First, it wasn't espionage, you're misusing terms. It wasn't some state secret the Russians stole that Hillary was a disliked person who was a poor choice to run.
Of course it was espionage.
Espionage - Wikipedia
Espionage or spying is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information.
The Russians:
1) stole confidential information from the DNC server and
2) divulged it without the permission of the holder.
Secondly, even if you more properly said "a coordinated propaganda campaign" or something like that I didn't make that assertion that it was "entirely ineffective." I said "Being Hillary is what caused Hillary to lose." A better candidate wouldn't have allowed the propaganda to have been nearly as effective, basically it just reminded people of why they disliked Hillary Clinton to begin with. It didn't cause them to hold unfavorable views in the first place. Necessity and sufficiency.
If it wasn't entirely ineffective then it could most certainly have been what caused her to lose considering her margin of loss was incredibly small.