The Petrov Affair: Spies Down Under - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with another spy video, this time focusing on the so-called Petrov Affair that shook Australia in the 50th.
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[@TheColdWarTV]

Offset your carbon footprint on Wren: www.wren.co/start/thecoldwar The first 100 people who sign up will have 10 extra trees planted in their name!

[@chellybub]

Hey just a heads up the audio is a little weird during the Wren plug. Just thought you may not have noticed. Sometimes when you check these things through speakers it doesn't sound as bad as it does through say headphones or earbuds. Hope this helps, it's a good cause and I'd hate for people to skip the ad (or the rest of the video for that matter) due to poor audio quality in the segment. I remember reading about this incident so as an Aussie I'm very interested to see what you have to say in the episode. Back to the show!

[@thetoiletinspector6878]

Very interesting. I've been listening to a podcast about the KGB being active here in New Zealand during the cold war, made by a guy whose parents were NZ Security Intelligence Service agents during the cold war. The NZ SIS were breaking into embassies, including the Czech embassy in order to steal the communication codes for the Warsaw pact countries. If anyone is interested, the podcast is called "The Service" by RNZ.

[@aquilarossa5191]

We moved back here from England when NZ went nuclear free and got suspended from ANZUS. It seemed to me we got punished for that. Inflation and interest rates went sky high, which tends to happen when countries defy Uncle Sam. Part of it was Labour going neoliberal though (half the Labour MPs turned out to be hardcore right wing on economics, e.g. Roger Douglas etc).

[@thetoiletinspector6878]

@@aquilarossa5191 In that RNZ podcast, they talk to former PMs, ex SIS agents etc, but they also interview the former deputy Soviet ambassador to NZ who was based in Wellington, and he said the Soviets thought that the nuclear free policy and the suspension of ANZUS was their opportunity to undermine the five eyes alliance. They also hoped that it was the start of a separation between the Pacific region and the US, leaving a gap the Soviets could fill. It was interesting too because one of the ex SIS agents described when he and another agent tailed a couple of KGB agents from the Soviet Embassy in Wellington, and he described the route they took. I was born and raised in Wellington in the 80's, so checked that route they took on google earth and recognised places i'd been to as a kid. That's when they first discovered a high ranking NZ govt Civil servant was secretly meeting with the KGB. Little old NZ mixing it with the big Russians lol.

[@HVACSoldier]

@@aquilarossa5191 Part of that was because New Zealand had two parties that were indistinguishable in economics. When that happens, some people in politics tend to look at alternatives and take advantage of a new opportunity that would appeal to certain voters.

[@grophers1189]

Just subscribed!

[@Sniperboy5551]

That’s probably why New Zealand and Australia are part of Five Eyes

[@thatsme9875]

well done, good to see an Australian story covered in a reasonable and factual manner. keep up the great work! from Australia

[@CA999]

One footnote is that it during the 1980s the KGB eventually found the Petrovs despite their new identities. The head of the KGB decided to do nothing about it, but was also the same powerful one who decided to escalate military intervention into Afghanistan in 1979.

[@hypercomms2001]

Interesting story: opposite the Russian Embassy in Canberra is the Kingston Hotel that ASIO used to have a camera that looked out over the Russian Embassy Compound. One day, after the fall of the Soviet Union, things in the embassy compound became rather loose and a car was stolen from the Embassy Compound. The day after, the Russians rang ASIO and asked if they can see the photos taken from the Kingston Hotel!

[@peterhannan6067]

Great summary. And you pronounced Canberra correctly!!!

[@mncollins4224]

and then spelt Sydney with an i 10:46

[@garrywallace1007]

Excellent research of a seminal moment in Australian modern history.....Ms' Petrov's shoe fell off as she was forced onto the plane. It is in the national museum now!

[@PariahEarth]

"Come back to the USSR - we won't be mad!"

[@NoName-hg6cc]

Yeah, like our mums said after we did something bad: "come here I won't do anything!"

[@PariahEarth]

@@NoName-hg6cc "You're not in trouble, we just want to make sure you're safe." lol

[@grophers1189]

Vodka and gulags -err dachas for all!

[@Andrew-nb9ng]

reminds me of when the Snowden documents leaked and Obama tried to get Snowden to come back to the US, he said something to the effect of "I think he should come back to the US" lmao

[@samvodopianov9399]

This is interesting to me. First time I've heard of it. I'm a Russian Australian.

[@deathrow1009]

You have no idea how much I appreciate a Canadian calling Australia Straya hahahahahaha

[@TheColdWarTV]

I have learned several things in my life about 'Straya 1) flip-flops are called pluggers (double pluggers if they are the good ones) 2) drop bears are real and dangerous 3) drinking with Aussies and South Africans requires taking the next day to recover

[@tylerbozinovski427]

@@TheColdWarTV We call them "thongs" down here.

[@TheColdWarTV]

wait?? was I lied to about calling them "pluggers"??

[@CA999]

@@TheColdWarTV yes it appears so. It's casts doubt into your fact checking. We might have to consider our subscription to your channel...😜

[@Aliasalpha]

@@TheColdWarTV If its hot enough in summer, thongs will melt and then you can use the molten rubber to plug holes

[@ekmalsukarno2302]

Can you please make a video on Thailand during the Cold War. That way, you can talk about the multiple military coups and military governments that Thailand has had throughout its modern history, as well as Thailand's lese-majeste law, which remains to this day. Thank you very much.

[@vellocet2438]

This would be cool. Didn't the US enter Thailand during the Vietnam war for SOG stuff?

[@run2fire]

Never was aware of spying during the Cold War in Australia. Thank you!

[@nickhanlon9331]

The formation of the DLP was called'' the split''. My grandparents switched their votes because of this because they were devout Roman Catholics who had always voted Labor and they hated the idea of Communists having any influence in Australia. They switched to voting Liberal. Bob Santamaria, the founder of the DLP went to the same school as me. My father served in the Australian army and made it to Captain. This was all quite a change because my family had been very antI-British and had sat out WW1 in protest at the executions of the Irish revolutionarys in WW1.

[@robertbollard5475]

Irish Catholic Australians (about a fifth of the population before post WW11 immigration) had been overwhelmingly working class and voted Labor. The Liberal party was (and remained) a sectarian Protestant party, and as a consequence even conservative right wing Catholics of Irish origin had always supported the Labor Party. It of course also helped that the postwar boom lifted more Irish-Catholics out of the working class and into middle class respectability. That was the base of the DLP as you would never have Catholics voting Liberal. My Irish-Catholic Grandfather stopped going to mass in the mid '50s after the priest argued in favour of voting for the DLP. Another point not mentioned in the video was that the Australian Communist Party was the largest (proportionately) of the the Anglo-Saxon parties - 25,000 members at its height in 1945 compared to about 55,000 in the UK party and 75,000 in the US, but there were only 8 million people in Australia. Also over 1/2 the workforce was unionised and around half of those unions were either led outright by Communists or by an alliance between Communists and members of the left-wing of the Labor Party. The DLP never got more than around 10% of the vote, enough to get them a tiny number of senators but not win any lower house seats, but Australia's unique "preferential" system meant that their voters, who normally would never have dreamed of voting Liberal, could preference the Liberals ahead of Labor. This helped keep Labor out of power. Though in three elections (1954, 1961 and 1969) Labor actually won more than 50% of the vote but narrowly failed to secure a majority of seats due to too many of those votes being wasted in large majorities in safe Labor electorates.

[@TGBurgerGaming]

And The ALP version of Labor has never recovered while the DLP no longer exists. American influence/allegiance is unquestioned by the masses and now we get nuclear submarines and helicopters to fight china while remaining a democratic monarchy governed by a British head of state.

[@divarachelenvy]

omg I remember Santamaria's show on TV...

[@louisbeerreviews8964]

Labour is now the communist party

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

@@robertbollard5475 very informative, thank you.

[@andrewlim9345]

Thanks for covering the Petrov affair and it's impact on Australia's Cold War involvement.

[@richier5746]

Oh god he said Straya...

[@jasongarufi8187]

Thank you for bring this to people's attention a important part of Australia history and politics.

[@ShinobiHOG]

Wow, great video! Never heard of this event. I'm a geopolitical junkie, so please keep them coming. Learning about the history of it gives me a better insight into the current affairs......

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

Evatt actually read the letter in parliament and was laughed at by both sides, a very rare occurence in a Westminster parliamentary system.

[@grandmackie2704]

Damn thanks! This helped me for my history essay!

[@christopherwilks9636]

Time stamp 10:48 - Sydney is spelled with a Y not an I

[@kevkeary4700]

this is the first time I saw one of your videos/ I must say that they are very informative :-)

[@bishop6218]

It would be nice if someone made a TV series about those married spies working undercover in Camberra. They could call it "The Australians" or something like that. Would be super original 😁

[@nerdnoir7295]

nice one

[@SirWilliamKidney]

Great episode! The animations are looking especially good these days

[@charles300566]

That's another interesting, well-made video. I would disagree with one minor point, that a Labor government through the '50s and '60s might have keep Australian forces out of Malaya or Vietnam. I think foreign policy has always been pretty bipartisan Down Under.

[@jbkhan1135]

I love this series. Really well done, no political snark, just facts and interesting history. Excellent work!

[@Semperfi2011]

Other than the climate change hustle

[@joeserdynski1045]

This was way more interesting than the intro shows ! ! ! Thanks ! ! !

[@aleksaradojicic8114]

That was one big pro gamer move!!!

[@HansLasser]

Asking Molotov if the documents were genuine? I read somewhere that several Soviet citizens died from a mysterious laughing disease that year.

[@Stfn1990]

Super interesting! Great job! What about an episode on Oleg Penkovski? He was one of the most valuable sources for the west during the Cold War.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Nicely informative video. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.

[@MrTStat]

did you do a video on the PKI? I cannot remember!

[@beachboy0505]

Great video 📹

[@jovanweismiller7114]

I knew about the split in the Labor (sic) Party, but not what led up to it in this much detail. Thanks.

[@lagautmd]

I think it tells us one other thing about retaliatory and authoritarian regimes: The people working for you may come to fear staying loyal more than they fear defecting. For instance, Evdokia had to eventually realize that her family in the USSR would suffer greatly no matter what she did due to the retaliatory stance of the government. So, she might as well get the best outcome for herself. If she had confidence that coming home would be better for her family she might not have defected.

[@oldesertguy9616]

I can't believe all the things I don't know. Thank you for educating me.

[@joyofmath654]

10:43 Sidney -> Sydney ... Had me questioning myself for a good 30 seconds there

[@sandrabecht4489]

Vielen Dank👍🇩🇪

[@tremorsfan]

Sounds like it could be a good movie.

[@CA999]

Wow. I wondered if this event was even important to the cold war... I am surprised you guys event picked it up... To us Australians it was just media hype.

[@TheColdWarTV]

Is it a turning point in the overall CW? No, not really. But it not only shows that the Soviets were interested in gaining influence everywhere they could but it had a profound effect on domestic politics in Australia.

[@Dave_Sisson]

I wouldn't say it was just media hype. The Petrovs were genuine Soviet spies and this affair caused the third major split in the Labor Party in 30 years. Both are important events in Australian political history, especially the Labor split and Doc Evatt's behaviour which had a large part in causing it.

[@92spectrum]

It's hard to overstate the importance of the Petrov Affair on Australian domestic politics - it guaranteed Robert Menzies' re-election in 1954, led to the Labor Party split and drove Catholics away from the Labor Party (which had historically been the Catholic party). It all but guaranteed an entire generation of Liberal governments to come.

[@CA999]

@@TheColdWarTV yes. Good episode none the less. Much of our media would not 'allow' such a broad view context the matter. Even now Chinese Communist Party and other foreign influences on the political economy seems to be suppressed. I look forward to part 2 on the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975. It really ended hope ever since for any real prospect of independent policies right until the present day.

[@andriypohors2538]

@@TheColdWarTV please explain why the australians, brits and americans allowed the soviets to manifest inside their territories. they supposedly were in a 'war'.

[@jasmorris1286]

Oh Canberra, the capital city no one has heard of lol. Great work cold war team!

[@glenmcinnes4824]

As a kid I was told a story about how after a major cyclone hit Darwin it declared itself a SSR, the Government and Opposition leadership team where out of the NT buying up deserter relief supplies and begging the Feds for resources to help with the coming Cyclone season and to get federal funding to deserter proof the Railway, Highway Sea & Air Ports. the Acting Chief Minister was called out to his Electorate just before a big Cyclone hit way earlier than expected. the Acting Deputy Chief Minister and acting Leader of the Opposition where TES (Territory Emergency services, kind of like a state level volunteer fire department version of FEMA) Volunteers and had gone missing during the Cyclone. a bunch of Communist MP's that had joined other parties under false pretenses called a siting of the territory parliament (despite not having the numbers) and declared a SSR and "joined" the USSR. within days the RAAF was able to fly the Government and Opposition leadership back in to Darwin before the word of silliness reached the outside world, the RAAF didn't even know they where flying in to the "USSR" when they landed. it was either such a minor thing or totally made up since I can't find a reference to it even on urban legend sights.

[@neilsmark7710]

I'm from the northern territory and was in the territory at the time and have never heard of this

[@mrbyzantine0528]

Anyone else notice the map showed Iraq controlled by Iran?

[@robconlon5504]

Thanks for your brilliant series, I never miss it. There are a couple of minor errors. Sydney is spelled incorrectly and the A in ASIO is pronounced like hay. AYSIO:)

[@marsoz_]

10:45 not quite how you spell Sydney

[@AllTheFishAreDead]

Fyi your map has 'Sidney' but other than that top stuff!

[@TheCat48488]

Missed the opportunity to say "we hope for you to defect to press the bell button"

[@hypercomms2001]

PS: It is "Sydney".... not "Sidney"....

[@melissamarsh2219]

Great to see an Australia video. Another topic could possibly be the involvement of the CIA in the dismissal of Labor PM Gough Whitlam

[@navidoo1999]

Still don't get how iran & iraq don't have borders🧐

[@guyh9992]

Evatt was temperamentally unsound. He was Minister for External Affairs in WWII and took a hard line in dealing with Churchill when back in Canberra. He was even rumoured to have authored John Curtin's "inexcusable betrayal" cable to Churchill in January 1942. The problem was that he was easily manipulated by Churchill who appealed to his vanity when in London. Evatt came away believing that he had achieved great things in a promise of three squadrons of Spitfires that somehow were diverted to North Africa for six months and arrived in Australia obsolete and worn out. Curtin found Evatt to be a liability.

[@vasilerogojan4520]

I expected that someone will demand in the comment section an episode about the Pacepa affair.

[@leopratama5927]

Can you make a video about India-Pakistan war? It's actually interesting imo

[@mikhailv67tv]

Interesting episode, you can compare events of the Petrov affair to that of the Tampa. Both major events effected the voting behaviour of the electorate to put the conservative Liberal Party in Power for a long time. The Labor Party is the largest and most popular party but doesn’t coalition as the conservatives do. First they rely on the red scare and later the “illegal” & now it’s a Muslim fear and returning to “yellow” Chinese scare…

[@IvyLuvsYa]

Ah the brothels of kings landing. Send Lord Tyrion my regards.

[@CARL_093]

I heard from my uncle mark on this during his young days about this bec ur not sure whos who when u walk to the streets bec of petrovs revelation on having a spy cell in australia

[@sargesacker2599]

Video starts at 2:36

[@yotoronto12]

When can we expect a Canada episode?

[@Game_Hero]

But what happened to her family in the end?

[@johnforrester9120]

My grandfather and father hated the DLP and taught me never to forgive a DLP senator

[@potatofuryy]

Hate is a very strong word, but ok.

[@johnforrester9120]

@@potatofuryy u have. No idea how the split stuffed the party unless your an old Aussie soak like me lol

[@geordimi]

I wouldn't expect the couple to live together after mr Petrov ran for safety without caring for his wife's and her family's safety. That was pretty egoistic. They should have talked it together, agreed on it, flee together or none at all.

[@brunoclapci6372]

I knew about Petrov Affair,and I used to go dancing at the Russian club on George street Sydney near Central train station.I did not know that Australia had so many communist,if I knew that I would have never set a foot into the Russian club on George st in Sydney.

[@shartheIsraeli]

THERE IS an action that Israel did in 1953 that had a Jewish woman leave Poland after taking the letter of Khrushchev that was a lecture of his meeting and handing it to the Israeli Mossad

[@hypercomms2001]

Here is where they are buried... Maria Anna Evdokia Petrova Allyson: www.findagrave.com/memorial/202794550/maria-anna-allyson Vladimir Mikhailovich Petrov: www.findagrave.com/memorial/202794869/vladimir-mikhailovich-petrov

[@Game_Hero]

I love the new map

[@sargesacker2599]

Christ whoever did the maps in this video needs a geography class not only did they misspelled Sydney they also had Iraq annexed by Iran.

[@TGBurgerGaming]

There are no spies here in Australia. We're too busy fighting crocodiles with Rambo knives and barbecuing shrimp to spy on any of you, trust me. Look out mate! Drop bear! Run!

[@TheColdWarTV]

yeah, gotta watch out for the drop bears. They'll get you every time.

[@CA999]

Correct. We dropped the pretence about spying and now openly have agents. Real estate agents. Immigration agents. Workplace Recruitment agents.

[@AntifoulAwl]

No Aussie would ever use the term 'shrimp'... It's called a prawn. Obviously a comment from a spy...your cover is blown.

[@TGBurgerGaming]

@@AntifoulAwl I'm speaking in Seppo. The dingo lips don't savvy real English.

[@aussietom85]

I look forward to a follow up on the CIA and the dismissal

[@shaider1982]

Hope you do a video on Father Frost: the communist answer to Santa Claus.

[@steelydan146]

Wait ... A russian spy?! Working in the Soviet Embassy no less. I'm shocked I tell you! I'm shocked!

[@nemanjamilicevic7568]

I can see an error on the map. Iran's border with Iraq is missing, and the 2 together are labeled as Iran.

[@nemanjamilicevic7568]

Also, why is there a border between Austria and Tirol?

[@Praktical_]

Bruh I'm Australian and I have never known about any of this.

[@Doctoranthetardis]

Wouldn't have to worry about buying carbon offsets if we just made the jump to nuclear power...

[@kylebritt1225]

The Korean War must be considered in the geopolitical climate of the period.

[@francislarvey7942]

So whatever happened to her relatives back in the USSR ?

[@ericvantassell6809]

carbon footprint dentistry

[@可爱包-c4v]

The Soviet Union / Russia likes spies very much. Perhaps, sometimes this can surprise the Soviet Union / Russia, such as advanced technology or a new pro Soviet government, but I think, maybe a failed espionage led to the Soviet Union launching the Afghan war. Andropov (KGB's leader) stole wrong intelligence from the United States. He believes that Afghan leader Amin is a CIA spy. In addition, I think the Tang Empire (a dynasty of ancient China) is very similar to the Soviet Union. They gave the army and spies a lot of rights. Later, the army abandoned the government. They own a piece of land and become an independent boss, and the country went to death.You can't rely on spies for real victory

[@clydecessna737]

Good for the Petrovs.

[@zh4007]

Spell check before posting. Sydney not Sidney

[@compassroses]

10:45 Sydney has undergone a sex-change to a female name?

[@aquilarossa5191]

Australian Liberal Party. Lots might think that means center left. Not in Aussie (or several other countries too). Liberals are in a long standing alliance with the conservatives. That's so they could defeat the Australian Labour Party, which is a party that was started by the labour unions and labour movement etc. Right wing liberals. It went differently here in NZ. Instead of allying with the conservatives, the liberal party went extinct when the Labour Party formed and became popular (the liberals had held power before that). We also have a thing called MMP, which means minor parties can win seats in parliament, e.g., the Greens, the Milton Friedman/Ayn Rand cult party (ACT), NZF, and Maori Party. But the USA is different again. They never had a labour party gain momentum, so it remained the classic liberal versus conservative spectrum (conservativism began as opposition to radical liberalism and in places like revolutionary France was called reactionary, i.e., anti-progress). Left wing in the USA seems to be more about civil rights and less about the socioeconomic condition of ordinary working people, because both parties are beholden to big money. In countries with traditional workers parties backed by unions, it was more about the working class -- at least in until neoliberalism and triangulation arrived from the USA. ANZUS. We had just moved from the UK when NZ went nuclear free in the mid 80s and began denying access to the US Navy. We were suspended from ANZUS and still are, although we still allow the US listening stations here etc (Five Eyes). It seemed to me that we were punished for ANZUS. Inflation and interest rates went sky high. So was youth unemployment. Some of that could be punishment due to losing favoured access to US capital markets. But some of it was also due to the Labour Party not sticking to their roots and switching to neoliberalism (market deregulation and privatizations et cetera caused high unemployment and we did not recover until the mid 1990s). Now Labour is a mix of both. People overseas call Jacinda Ardern the queen of woke, but she is actually a Mickey Savage fan, who was our first Labour PM and very pro working class, but she walks the line between the left wing and the neoliberal wing of the party, which keeps the peace.

[@arthurtane6505]

The Australian security services had Russian collaborators in it right up to the end of the USSR. These people were favorable to Russian Communism. When the USSR collapsed and Soviet communism came to a end, these informants slowly faded out of the services. Alas these security services down-under were not fully successful in exposing these traitors.

[@-JA-]

👍

[@hypercomms2001]

Here is more information as to what happened to the Petrovs after their defection; petrov.moadoph.gov.au/fallout.html

[@obamacare9139]

will you make videos about the PKI (Indonesia Communist Party) Failed Coup and Later Communist Purge In Indonesia and Later again, Another Coup Allegedly Backed by the CIA to remove The Left Leaning President, Soekarno. Its One of Important moments in South East Asia as Indonesia Before the Coup were always Leaning Toward the Soviet. And maybe later you can talk about the Annexation of Timor Timor who also Backed by the CIA.

[@shaider1982]

I like the Dick Tracy style of the animations.

[@xiaoka]

Kangaroo flavored borscht!

[@MrJestyler]

Your papers are not in order

[@markfaricelli7672]

It might also interesting to have a program on the ouster of the socialist Austrialian Priminister Whitlam with the help of the CIA. The manipulation of trade unions and the protection of the tracking station in Pine Gap. Thanks for all the Cold War content.

[@GPP2024]

You should know how to spell Sydney….

[@Narweeboy]

Don't worry the latest edition of the Labor party is now playing up to red China. Szechuan Sam, Chairman Dan, Paul Cheating ....

[@Marinealver]

Hmm... either I get PURGED or I Defect. Such a difficult choice, bye @$$#073$

[@yartar-pq9yp]

Strayyyaa

[@nickhanlon9331]

The formation of the DLP was called'' the split''. My grandparents switched their votes because of this because they were devout Roman Catholics who had always voted Labor and they hated the idea of Communists having any influence in Australia. They switched to voting Liberal. Bob Santamaria, the founder of the DLP went to the same school as me. My father served in the Australian army and made it to Captain. This was all quite a change because my family had been very antI-British and had sat out WW1 in protest at the executions of the Irish revolutionarys in WW1.