Considered by some to be a fake used for propaganda purposes, this letter, like the Zimmerman telegram of 1917, is an example of the role that intelligence services can play in the area of propaganda. The letter purported to come from Grigori Zinoviev (1883-1940), chairman of the Comintern, a Soviet organization dedicated to extending the revolution. In it Zinoviev urged the British Communist Party to ferment dissent within the British army. The letter appeared in the conservative Daily Mail newspaper on 25 October 1924—a politically sensitive moment—just a few days before Britain’s first Labour government faced a general election. Relations with the Soviet Union had been an issue ever since Ramsey Macdonald (18661937), the Labour prime minister, had concluded a trade treaty with Russia. Now the Labour Party’s opponents hammered home the “Red Letter” story, smearing the entire left by associating it with the Communist Party. On the eve of the election newsstands carried posters showing the Soviet and British flags and the caption: “Under which flag?” By some accounts—especially those of Labour politicians seeking to explain their defeat—it helped the Conservative Party to win by scaring Liberal voters into voting Conservative.
The exact origin of the letter remains uncertain. If genuine, as some have claimed, its capture represents a formidable intelligence coup. If fake, possible culprits include Polish intelligence agents and/or White Russian exiles eager to promote anti-Soviet feeling. The letter was originally passed along to the British government, where Prime Minister Macdonald resolved to lodge a formal protest at the Soviet embassy, but before this could be done someone leaked the letter to the Daily Mail. Plausible candidates for the leak include Joseph Ball (1885—1961), an officer in MI5 (British intelligence) who later joined the Conservative Party’s Central Office where he worked as a propagandist and deployed techniques that included espionage and black propaganda.
