Vic Allen
Encyclopedia
Vic Allen is a British academic who is a former Professor of Economics at Leeds University who was revealed to have been an "agent of influence" for the East German Stasi
secret police.
Leaving school at 15, he was a bricklayer before war service. Attending the London School of Economics
from 1946; he gained his doctorate at the institution. He became a lecturer at Leeds in 1959, and became a Professor in 1973. Allen was the official historian of the British National Union of Mineworkers, a confidante of Arthur Scargill
.
In 1985, a member of the national committee of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
, he came last in a ballot to choose the chair of the organisation. He was revealed in September 1999 to have been an "agent of influence" for the East German Stasi
secret police, from material contained in the Mitrokhin Archive
, possessing the code name "Barber". Allen has boasted on "pass[ing] on information about CND's activities ... [but] considered that perfectly legitimate because he belonged to a pro-Soviet, pro-East German faction of the group."
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
secret police.
Leaving school at 15, he was a bricklayer before war service. Attending the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
from 1946; he gained his doctorate at the institution. He became a lecturer at Leeds in 1959, and became a Professor in 1973. Allen was the official historian of the British National Union of Mineworkers, a confidante of Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
.
In 1985, a member of the national committee of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
, he came last in a ballot to choose the chair of the organisation. He was revealed in September 1999 to have been an "agent of influence" for the East German Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
secret police, from material contained in the Mitrokhin Archive
Mitrokhin Archive
The Mitrokhin Archive is a collection of notes made secretly by KGB Major Vasili Mitrokhin during his thirty years as a KGB archivist in the foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Directorate...
, possessing the code name "Barber". Allen has boasted on "pass[ing] on information about CND's activities ... [but] considered that perfectly legitimate because he belonged to a pro-Soviet, pro-East German faction of the group."