The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-11-08
TORIES FORGED
RED" letter
TO BRITAIN
Macdonald Committed
GrGUe Blunder

mlttee appointed by the British
labor party government to in
vestigate the alleged Zinoviev
letter, has concluded it's in
vestigation and reported that
after a careful study of the
evidence in the case, it is con-
WINGED the letter is a forgery.
Had not Ramsay Macdonald
been so exceedingly anxious to
attack Russia and the Com
munist movement, he would not
have fallen so quickly for the
frame-up.
The facts, as given out semi-ofl-
cially, appear to be as follows:
The British admiralty had very
efficient espionage service in Mos
COW. from which it secured documents
from time to time. Other departments
of the British government had it's own
service there, including the foreign
Office
Laid Snare for "Stool"
1t seems that Soviet cheka was on
to the activities of the British adj
mirality stoolpigeon, and when they
discovered his business a special let
ter was put where he could photo
graph it as test. Things happened
just as the cheka expected and the
British spy photographed the fake let
ter and sent the pictures to London
When the foreign Office in London
lgot hold Of the letter q jumped at
the opportunity to prove that the
Soviet government was violating the
Anglo-Russian treaty. 1t never oc-
CURED to Ramsay Macdonald that his
government was violating the treaty
in having spies and agents provoca-
tours in Moscow spying on another
labor government, and a real labor
government at that.
The fake document got into the
hands Of the conservative party and
into the Office of the Daily Mail, a
tory paper On hearing this, Mac
Donald decided to publish the forgery
accompanying the publication with a
sharp protest note to the Soviet
representative in London.
Macdonald Bunaled.
The latter Immediately branded the
letter as a forgery as did the Com
munist Party of Great Britain for
which it was supposed to be intended.
Macdonald at first publicly stated
that the letter was genuine, but
changed his mind afterwards. His
muddling hurt the labor party con
siderably during the election. Had
he come out boldly and exposed the
forgery as a plot of the tories to dis
credit the labor party. he could have
turned the thing into a boomerang.
AS 1t is now, the tories are in power
and can blame the affair on some con-
venient goat.
The committee that investigated the
letter could not be accused of having
any Communist leanings. They were:
Ramsay Macdonald, Arthur Hender-
son, Viscount Haldane, and Lord Par
moor They questioned chiefs of the
secret service, the foreign office and
the military intelligence, but these
gentlemen refused to disclose the
source of their information on the
ground that it might shut off a val
liable source of information and
jeopardize the lives of British spies
in Russia. They refused to tell how
the conservatives and the Daily Mail
got possession Of the fake document.
Communists Were Right.
1t is now generally admitted even in
labor party circles that the Communist
explanation of the reason why the
reactionaries allowed the labor party
to assume Office. was for the purpose
OF putting over the Dawes plan, which
would be impossible under either
tory or a liberal government owing
to the hostility OF labor. The Kings
socialists Of the Second international
accomplished for the master class
what their older political servants
we're unable to accomplish. Now that
the dirty work is done. the labor par
ty leaders are turned out into the
cold with a loud "haw. haw," and the
zinoviev forgery was part Of the plot
Matched by the tories TO accomplish
the end OF discrediting the Mac
Donald government with the unthink-
ing masses.
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