Cell-based secret societies limit member knowledge to within-cell contacts only

Evidence

The directors of the “Omladina” were divided into “thumbs” and “fingers.” The “thumb,” chosen by the members in secret session, chose four “fingers,” who again chose a thumb. This second thumb introduced himself to the first, chose four fingers who chose a thumb; and thus the process of organization continued. The first thumb knew all thumbs, but they did not know one another. Among all fingers, only those four knew one another who were subordinated to a common thumb. All transactions of the “Omladina” were conducted by the first thumb, the “dictator.” — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 8604

Categorization

• XREF: The compartmentalized cell structure and single-dictator model resembles modern intelligence tradecraft and the Shannon-arc structure in espionage networks.
• SHARE: A Czech secret society where only one central ‘thumb’ knows all other thumbs reads like something worth sending to anyone interested in espionage/revolutionary organizing history.