument of power, its institutionalization under Stalin, its operational costs, comparisons with Western practices, the impact on society and international relations, and the legacy of these practices in modern Russia.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. Mark Harrison’s Background and Book Genesis

• Harrison’s experience:

  • Retired economic historian, University of Warwick.
  • Early researcher in post-Soviet archives, sparked by observations about defense procurement and its reliance on secrecy.
  • "I was fortunate to be one of the first to get inside the Russian archives after the Soviet Union collapsed. And there I found it, full of secrets." (01:56)

• Project origins:

  • Secrecy’s role in procurement inspired the long-term research culminating in "Secret Leviathan".
  • "It took me 25 years to write this book." (01:56)

2. The Four Pillars of Soviet Secrecy (03:32)

• State Ownership: Monopolization of economic production, distribution, and media enabled centralized control over information.

• Censorship: Broad, effective censorship apparatus reviewing all public information (media, theatre, comedy, etc.).

• Conspirative Party Norms: Communist Party, with roots in underground activity, imported conspiratorial practices into governance, codifying the “need to know” principle and conspirativeness.

• Secret Departments & KGB Oversight: Every organization had a KGB-supervised secret department for government communication and distribution of secret instructions, ensuring control and discipline.

  • "Every party member who had any responsibility at any level was educated in how to behave like a conspirator, which meant really tell nobody anything unless they have a direct need to know." (04:34)

3. Stalin’s Role in Institutionalizing Secrecy (07:13)

• Stalin systematized party membership control and codified conspirative norms after the Revolution.

• Authored and enforced detailed rules for information access and internal behavior.

• The system became more intense and exclusive under his dictatorship.

  • "Stalin had this capacity for very, very hard work, doing arduous, boring jobs that involved mastering a huge amount of information because it mattered to power." (07:28)
  • "A few of them bear his personal signature, but he's the element of continuity in the development of these rules." (09:39)

4. Post-Stalin Adjustments and Continuity (10:16)

• After Stalin's death, some relaxation in censorship and data publishing (like statistical yearbooks), but core principles of secrecy persisted.

• The system remained flexible enough to tighten or relax according to leadership preferences; fundamental structures unchanged until late 1980s.

  • "The system that Stalin created really remained in place until the late 1980s." (12:36)

5. Comparing Soviet and American Secrecy (14:14)

• Both states had secret classifications, but American secrecy was public and continually debated, while Soviet secrecy was itself secret, reflexive, and self-multiplied.

• In the US, leaks were common and sometimes protected by legal/free speech rights; in the USSR, virtually unheard of.

• Systematic concealment allowed Soviet leadership to hide crimes and suppress public knowledge.

  • "The Soviet system of secrecy was always a secret itself. In my book, I call this the reflexive quality of Soviet secrecy." (16:40)
  • "In western societies, we are used to opening the papers and finding that somebody's leaked some important file... In the Soviet Union, this never happened, not once." (18:46)

6. The Secrecy–Capacity Trade-off (20:19)

• Over-secrecy came at substantial cost—roughly a third of officials' time spent on compliance rather than core duties.

• Secrecy could secure a dictator’s rule but reduced administrative efficiency, societal participation, and innovation.

• Open societies optimize for lower secrecy to enhance accountability and trust; dictatorships accept inefficiency for increased security.

  • "Government officials may have spent about a third of their time dealing with those sorts of things. And that's a third of your time that should have been. Well, could or should have been spent doing your core functions." (22:39)
  • "If you're a dictator, you may well make a different calculation. More secrecy may make...the government more costly to operate, but it makes you more secure." (25:31)

7. Heightened Fear and Unintended Consequences (28:32)

• Fear peaked post-WWII, paradoxically even higher than during war emergency.

• Small infractions or accidents (e.g., unintentional disclosure) became criminalized, bureaucrats often could not access rules governing their own work.

• Overly complex secrecy produced paralysis, lobbying, and risk-averse behavior.

  • "A new law followed by new instructions...meant that people responsible only for secret paperwork were not allowed to read the instructions that now governed their work." (32:31)
  • "Instead they started thinking, how do I survive this sudden increase in the danger in my environment?" (33:36)

8. Impact on Society and Social Trust (35:16)

• Ordinary citizens internalized secrecy, becoming habitually discreet, distrusting strangers and public discussion, sometimes even within families.

• The culture produced a low-trust society, with lasting negative economic and social effects—echoed in post-Stasi East Germany research.

• Soviet policies inadvertently fostered social atomization and distrust.

  • “Just as the state became very secretive, so too ordinary people learned to live very secretive lives.” (36:30)
  • Noted quote: “I don’t know who I can say anything to, not even in bed with a pillow pulled over my head.” —Isaac Babel, as cited by Harrison (37:29)

9. Impact on International Relations (40:32)

• Soviet secrecy enabled rearmament while projecting commitment to arms control, creating distrust with adversaries.

• Concealment led to a credibility gap, increasingly problematic from the 1960s–80s, peaking in the crisis-prone early 1980s.

• Gorbachev’s glasnost was motivated by realization that even Soviet leadership lacked reliable information on state defense burden, undermining negotiation credibility.

  • "The published Soviet figure for defense at this time was probably a fifth of the truth figure by any standards." (44:27)
  • “There was no figure, no true figure that they could reveal as the truth and restore trust in the Soviet Union as a negotiating partner.” (45:07)

10. Decision-Making: Policy or Culture? (47:43)

• Three frameworks for understanding Soviet secrecy:

  • "Culture of secrecy" (deeply ingrained norms—helpful but not sufficient).
  • Secrecy as policy (rational but changes slowly—long periods between adjustments).
  • Secrecy as an institution (rules of the game supported by a governing coalition).

• The reality blends all three, with culture, politics, and practicality each playing roles.

  • "All these approaches have their limitations. They all have something to tell us, and they're just part of our toolkit." (51:26)

11. The Post-Soviet Evolution: Russia Today (52:49)

• Putin as "intelligent designer" of a consciously evolved system, blending Soviet methods with new strategies.

• Key difference: modern technology enables rapid peer-to-peer information, making total control unfeasible.

• Contemporary authoritarianism undermines certainty via disinformation and myth-making—a “Leviathan of a thousand lies”.

  • "What modern authoritarian rulers do now is...exploit the existence of peer-to-peer information sharing and social media to disempower people in a different way by spreading uncertainty... I call it Leviathan of a thousand lies." (57:27)

Notable Quotes

• On Stalin and secrecy:
  "A few of [the secrecy rules] bear his personal signature, but he's the element of continuity in the development of these rules." — Mark Harrison (09:39)
• On reflexive Soviet secrecy:
  "The Soviet system of secrecy was always a secret itself. In my book, I call this the reflexive quality of Soviet secrecy." — Mark Harrison (16:40)
• On citizen adaptation:
  “Just as the state became very secretive, so too ordinary people learned to live very secretive lives." — Mark Harrison (36:30)
• On contemporary Russia:
  "What modern authoritarian rulers do now is...exploit the existence of peer-to-peer information sharing and social media to disempower people in a different way by spreading uncertainty... I call it Leviathan of a thousand lies." — Mark Harrison (57:27)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:56] — Harrison’s background; book origins
• [03:32] — Four pillars of Soviet secrecy
• [07:13] — Stalin’s central role in systematizing secrecy
• [10:16] — Post-Stalin adjustments
• [14:14] — Comparison of Soviet and American secrecy systems
• [20:19] — The secrecy–capacity trade-off
• [28:32] — Heightened fear, unintended consequences of over-secrecy
• [35:16] — Everyday life, social trust, and the consequences for ordinary people
• [40:32] — Secrecy’s impact on international negotiations and Gorbachev’s reforms
• [47:43] — Theoretical approaches to secrecy (policy, culture, institution)
• [52:49] — Post-Soviet transformations: Putin’s Russia and the information era

Closing & Current/Future Work

• Harrison is working on two new projects:
  • KGB preventive policing in Soviet Lithuania (with Eugenia Nazarolaeva).
  • Broader history of economic warfare since 1800 (with Stephen Broadbury).
• Emphasizes relevance to today’s world: parallels in economic warfare, shifts in authoritarian technique, and the enduring legacy of state secrecy.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a penetrating look into how secrecy shaped—and continues to shape—state power and society in Russia. Harrison’s historical, analytic, and comparative perspectives make the episode valuable for historians, political scientists, and anyone interested in the links between information, power, and trust.