Unfamiliarity with America made dependence on the Communist Party, USA, more important than ever. Without the ready base of the Communist Party, USA, with its fanatical allegiance to Moscow, Soviet espionage would have had tremendous problems in getting started. As it was, there were Party members available, able and willing to carry out Soviet instructions. Often it was difficult to distinguish between a member’s work for the Party and for Moscow. Comrades traveled back and forth to Russia, were given assignments by the Kremlin, and felt it their highest duty to gather information for the Bolsheviks. Party officials made assistance to Moscow priority Number One. We have seen in Chapter 4 how the communist leadership, for example, promised to help Comrade Loaf (a Comintern agent) collect information on the American labor movement. In another instance the Party Secretariat actually approved the release of a Party member for Soviet intelligence duties. What were some of the ways through which the Communist Party, USA, rendered aid to Soviet espionage? Most important, of course, was recruitment. The Party was able, time after time, to supply recruits, both members and sympathizers, for espionage use. Suppose the Soviets needed a photographer? a source of information in a Pennsylvania steel plant? a trusted short-wave radio expert? The Party would be expected to, and did, “fill the bill.” This funneling of talent to the Soviets was often accomplished through a special Party contact who was called a “steerer.” A trusted old-time member, he was able to spot recruits for espionage among the Party’s ranks and to fulfill requests made by the Soviets. As espionage operations became more complex, the “steerer’s” role became ever more vital. The Party was a vast recruiting ground for spy talent. The Party provided many essential “services” to Soviet espionage. Suppose a Russian espionage agent secretly entered the United States, to operate here or while en route to another country. Most likely, as so often happened, he would need a “new identity,” or, in espionage language, a “change of feathers.” This probably meant a faked birth certificate, a false passport, and other identification papers. Maybe he would be placed in “deep freeze” for several months. If so, he had to be “serviced”—that is, fed and clothed. After being “re-feathered,” he would be on his way. Then there were “business covers.” A Party member, perhaps with Soviet funds, would set up a business, allegedly for legitimate purposes but actually for espionage. In 1927, World Tourists was incorporated in New York, ostensibly for tourist business. Actually, this “business,” under the operation of Jacob Golos, a communist “steerer,” became an active espionage “cover.”