, however, and the enormous amount of research and writing on the subject, the Cambridge Spies retain some of their mystery. Their motivations have been accounted for in terms of their personalities, ideological commitments, and their attitudes toward their own environments but the true reason that they chose this course of action remains an enigma with, perhaps, as many answers as there are spies.
What is known about the activities of the spies comes from many sources -- from the self-reports of Philby's autobiography and Blunt's confession to the assessments of intelligence experts and historians to the archives of the KGB. But Philby's autobiography was fully in line with Soviet propaganda needs; a "skilful but doctored personal account" that "contributed to the perpetuation of his own legend" (Boyle 444). Philby conceived of himself as a spy on the grand scale and was prone to cast even minor episodes in a very romanticized light. He recalled, for example, his eagerness for admission to the Communist Party being met with suspicion and caution because, he was told, "the Party, as you know, is illegal" (quoted in Borovik 24). The Communist Party had never been illegal in England, but Philby's tendency to cast a pall of danger over all his actions led him to do so with even the most insignificant and easily disproved matters. And Blunt's confession was even more problematic. Blunt was the only one of the group not to defect and MI5, unable to actually prove his involvement, finally settled on an offer of immunity in exchange for his confession. Blunt held that he "could not confess until all my friends were safe" and held off on providing his account until after Burgess' death in 1963 (quoted in Costello 47). But Blunt's confession served to diminish his own significance in the spy ring and he "went to great lengths to ensure general acceptance of his account" in which he misleadingly labeled Burgess as "the mastermind of ...