When Russia was in the throes of Joseph Stalin's campaign for the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, a young boy named Pavlik Morozov informed the OGPU (now called the KGB) that his father was an enemy of the regime. As a result, Pavlik's father was arrested and disappeared in a Soviet concentration camp. Enemies of the party later killed the boy, whereupon people proclaimed him their hero. Since then, Pavlik Morozov's glory has surpassed the fame of many Russian heroes. Hundreds of works have been published about the boy in various genres, from poetry to opera; his portrait has graced galleries, postcards, and postage stamps; ships and libraries have been dedicated in his honor; his bronze statue in Moscow was built on the personal order of Stalin; and every schoolchild in the Soviet Union learned his biography in order to follow his example.

Informer 001 is the first exhaustive, secret, independent study of the Morozov affair and is Yuri Druzhnikov's search for the truth about his life, death, and the perpetuation of his legacy. Druzhnikov examined documents, visited museums, and interviewed virtually everyone who knew Morozov during his short lifetime. In book after book, he discovered inconsistencies in every fact, from where Morozov was born to how old he was at the time of his death. Photographs of the hero, when compared, turned out to be of different people. Historical archives contained no documents of Morozov. Memorial museums displayed no personal relics; instead they contained pictures, books, and newspaper clippings. Attempts by Druzhnikov to interview living witnesses were met with resistance, he was even followed constantly. The subject of Pavlik Morozov was "officially untouchable.”

As Druzhnikov pieced together the story about Morozov's life, death, and legacy from interviews, books, court documents, and newspaper reports, it became clear that the campaign to keep Morozov a hero was centrally directed. Informer hero number 001, as Morozov came to be known, remained a fearful reminder to all; to those who inform, and those who become the victims of denunciations. Informer 001 offers Western readers a step-by-step detective story, and at the same time gives a unique glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operations of Soviet political history. At a time when children are winning the right to sue their parents and when trials for murdering parents result in hung juries. Informer 001 will be fascinating reading for the general public, as well as for sociologists, historians, and Russian studies specialists.